Whatever is your view, show it

The other night, while I attended the wake of a dear departed family friend, the late Manuel Tiu, I had the pleasure of a brief company of Mr. Joseph Gaisano. We have not talked with each other for quite a time, so after we paid our last respects to Pare Maning, Mr. Gaisano and I hied to a corner where I welcomed the occasion to fathom some of his thoughts on dizzying current affairs of the state. But, true to the off tangent nature of this column, I wish more to echo the philosophy which centered our fleeting conference than wade into the turmoil generated by the central political figures involved.

Without losing his business anchor, Mr. Gaisano lamented that the Philippines had performed miserably in international politics and trade. He was positive that our country once enjoyed the political respect and economic envy of our Asian neighbors. The analytical mind of an engineer, which Mr. Gaisano is traced that only a decade ago, Vietnam, for instance, barely out as a horrible showcase of a bloody ideological war, started its own radical reforms. Historically though, the Indo-chinese civilization developed much ahead of ours so, parenthetically, the rules by which its society was bound became comparably established though rigid. Yet, he saw that instead of the Vietnamese' being manacled by rigid structures, they, applying fresh liberal attitudes, broke free from some long cherished traditions. Their dynamism started with a resolve to be idealistic. That, according to him, was their key which brought Vietnam to such ready a position as to overtake our eminence.

His thoughts, seemingly abundant with nationalism, validated few of my own humble personal perceptions. Turning our discussion to our country, he said that we have become a hapless victim of conspiring circumstances. Many of our government leaders have placed their private vested interests higher than their sense of patriotism, for one and, for another, we apparently have a great majority of our citizens who do not care such betrayal of public trust.

Our political leaders, once enthroned to their respective positions, are timid to break newer grounds. Their idealism, eloquently orated during campaign period, is blunted by the fear of people's political rebuke. They are afraid that their stock gets diminished should they propose something that is not the usual even if what is novel is actually necessary. In other words, they do not allow their vision to outline the future and pursue what should be done. Rather, they live by what is customary refusing to realize that many traditions, being tied to antiquated practices, are uselessly outdated.

Our common masses have to share the blame. In our democratic processes, we don't hold certain rights sacred. Not anymore. Take the case of our right of suffrage, how many of us dishonor it by giving our votes to the people of less competence? Or worse, in exchange of few hundred pesos? And yet, listen to some absurd rationalization - that anyway, whoever gets elected is corrupt.

Of course, there are among our citizens who honestly participate in the process of choosing our leaders, but, for one reason or another, never follow it through. Indifference is not much dissimilar to this half-hearted exercise. Often, our justification is dangerous. Pleading to be too occupied with our own struggles for economic survival, we devote less time to the concerns of the republic as if our personal lives and that of our country are totally unrelated. In the end, our indifference leaves the vices of misrule to reign because we do not care to make sure that the private affairs of those whom we have chosen to lead do not come in conflict with their public functions.

I share these thoughts with you because, towards the end of our conversation with Mr. Gaisano, he made a forceful point. To him, there is no better guide that can right the course of our stately affairs than the steady hand of our direct, purposeful and idealistic participation in present day governance. It does not matter that we differ in our ways, for that is our democratic hallmark, what really matters is that we get involved.