I am not embarrassed to tell you that I believe in miracles.
- CORAZON C. AQUINO
Have we forgotten?
… that we were once the masters of democracy?
… that in 1986, long before anyone had even heard of Barack Obama, there was a more pronounced and dynamic miracle here in our very own islands?
… that we were the envy of the world for our singular display of peace, reconciliation and true power?
Back in the day when power was yielded by the vicious, it was unthinkable that a housewife with no political ambition could topple down a twenty-year-old empire. The proud few fell under the furious voice of the humble in glorious unison.
“No more”, they said.
“Not in my country”, they said even louder.
To avoid falling into the trap of romanticizing the past too much, understand that it was no secret that Tita Cory had her share of failures and frustrations. As her administration was cursed by violent coups, natural disasters, and economic ruin, she had an army of critics that watched her every move. This forced her team to be dynamic in both composition and strategy. In the end, she never really settled in. There was no calm -- no settling of the dust from the aftershock of Marcosian and natural devastation. She sat at the edge of her seat during her entire service.
President Aquino was not your typical idealized hero. She was not one who rose from the masses to become a champion of the people. She was never in war, or tortured, or humiliated. She was part of the elite Cojuangco family that had much in life. She had everything she ever needed, including a US education, a secure family and a fount of inexhaustible finances.
She could easily have sat back to watch the wicked and the greedy devour each other while keeping her family safe, not losing a single night’s rest. But she chose a difficult life. She chose to jump into the fray and serve her God and her people.
It was her great personal sacrifice that won for us a sustained increase in national hope. It was this -- her resolve to abandon the quiet life that she craved in exchange for a life lived for everyone else -- that made the Filipino people feel even human again.
The years when she was in the Palace were not the most productive years for the Philippines… they were not the happiest years… they weren’t even the most peaceful years…
… but they were certainly the most hopeful years.
And we lost this because we have forgotten that it's not what you have or what you've been through that defines you as a true leader… It’s how much you’re willing to give up.
That is the story of Corazon C. Aquino.
And it is a story we must constantly revisit and learn from.
Because certain great sacrifices have to be made in the months to come… and we shall see who will finally step up to take the challenge head-on.
Rest in peace, Madame President.
Published in Cebu Gold Star Daily
No law granting a title of royalty or nobility shall be enacted.
- THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
One of the most unsightly words in the English language is entitlement. It suggests baseless superiority of a group of persons because of accident or the work of their forebears. It suggests that genetics and succession absolutely decide one’s rights and options in life.
What I hate even more is that we allow this to be true by our actions and inaction.
The people who run this country and the world mostly consist of these presumptuous heirs of the wealthy and powerful. They are the landowners who resist the changing social needs and choose to keep their huge tracts of unproductive land for their own pleasure. They are the sons and daughters of privilege, luck, and influence who breeze through life with fancy clothes, nightclubs and designer drugs. They carry their names proudly like banners of moral terrorism against all who live quiet normal lives.
We may not have a nominal house of nobles, but our government seems to act like one. During the past weeks, many of these persons who claim to be our representatives have proved to act only for themselves and those they owe allegiance to. They use culture, breeding, and pretty words to justify keeping what they already have, without moving an inch to improve the lives of those who look up to them for succor.
Feudalism in Europe and Japan has ended long, long ago. But the Philippines still carries the system with pride. People still lord over the poor just as they did during the middle ages. Too bad our nobles do not fight it out as the knights of olden times did. Too bad our system of choosing leaders no longer involves strength, intelligence, and compassion, otherwise we would have a President who is a combination of Manny Pacquiao, Epifanio de Los Santos, and Cardinal Sin. A very tall order, but a striking ideal, nonetheless.
We hate being called a nation of servants to our face, only because we cannot and will not face the unsweetened truth. We are servants under very few but very powerful masters. Most of us live under the poverty line, even after a full degree of college. The poor stay landless and dreamless as they eat scraps from the tables of the greediest members of Filipino society.
