Tuesday, August 27, 2013

the million people march

I "liked" the invite on facebook without giving it much thought. I have to admit I havent been following the news lately and only have most of my information distilled from accounts from my peers, almost filtered to gossipy levels. I never bothered to read about the scandal nor even allowed myself to be the least interested in it.... maybe because in my heart of hearts, I have lost a lot of hope already. Liking the march invite almost felt like a knee-jerk reaction to something new, or maybe, in the hopes that there is still a part of me that is optimistic about change in this country, that liking the invite would serve as a catalyst for change, in me at the very least.

Buzz in my viber chatgroup about attending the march began and most if not all my friends agreed to join. Though initially never crossing my mind, stirred up by the fervor of usually politically-indifferent people, I agreed to join as well. Schedules were made, plans were set, now all we had to do was wait for Monday to arrive.

Monday morning came and my kuya, surprisingly, woke up before I did and had me ready up for the march. We knew early on that roads leading to Luneta were already closed and that parking was going to be a problem. We eventually decided to park all the way at Fort Santiago and walk. It was still early and it looked like the weather was going to be cooperative.

We arrived at Luneta at around 8am and the grounds were slowly beginning to fill up with people. News channels have already set up their respective stages, high above the crowd hoping to get the best views. Best views of what, I wondered. Kuya and I have been walking around for a while now, both of us trying to get a feel of what was going to happen. We went from pocket to pocket, from groups dancing to slow their disdain, to students chanting their school's slogans, from senior citizens waving flags of different nations, to kids just running about in search of celebrities.... we finally found ourselves staying put, a few meters from the large TV screen. It wasn't really the front since, according to the voice that kept reminding people, this rally was LEADERLESS. there was technically no OFFICIAL organizer, no STAGE to gather around, no ONE to rally people to unite their voices and direct it's force towards the unshakable powers of congress.... which, to me was the reason the rally failed.

Coming home that afternoon, all muddied and sunburt, kuya and I discussed what we felt about tour morning's activity, and both of us felt pretty much the same, disappointed, underwhelmed.

Kuya liked the march (which was more loiter, to be exact) what happened in New York during the mass "Occupy Wallstreet" sit down. All it really did was create buzz, nothing more. Change needs a leader, a singular head, I sincerely believe. The march didn't reach it's million people number. It was pretty obvious considering the many open spaces in the crowd. It didnt reach the skin-crawly clamor I had hoped to witness when we had the noise barrage at noon. I didn't unite the people's sentiments about how corrupt our government is and how evil men rule our land. To think that Lito Atienza and Renator Corona had the gall to appear in the rally proves that we are too kind to forgive and forget, as well as too indifferent about how our country is hemorrhaging from self-serving "leaders" who have made politics their and their family's profession.

Democracy for the Philippines almost feels like an illusion many Filipinos convince themselves to believe in. Outwardly, we may look like a country ruled by the people, but in many ways, power in only in the hands of a select few, a select corrupt, greedy, opportunistic, malicious, arrogant, evil few, who will never relinquish their powers, who will never change, who will never let the people win, who will do WHATEVER it takes to keep what they have and make us believe them to be honorable still.

I honestly don't know what else to think of feel about the government anymore.

I would like the people, all of them, involved in this scandal prosecuted, convicted and executed.... PUBLICLY if possible. Primal fear is the only understandable language for these beast. Like how China executes their public officials caught with corruption. Shame their families, ALL their relatives even if they are not entirely responsible and lets see if political dynasties will still flourish. Instill FEAR into those who want to run for politics to take their jobs seriously and take true HONOR in the duty. FEAR from the people who they should be serving, and FEAR from the law who will truly be RUTHLESS in dealing with any wrong doing.

2 comments:

joelmcvie said...

Funny, we were also there, and I didn't feel the same way, nor got the same vibe, that you did. True, having a leader can mean more focused acts and follow-ups. But that was not what the protest was about.

Maybe the rally seemed toothless. But still. There is something stirring. :)

http://opinion.inquirer.net/59741/exciting

jamie da vinci! said...

maybe for the meantime, stirring would be enough. its just frustrating since we never seem to have any follow-through with these campaigns for change.