A Happy New Year to you, notwithstanding

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

A Happy New Year to you, notwithstanding
Sunday, 12 30, 2007

For 363 days now, by turns, critic after critic, whether civilian, politician, newsman, or military man, has 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, diminished corruption – 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 in the Palace by the stinking river would lend a heedful, if not compassionate, ear to these voices, with two days before the end of the year. These pleas would probably suffer the fate of the countless dispossessed and disappeared, the Sumilao farmers, and lately, again, the Magdalo bunch whose dreams refuse to die. Theirs are words left twisting in the wind, and I am afraid; I have become very much afraid. Day after day events unfold that bode ill for the country.

Past events in the run-up to the New Year have revealed the spontaneous and vigorous expression of the real feelings of the people. They all unveiled a picture of a country enmeshed in a state of deep political and economic turmoil.

The winds of change are blowing, but those who hold the reins of government cannot feel their deathly chill. Are they waiting for the day when the raging flames of a nationwide conflagration jolt them out of their indifference? Or are their senses and sensibilities attuned only to the following exhortation in Deteriorata, the inscription we stumbled upon on the gravestone of the late lamented Dy Mukra Sia along that golden boulevard by the bay:

Go blithely amid the noise and waste, and confound the masses by invoking executive privilege, your right to remain silent or your right to privacy. As far as possible without being obvious, do not trust persons close to you, not even your personal lawyer, or your son, or your meddlesome spouse.

Dissemble quietly but firmly, and do not believe things 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 with your brilliance, dazzle them with your bullshit.

You are in a position like no other: You are above the law, being either a lackey or a friend of the powerful. Dismiss the plight of the common man as a mere figment of the 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-terminus 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 is full of envy. But let this not harden your heart to what personal initiative others have; many persons would just conclude a shady deal as what you are doing, and they would do it the first chance they get.

Keep reinventing yourself. Neither believe your detractors; for in the face of all that noble talk about honesty and incorruptibility, contrary to the index of all conceivable anti-corruption groups and survey outfits, 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, surreptitiously erasing the paper trail of your plunder and thievery. Develop a thick hide to protect you from the slings of subsequent investigations, exposés and revelations après le deluge. Better yet, do not get caught, to avoid the aggravations of a Senate inquiry. 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 high roller customs collectors, Yale-educated lawyers with their sidekicks masquerading as anti-corruption crusaders, and no more than the bribe-taking policemen down the street, you have a place in the society of impunity. 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 Lady in the Palace by the stinking river, however, evil and unctuous you conceive her to be. And whatever your mental reservations, keep in mind that she is where the money is coming from, in brown envelopes or straight to your account. Despite 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 rainbow coalition. Keep your chip up. Everything is under control.

With all its sham, drudgery, broken dreams and broken hotel doors, it is still a beautiful Philippines and a New Year happier than mine will descend upon you in two days and stay each day with you until 2010, and beyond!

I am on a plane, on my way home to celebrate New Year with my family, especially my granddaughter Kaitlyn Guilianna (Crinkle) Raval Gandionco. How blessed Crinkle is! She is yet unaware of the dark and dreary pall of silent desperation that now envelops the nation as the New Year draws near. And may God bless her if she inherits a Philippines that adheres to that Deteriorata.

So, my wish? Let’s enjoy the remaining two days of 2007 while we still can. And look forward to a 2008 that promises to be a good one, even if someone has written of the worst yet to come. And let us remember that Christ is the reason for the season.

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