The "trapo" in our midst

Thanks to the incessant vigilance of some of our countrymen (we call them by such a common name as activists) we are informed, now and then, of many issues we take for granted. They call our attention to some perceived abuses in government. We see them march continually against corruptions. From their constant mass actions, we have come across diverse eye-catching slogans and terminologies. One specific term is trapo, short for traditional politicians, I believe.

Verily “trapo” is a Visayan word that is roughly similar to the English rag. We have trapo in our homes to the point that we almost cannot live without it. In our daily activities, the “trapo” is a damp piece of cloth we use to clean the table after meal. We also wipe off the dirt from our furniture with a “trapo”. The more moneyed among us avail of the trapo to remove mud from the tires of our cars. In this context, the word trapo is nothing horrible. Neither is it dreadful. As a matter of fact, it connotes usefulness.

But, because the trapo is something that is used in infinite ways to rid of all kinds of dirt like taking the refuse of our pet dog from the receiving room, it gets to be associated with dirt itself. It is, of course, fallacious, in extreme case for us to call trapo as equivalent to dirt. Unfortunately, such happens to be the case. 

When activists use the word trapo referring to traditional politicians, during mass actions, what do they mean? Who may be called a traditional politician?

I associate the term traditional politician to an elected official afflicted with such undesirable traits that he is unworthy of our support. By this strict categorization, a person seeking electoral mandate for the first time can hardly be considered a trapo.

He is a trapo when in his campaign for re-election or in his seeking for a higher office, he promises the electors with motherhood statements. For example, while asking the voters to re-elect him, he is heard committing to the development of his listeners while forgetting the fact that in his term of office, he has not introduced a system (which is more lasting compared to a physical something) that addresses specific problems.

He is a trapo when he points to a certain infrastructure and claims it to be his own! Let us look around and we always see with our naked eyes the names of politicians written on these projects. Why can they not be honest enough to tell us that such project is constructed with the taxes paid by the people and therefore owned by the people? Oh yes, there is a euphemism now used by the trapo when he insists that such a project is “thru his efforts”. By so declaring, he wants us to feel indebted for doing his duty!

Aside from these physical manifestations, there is a more unreliable trapo. This traditional politician is one who does not value the integrity of his office. Let me cite a case we are familiar with. An elected official maybe heard to have expressed opinion on a certain issue. Supposedly, before he opens his mouth, he must be responsible enough to know what he is talking about. Yet, soon after his utterance, his fellow elected official simply disregards his position or worse, castigates him for making such a declaration. Rather than try to set forth the reason for his stand, or for admitting publicly that he has erred if that be the case, he makes himself funny by retracting his earlier statement. If this politician cannot defend his own official declaration, how can we expect him to stand for the city? 

A trapo is worse when he is demonstrably after his own interest only. As an example, I refer to an elected official who fell out of grace of a city leader. In defense against accusations of non-performance and unreliable leadership, he tried to show that his accuser was a vicious liar and vowed never to have anything to do with him ever. But, when his own selfish motivation, in the form of his son’s political survival, presented itself, this politician forgot what he said of his accuser and began singing praises of the latter.

In the May 2010 elections, let us search for the trapos and better still throw them away like the odious dirt that they really are.