My dream country

I write this column as I wait for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s state of the nation address, wondering what she will say this time and if there is any basis to believe what she does say. After all, she will probably always be remembered as promising not to run in the 2004 presidential elections but running for president anyway.

Last Friday, traffic in Makati City was snarled and I worried about being late for my flight to Cebu. Anti-government protesters converged at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas and blocked off parts of the roads. They carried signs calling for the ouster of President Arroyo and an end to her regime. Some rallyists broke away from the group, stopped along the sidewalks fronting buildings, and used megaphones to call on office workers to support their cause and join them.

By the time the protesters reached the South Expressway, it did not appear as if they succeeded in getting any support from the Makati office workers. This was unlike in 2001 at the height of anti-Erap rallies when workers poured into the streets in their uniforms and listened to and cheered at the speakers calling for Erap’s ouster.

Sparsely attended rallies were a familiar sight throughout President Arroyo’s term. With the numerous scandals her administration was embroiled in, a lot of rallies were held to call for her resignation or removal. Somehow, that call never resonated among Filipinos and protest actions with the same magnitude as anti-Erap rallies never took place.

It did not hurt that most of the people calling for her ouster had little credibility left. Military men, who tried to pass themselves off as idealists, were seen as merely wanting power for themselves. Politicians, who kept on criticizing her, were seen as merely positioning themselves for the next elections, eager to be the ones in power, part of the cycle of corruption and bad government. They were in a position to make real change while in office but did not.

There seemed to be no basis to believe them, too. Leftist leaders have always protested against all government administrations. Maybe they never got enough popular support because most of us do not want a bloody revolution and because they never succeeded in giving us a clear picture of what life would be like if communists ran government. The placards that their supporters carry in rallies describe what’s wrong with the existing administration but never say what the alternative that they offer is.

What is your intent for the Philippines? What are you willing to do to make that happen? These were the questions that a facilitator asked participants at a ceremony for healing the Earth, which a friend had attended. No one among the people who dislike President Arroyo has come out to say what their intent is for the country and what they are willing to do to accomplish it. All their messages have been about how lousy life is under the Arroyo administration. Except for vague statements that life will be better if they ran the country, we have not heard much else.

Knowing what we don’t like about how our country is being run is a good first step. But it is not enough. At best, it will give us that niggling feeling that something is missing. We still need to articulate what our ideal life would be like and to take the steps to make that happen, even difficult ones. What is your intent for the Philippines? What are you willing to do to make that happen?

* * *

Email: [email protected]