Connect the dots

We must have one of the most politicized citizenry in the world. Our average voter turnout [70%-80+%] is higher than most countries. Our history is one curious study of democracy, spiked with Martial Law, assassinations, dynasties and electoral fraud. Pinoys have a passion for politics not unlike their penchant for fiestas, telenovelas, texting and social networking.

Despite what some “tradpols” assume, Filipinos are not babes in the woods. We know the good guys from the rotten eggs almost instinctively. We can tell the sincere advocates from the pretenders, the genuine journalists from the hacks. We have a sensor for the attack-collect, defend-collect set in Media. We can distinguish propaganda from real news. We know credible survey results when we see them. We can sense arrogance even when camouflaged, and spot an idealist turned corrupt.

Even the so-called masa, deemed a gullible and/or buy-able herd, are actually smarter than given credit for. During one of many qualitative focused group discussions in the last 2010 elections, one respondent actually scoffed at an ad showing the candidate driving a pedicab. She said it was totally unbelievable because no one drives wearing leather shoes. Another sneered that the candidate known for his housing developments must have kept their dilapidated shack in its original condition so he could show it in his TV ad fifty-plus years later. It seems that deprivation develops a built-in detector for deceit.

The Filipino is nobody’s fool. It’s how we know that the surveys reflect the true sentiment of the people: 7 out of 10 trust PNoy; 47% believe Corona is guilty; and the Chief Justice has a piddling trust rating of 14%. We can differentiate real protest action from orchestrated, compensated simulations. We discern ruses, who are behind them and why. We have become very proficient at connecting the dots.

And so we ponder if the “purely-religious, apolitical INC prayer-rally” held last February, is nothing more than a pompous show of force to confirm support for Corronarroyo, show their displeasure with Malacanang and intimidate the Senate from handing out a guilty verdict. This was a reenactment of the one mounted when Erap was impeached. Expecting a different result from doing the same thing is insanity.

Iglesian Serafin Cuevas was caught lying about being pressured by the Palace to quit as defense counsel. He even embellished that if he complied, the kidnapping charges would be dropped against fellow-Iglesian, former NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula. After claiming that he was misquoted, Cuevas later recanted the whole story and apologized.

The wily octogenarian was apparently the same justice who swore-in VP Arturo Tolentino in 1986, in case Marcos was able to return from Hawaii and reclaim the seat of power. If the congregation was behind this act, then INC has been in the wrong side of history for quite awhile.

They have leveraged their claimed bloc vote with every elected official they supported. Quid pro quo as they “place” many of their flock in plum government positions. Yet if you track the history of INC endorsements, you will find that they frequently endorse the candidates that the surveys have already identified as the most likely winners. The announcement is made close to D-day. INC has not endorsed a dark horse or a cellar-dweller, conjuring the perception that they can make-or-break candidates.

Then there’s the Left. Just recently there was a rally staged by a hodgepodge of Leftists, Piston, and militant student organizations supposedly to protest the oil price hike (as if anyone can stop that). They made up the lack in numbers and logic, by “Noynoying”, calculated to resurrect the old dig that P-Noy wasn’t hardworking. They were egging a Presidential reaction, but got egg on their faces instead.

Obviously, that crowd would have used any excuse to mount their pintsized demonstration. They held up traffic, mouthed the usual trash talk with incentivized gusto and posted their gambit in Wikipedia. So who paid for the talent fees, transportation, lunch, posters and tarpaulins of these professional protesters? Like a coup, rallies do not happen without a financier. Clue: When interviewed, the protesters all mouthed the same script: PNoy should pay attention to the plight of the poor instead of wasting energy on the impeachment. They are as subtle as a tank.

If there was any credibility and sympathy left for the Left — it’s on empty by now. Their lost cause has proven to be anything but about social justice. What frauds! They are as ruthless, ideologically bankrupt and power hungry as any other trapo. They would align with the devil, if the devil could trust them. But as Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Never interrupt an enemy making a mistake.”

No amount of affront and provocation can devalue the consistently high trust and performance ratings, buoyant optimism and five-credit-rating upgrades in less than two years! If the President is indeed “Noynoying”, he should keep on doing it because it’s working wonders for the country! In the nine years of brazen corruption and abuse of power during GMA’s time, not once was the Philippines upgraded. And she’s a self-proclaimed economics guru!

It takes one honest leader to make the citizens hope again and the global community to give us another chance. Those who are intent on pulling down the government to protect their own interests are our worst enemies. Those who profit from creating chaos and obstructing the economy’s takeoff should be isolated and branded as traitors.

We are a country perennially divided by geography, ideology, politics, religion and economy. Any way we shuffle the deck, it comes out divided: Left or Right; Rich or Poor, Catholic, Muslim, INC or Christian; Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Cebuanos, Bicolanos; anti-GMA or anti-P-Noy; pro-RH or anti-RH — always a losing hand. We can only win if we subjugate self-interest for the greater good.

We once showed the world how awesome the Filipino could be when we originated People Power. That one shining moment when we proved that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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