And here we are, the educated middle class, caught in the center of a raging storm ready to erupt into cleansing bloodshed. We can either choose to imitate those above us and accumulate everything we can for ourselves, or we can look below us and pull up as many people as we can from their hellish lives.
The good news is that we are not a defeated nation. Everywhere you look today you see collective movements and powerful dissent – clusters of resistance that act as breakwaters that stand against the crashing waves of the tainted and the corrupt. People from all walks of life, young and old, wealthy and poor are coming together to defend human solidarity against those who act only for themselves.
Let us bring down our masters by exposing them for what they truly are -- greedy animals, undeserving of the powers and duties entrusted to them. Let us be merciless in our search for truth so that we might all be able to act with our very best judgment.
To save our country and our people, we must be a nation of servants… and be damn proud of it.
Published in Cebu Gold Star Daily
The Philippines is the oldest democracy in Asia. In our minds, we believe strongly in equality, freedom, justice and human rights.
In our minds.
We are one of the poorest nations in the world and yet we have the most number of servants per household. We live in a country where it is customary to leave the care of our children and our homes to people we pay a very minimal amount of money and provide very few benefits to.
The rich down to the middle class have become so accustomed to this social setup that they see no reason to stir the waters with inconvenient change. The poor who constitute the ‘informal service industry’ also do not complain, either because of innate Filipino meekness or simply because they feel ‘lucky’ to even have a job at all.
Worse than the low wages are the ‘house rules and conditions’ we impose upon them. We confine them in our homes inside tiny living quarters with bad ventilation and nothing but a straw mat to sleep on, while we sleep soundly on soft mattresses inside air-conditioned rooms. They do nothing but work all day everyday and are always on call, often disturbed from their sleep late at night to open our gates as we come home from clubbing or a poker game. The next day, they wake up before the sun to water the plants, sweep the floor, cook breakfast and walk the dogs, so that when their masters wake up, everything is in perfect shape. We always eat before they do and provide them with either our leftovers or unhealthy canned goods and noodles. We give them a day off but expect them to come home in time to prepare supper. We prohibit them from dating because we fear losing their services should they decide found a family of their own.
Sound familiar?
Of course, I speak of averages. The worst ‘masters’ among us shout at their helpers and even call them names. In the very worst scenarios, physical abuse is an everyday thing.
The best of us offer education and health benefits to our domestic companions and even give them opportunities to augment their income through livelihood programs. Some employers always have their helpers with them at the same table no matter where they choose to dine. Few even get to travel around the world for free. But this, of course, is an anecdotal rarity.
Nonetheless, most of our house helpers suffer the very worst working conditions in and outside the country. Even Philippine labor law treats them as sub-human workers who deserve much less than everyone else who works as hard or less.
This unspoken Filipino caste system has gone on for so long that we even export our helpers to every country in the world who would have them. Some foreign employers have inherited our habits and take the atrocities even further by confiscating their helper’s passport and locking them up in their houses.
It is no revelation that foreigners see the Philippines as the number one outsourcer of help. Our people manage and maintain the households of thousands upon thousands of people all over the world, and they get very little in return. Few complain. Few earn enough to live decent lives and die with dignity.
Why do we allow this?
Because it is convenient.
This is something we do not bother to even talk about. Maybe it took a few heart piercing words by a Hong Kong writer to make us see our own errors. Indeed, the truth hurts. But what do we do about it?
These are the people we trust with our most precious possessions: our homes and our children. Do we really want to treat them badly?
Published in Cebu Gold Star Daily
The nature of power is to bend or break the will of the weak. Through the promise of reward or the threat of harm, power is exercised in our daily lives. Today we see two convicted rapists set free because of the power they wield over the weak. One is backed up by the wealthiest nation on earth, and the other by his own personal, less grand but equally effective, wealth, status and influence.
