Deteriorata

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Deteriorata
Sunday, 11 09, 2003

The country’s current state of affairs has never been more clearly delineated than that which is happening in the political roadshow currently being conducted by members of the opposition led by Sen. Edgardo Angara. Launched in Baguio last Thursday, this group harkens back to the medieval days when a close-knit troupe traveled throughout the width and breadth of the land proclaiming the message. This time through, the Angara Cavalcade (for want of a suitable name, we’ll call it that) is an amorphous collection of public officials and concerned citizens who have decided that the best approach they could adopt to hear the message from the people is to be up-close-and-personal with them. There are no permanent members in the group; as it goes from place to place, it will draw its cast of characters from the residents of the locale. Eschewing the traditional methods, the Angara Cavalcade is a spontaneous and vigorous expression of the real feelings of the people. And indeed, the Baguio roadshow unveiled a picture of a country enmeshed in a state of deep political and economic turmoil. By turns, speaker after speaker voiced out his own desiderata – a list of things desired, such as good governance, social justice, a balanced economy, a change in the body politic – in the hope that the very intensity of their voices will reach the ears of people who are safely ensconced at Malacañang.

The cynic that I am, I doubt if the Lady there would lend a compassionate ear to these voices. These plea would probably suffer the fate of the countless dispossessed and disappeared, the Magdalo bunch and, lately, former Air Transportation Office chief Panfilo Villaroel whose words of disillusionment we heard over the radio before he was mercilessly terminated just before dawn at the NAIA II control tower. I am afraid; I have become very afraid. Day after day events unfold that bode of ill for the country.

The winds of change are blowing, but those who hold the reins of government cannot feel its deadly chill. Are they waiting for the day when the raging flames of a nationwide conflagration jolt them out of this indifference? Or do their senses and sensibilities respond only to the following exhortation in Deteriorata, the inscription we stumbled upon on the gravestone of the late lamented D. Mukra Cia along Edsa:

“Go blithely amid the noise and waste and confound the masses by invoking your right to remain silent. As far a possible without being obvious, do not trust persons close to you, not even your personal messenger.

“Dissemble quietly but clearly, and do not believe anything you read in the papers against yourself; they are just a rehash of stale issues and are only printed because there is nothing your enemies could pin on you. Avoid facing the media; they are vexations to the spirit. But if you must, be very loud and aggressive – if you cannot convince them your innocence, dazzle them with your bullshit.

“You are in a position like no other; you are above the law, being either a lackey of Malacañang or a friend of the appointing powers. Dismiss the plight of the common man as a mere figment of imagination of moist-eyed, amateur politicians and starving columnists.

“Enjoy your ill-gained wealth and keep amassing more, after having opened an untraceable account in some bank in Hong Kong or Switzerland. Take pride in your own co-terminous government career; it will ensure your possessions when political fortunes are reversed in the changing of the times.

“Be wily like a snake in your business transactions, for the world id full of envy. But let this not harden your heart to what personal initiative others have; many persons would just as conclude a shady deal as what you are doing, and they would do it the first chance they get.

“Keep reinventing yourself. Specially do not get caught. Neither believe your detractors; for in the face of all that talk about honesty and incorruptibility, money still talks louder than words and conveniently erases the qualms of a guilty conscience, of which you have none.

“Take advantage of the remaining days of the year and the few months of the next, surreptitiously erasing proof of your plunder and thievery. Develop a thick hide to protect you from the slings of subsequent investigations, exposés and revelations après le deluge. But do not overly distress yourself with imagined nightmares. Many anxieties are just a product of a guilty mind.

“Beyond your avarice and greed, do not be too harsh on yourself. You are a child of a government culture that pays no heed to voices raised against the wind; no less than the Lady at the Palace and no more than the bribe-taking policemen down the street, you have a place in the scheme of things. And whether it is finally obvious to you, the national coffers are there for the plundering and if you don’t do it now someone else will.

“Therefore align yourself with the ruling party, however evil and unctuous you conceive it to be. And whatever your mental reservations, keep in mind that it’s where the money is coming from. With all the sound and fury from the opposition, it still pays to belong to the administration – until the next elections when you can again conveniently join the next coalition. Keep your chin up. Everything is under control.”


For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

The Daily Tribune © 2003