I think the public reaction to the events of the last weekend up to now can be described as one of worried detachment. There was no panic in the supermarkets this weekend. The churches were not unusually overflowing with people. Wrestling spectators filled Araneta Coliseum to capacity, ignoring the political wrestling going on in the streets. Yet, everyone seems to have this unsettled feeling… a combination of a cynical "so what else is new" to a weary "when will all these inanities end".
Actually, most of the middle class still trapped in this hellhole had been feeling this way for a while now. My daughter who left for the US two years ago and is now teaching in a public school in Southern California, told me last Sunday that many of her high school and college friends and schoolmates still here, have gone back to school… to study nursing... even the boys.
It is clear that many of our young people have given up on abright future here, thanks to the clowns running this country and those aspiring to run this country. Our youth are expressing their frustration by going away. Ironically, the national leadership does not get the message. On the contrary, it claims credit for the record number of Pinoys who are going abroad and sending money back home.
So now my dearly beloved Ate Glue has declared a State of National Emergency. So what? We’ve been in this state for so long now and not because some military adventurists and avaricious civilian politicians are trying to pry her out of Malacañang. We have been in a state of emergency because too many of our people go to sleep hungry every day… with no real long term hope for a better life any time soon.
When things were starting to boil last Friday, my first reaction was "wake me up if the boil finally bursts." But as I expected, it was same old, same old with the added bad news that the panic-stricken, sleep-deprived national leadership did enough stupid things to aggravate the situation, making any peaceful reconciliation even more remote.
I had other concerns that Friday morning. If EDSA 3 (or is it 4?) did happen and succeeded, who will assume power? There are those who say it doesn’t matter who so long as "she is out". I am not too comfortable about writing blank checks and this one certainly looks like one. Most of the people aren’t comfortable with political blank checks either, but it would be a mistake to think their lack of street reaction similar to Edsa 1 means they are in full support of Ate Glue.
And because the opposition has not gravitated to a recognizable leader, most people realize a post-coup scenario could be mighty dangerous. There is some truth in what Ate Glue calls "an unholy alliance of ‘authoritarians’ on the left and ‘adventurists’ on the right conspiring with opportunists from the opposition."
One of two things could happen every time this boil in our collective butt acts up… we could end up with a military dictatorship which may or may not relinquish power after order had been restored. Or the communists could move in at the head of a socalled united front and eventually assume all political power. None of these scenarios are constitutional and all these scenarios call for putting the Bill of Rights on hold, however, temporary. There lies the problem for guys like me.
So we are stuck with Ate Glue. The problem, however, with Ate Glue and her merry band of sleep-deprived squires is that they no longer seem to have what it takes to think through their next moves. A bunker mentality has set in at the Palace and they are feeding on each other’s worse fears. It is bad enough that Ate Glue is weak in the EQ department, or the ability to empathize with what other people feel or think, those around her seem deathly scared to present her with the other side of things.
This is why they end up making a bad situation worse. The declaration of the state of emergency is clearly an overreaction that heightens tension and presents the country in the worse possible light. It seemed to me we are able to take the daily coup rumors and leftist inspired street marches in stride. The economy has developed sufficient immunity to all the background noise and has even started to move up in spite of everything. But we may now have to write off the next couple of years because with last Friday’s ill-considered proclamation, Ate Glue effectively chose to fight a protracted war.
That raid on the office of the Daily Tribune is again proof that people in Malacañang should take a few days off to sleep. Calling the raid stupid does not begin to describe it. Talk to any PR practitioner worth his or her salt and you will be told that in the scheme of things, the Tribune does not matter that much. It has a small base of like-minded readers and has nothing more than nuisance value. The paper can get irritating, but so what? This is democracy and the Tribune is all about the Bill of Rights enshrined in our Constitution.
When I saw Ninez Cacho Olivarez, editor and publisher of the Tribune on ANC on Sunday, she was her usual combative self, denouncing the raid on her paper and the threat of censorship that came from the PNP chief. But if you looked closely at Ninez’s facial demeanor, you would have noticed that she was not totally displeased with the turn of events. Ate Glue obliged her with her moment of glory. Ate Glue should have just sued The Tribune for sedition if she believes the paper crossed the line… but not that police action.
Now, Ninez and the Tribune have become symbols of press freedom in this country. People like myself, who do not always agree with the Tribune and their type of journalism, now feel obligated to defend their right to publish freely. The threat to the Tribune is a threat not only to those of us who are in journalism but to all Filipinos who now enjoy the benefits of a free press. In other words, Ate Glue and company just made things worse … and may have ironically become the catalyst for the disparate opposition groups to unite.
The worse part of it all is that the Tribune raid was useless. In this age of high technology in information and communication, trying to muzzle media the way they tried to do it at the Tribune is so Stone Age and an exercise in futility. What would stop the Tribune from publishing via Internet through a server abroad? Even during the days before EDSA 1, Xerox journalism thrived as a way of going around the censorship imposed by the Marcos dictatorship. And now, there’s text messaging too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Tribune has increased its readership because of that stupid raid. That’s why Ninez looked like the cat that ate the canary. If I didn’t know better, I would advance the conspiracy theory that Ate Glue is the silent business partner of Ninez in the Tribune and the raid was a photo op gimmick to boost circulation.
As for the supposed military coup, I hope the folks by the Pasig do not think they really nipped it in the bud. Looking again at the body language of the military leaders who spoke to the press last weekend and the bits of unguarded statements they have made, it would be foolhardy to think all is well even if things seem under control. Let’s not forget the military folk are people too… with feelings. It is not easy to turn emotions on and off, even with the code of military discipline. Expect political patronage to worsen as they purge officers whose loyalty is suspect and this will only worsen restiveness among the armed forces.
A stalemate, the same stalemate that existed prior to Friday’s events, has descended upon the nation again. Shifting metaphor from that pesky boil, when will the smoldering volcano puff out some smoke again or worse, have an explosive eruption? Right now, we have to live with the fact that because we are hopelessly divided as a nation, we are our own worse enemies.
But maybe, things could still be managed if Ate Glue and company got a little more sleep so they can more clearly think things through. I have been told a tablet of Stilnox and warm milk, rather than watching ANC past midnight, is the right therapy for tension-induced insomnia.
I am not one of those who favor tinkering with the Constitution but having seen what happened last weekend, I would propose a constitutional provision requiring the President get a monitored full eight hours of sleep a night. Sleep deprivation should be a ground to declare temporary incapacity to hold office. If we hold sleepy drivers of motor vehicles liable for the damage they cause, what more for sleepy Presidents who steer the ship of state?
Q: Why is the Philippines looking more and more like a banana republic?
A: Because the popularity of its leader is obviously sagging.
Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com