How did it ever come to this?
Since when did we become a people who set criminals free just because they have more money than others who are equally or less guilty?
I remember working with an NGO that serves persons who languish in jail. Our clients were people who have not yet been found guilty but are serving time just because they could not afford to fork out bail money. They are treated as second-class citizens who are herded into our congested, filthy and putrid city jails while they wait for a trial date that may never come. This is my most salient experience of the Philippine justice system. It makes me loathe my choice of profession and want to fly away to a country that values its people.
The nature of power is to bend or break the will of the weak. This is why I do not dare blame Nicole. I do not blame the weak for their weariness and their exhausted patience. I do not blame the fearful woman for running away when faced by the might of the most powerful government in the globe.
Many people spit venomous words at this girl while they watch the news on their plasma TV screens well within their comfort zones. This girl has no comfort zone. As a victim of a violent crime, that’s one of the things taken from you forever. Your reality is altered, and to escape from it by any means possible is a very welcome option.
This is not about her. It’s about us and the system that we allow to sink its roots deep into our consciousness and culture because of our resignation – because of our refusal to speak out and act in unison against the few bad people who have all the power. It is everything wrong about human nature and our unwillingness to rebel against it.
Election after election we grant power to those who don’t deserve it. Year after year we shortchange ourselves by believing that this is our lot in life and this is all that we will ever be.
See the drama of it all. Two freed rapists, two broken women and thousands of confused people behind bars. Welcome to the third world.
Is this the Philippines that was fertilized by the blood of our martyrs? Is this the nation envisioned by the free thinkers of our past?
Many of us feel that we do not belong here. Many of us feel that our one life is too short to waste in a place that does not offer us any real chance for growth. If you have these sentiments, then you are one of the many who have no power – then you are one who truly knows Nicole.
The nature of power is to bend or break the will of the weak. Today, the Philippine dream is to leave the Philippines.
How did it ever come to this?
To be published in Cebu Gold Star Daily
No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of the press.
- THE 1987 PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
The Philippine Senate is in the process of reducing our rights as members of the press. It recently approved Senate Bill No. 2150, which gives any person the so-called ‘Right of Reply’. The proposed law criminalizes media practitioners and shuts down their operations if they fail to publish the reply of their subjects. It commands that the reply should have the same space, time and prominence as the original article or news segment. The reply must also be published within a number of days after the original article is published. All this must be made free of charge.
This law is so wrong on several levels.
First, it reduces the freedom of the press to navigate through the truths they wish to expose to the public. The obligations imposed by this bill are an artificial deterrent against truth-telling. It sends a message to media that revealing bad news about a person or group of persons will probably cost them double compared to talking about other mundane things.
Second, it corrupts the judgment of media by forcing them to base their actions on avoidance rather than fearless pursuit. It is the worst form of censorship pretending to be some form of reputation protection mechanism.
Third, it is just bad for business. Imagine if this law were put into action. Our front pages and new clips will contain one reply after another. Our newspapers will become public forums, setting aside today’s most important items for a person’s reply to yesterday’s news. This form of compulsion will degrade the news into a mere chatroom of endless debates. What publisher in his right mind would want to do business under these conditions?
Fourth, it ignores the ideal that the press must be the ultimate check and balance over government and other powerful persons. It is the mechanism that is capable of keeping people in line by scrutinizing their words and actions. Such an institution is the people’s best defense and weapon against corrupt practices. Such an institution provides the transparency that the rich and the powerful are unwilling to supply freely.
Both the Supreme Courts of the United States and the Philippines have long been clear that any law, which seeks to limit civil liberties has to pass a three-point test of strict scrutiny to be valid:
- It must be justified by a compelling governmental interest.
- It must be narrowly tailored to achieve that goal or interest.
- It must be the least restrictive means for achieving that interest.
On its face, the proposed Right of Reply Bill does not present any compelling government interest but only protects the reputation of individual public figures -- people whose words and actions should be open to full public scrutiny in the first place.
It is not narrowly tailored because it does more harm than good. It attempts to protect a single person’s reputation while depriving the rest of the people of a free, independent and fearless provider of information.
Finally, it is not the least restrictive means available because it commands media to provide free reply space and time with very specific parameters, thereby compelling them to forego more important matters. It is confiscatory and oppressive at the mere whim of any person who gets too sensitive about his or her feelings. Such conditions are too unreasonable and burdensome for media to function in a normal manner.
Our laws against libel and slander already hold media responsible for any lies or malicious information that it might spread to the public. The Right of Reply Bill is an unnecessary chokehold on the free press and must be rejected if the truth is to continue flowing through our papers, our airwaves and in the minds of our people.
Originally published in Cebu Gold Star Daily, Vol. 1, No. 99, p. 6 (January 16, 2009, Friday)
I begin my duties here at Gold Star by explaining what my column is all about. The French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre once taught, “We have no choice but to be free”. It might sound like an oxymoron at first look, but it actually makes good sense. Freedom is not a choice but condition that is placed upon us as rational beings. We are not free to choose or reject our freedom. It is this freedom that capacitates us to navigate through the vast ocean of goods, evils and debatable gray areas in life. To the human person, freedom appears to be like a purely desirable gift, but it is also a tremendous responsibility that we need to guard against our own weaknesses. Free choices range from miniscule events like choosing which coffee beans to grab from the grocery store to colossal steps like whether or not to send young soldiers to fight in a foreign land.
In this short life, we spend most of our time trying to acquire wealth and power. In the right hands, these can be genuine instruments of freedom. Wealth can be used to create industries that provide quality goods and services to the people. This, in turn, creates jobs and livelihood for people who would otherwise have nothing. Power can be used to effect proper change and influence the movers in society to follow a desired path. It can be used to fight for a cleaner environment, better living conditions, greater productivity and a great many goods that can be brought about by a single nudge of power.
On the duller side, power and wealth can be used for purely selfish reasons -- reasons that ignore the human condition and rot the soul. This spiritual cancer is one we see too often in today’s world. Relationships become equated with material gifts and quality of life is mistaken for one’s bank statement. I don’t pretend to imply that enjoying the fine things in life is an evil. I enjoy a good cup of gourmet coffee as much as the next guy. But our patterns of behavior and consumption must be a means to better living rather than an end to itself. We ought to strive for quality over quantity – satisfaction over accumulation.
In a place and time where wealth and opportunities are scarce, we always need to come to terms on a daily basis with the choice of either fending for ourselves or to aiding those in dire situations. We are faced with the challenge of overcoming our baser instincts of survival to live in a higher plane of existence as rational and compassionate human beings. This is the cost of our freedom -- responsibility over our own circles of influence, never cowering from these difficult but necessary decisions. We are free and we have no choice but to be free -- no other choice but to face the chain of consequences that our actions bear. We can choose to add to the suffering or to supply reprieve.
This is our challenge. And it is only right that we grab a chance to review our lives and what we’ve done with our gifts, our wealth and our power. When we use them the way they ought to be used, we create meaning. We transform work into love and power into inspiration. We become people worth imitating – people that others can be proud of.
So this brand new year can be our opportunity to look into the recent past and see how many lives we’ve improved including our own. Did we act as animals or as human being free from our own destructive tendencies? Every day is a chance to be better than who you were yesterday. And that is all we really need to do to be truly free.
Cheers to a wonderful 2009.
Good evening friends.
A colleague of mine who has family in Lebanon emailed me last night about what happened. Five days ago, Israeli Jet fighters indiscriminately bombed Lebanon in response to the kidnapping of two of their soldiers. 60 Lebanese are dead and 150 are wounded (and my friends, the next time you read the papers and find the word wounded, this does not mean people with chicken scratches… these include people who have had their legs amputated or their eyes gouged out). Men, women, and children. No exceptions.
For those of you who are familiar with the principle of proportionality, this is definitely not it. Israel receives $3 billion in military aid from the United States every year. Their military technology is second to none. Nukes, warplanes, satellite capabilities… believe me, if you see it in the movies, the Israelis have it. Lebanon has old guns, old rockets and a few helicopters that were used during the Vietnam War. Go figure.
Many Lebanese are fleeing to neighboring countries as refugees. This happened five days ago and the fires in Lebanon have not yet been extinguished completely.
Why am I talking about a country hundreds of miles away? On the night of the 70th Anniversary of the Ateneo Law School why on Earth am I talking about war? Because, my friends, I want to clarify what we are celebrating tonight. It does not matter if we call ourselves Ateneans. It does not matter if we are Christian by name. It does not matter if we are Filipinos by birth. These things will not matter if we do not choose to be human first – if we do not feel the plight of our fellow human beings, empathize with their suffering and choose to respond accordingly. Was this not the same desire of San Ignacio and San Francisco Xavier?
I have been working with the Ateneo Human Rights Center for almost three years now and I can strongly say that these years have been the most difficult and the most precious moments of my life. My work has brought me to the mountains of Mindoro and Tarlac, to the jails of Metro Manila, to the remotest barrios of Northern Mindanao and, most recently, to the former border between East and West Germany. There are many places that need us – many voices that call upon us. There is human suffering in so many places and we have a choice on whether to respond to them or to ignore them completely.
Human rights is about facelessness. It is about extinguishing the borders and differences that make us unequal in our rights. It is about recognizing that we are all human beings complete in dignity. If you had noticed, at the start of this speech I did not greet anyone by the titles that we have grown so accustomed to: Attorney, Doctor, Professor. These are not titles of respect. These are mere titles of classification – formalities. People who address us as such do not necessarily respect us; chances are they do it out of habit or because they are expected to. These titles tell people what studies you finished not who you are. The only title that gives genuine respect is what I used to address all of you tonight: friends.
So my friends, on this 70th Anniversary, we honor our school because it has given us the opportunity to be great people. The key word here is opportunity. To say that every Atenean is great is just plain ignorance. Not every Atenean is a Bobby Gana or an Ed Nolasco. We have Ateneans who cheat on their taxes, bribe government officials, or manipulate election returns. There are Ateneans who lie, murder and rape as if they were uneducated and uncivilized. The word Atenean is, likewise, just a title that describes where you studied. Never be fooled by titles.
Our school is great because it offers us a shot at greatness. For those who choose not to take this chance, they have only themselves to blame. For those people who have taken this opportunity to become greater than mere titles, this night is for you.
How does one become great? Do what you do best no matter what it may be. We can be good at so many things but we can only be excellent in a few. Find those talents, skills or dreams you are superior in and lose yourself in them. Strive to outdo yourself every single day.
Not all of us can be Justices of the Supreme Court. Not all of us can be working for the United Nations or Amnesty International. Not all of us can be priests, pastors, imams or religious leaders. And I am very sure not all of us will turn out to be practicing lawyers.
Find your place. You may be an excellent debater… go, compete and argue your heart out. If you love books, you might want to start writing one of your own. If you excel in sports then try going pro. Every single day, we are tempted to forego the excellent for the good. So much time is wasted in doing good. Like I said, there are many people and places that need us. In this short lifetime, we just have to find where we are needed the most and stay there. We each can find our own ways of inspiring people and changing the world. Pray through the work that you do and do it with magnificent passion. That, my friends, is heroism. That is what the Atenean ought to be.
If ten or twenty years from now, you become role-models in your respective fields and someone asks you if being an Atenean had anything to do with your success. By all means say yes. But don’t forget to tell them that: Ateneo gave me the shot and I took it.
Have a good evening.
