E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Voice of the People
Sunday, 07 03, 2005
Last December, I wrote of images that I thought would probably stay etched in our memories for quite some time. I was wrong. Displaced now in the picture albums of our minds are these scenes: an old woman from Sorsogon huddled in a corner of Santo Domingo Church, silently weeping for Fernando Poe Jr.; a bushy-browed politician shedding crocodile tears as he self-consciously condoled with the rest of the nation; a funeral march of millions; container vans barricading the Palace in reaction to a rumor that a howling mob was all set up to storm its gates.
These images have since given way to a pervading sense of national shame, when the country was adjudged the second most corrupt country in the world, a feeling that segued into a steadily mounting distrust and anger directed at the Administration when people in high places were denounced as coddlers and beneficiaries of millions from jueteng. Then came the can of worms known as The Gloria-Garci Tapes.
What followed was a cacophony of sound bytes and a blitzkrieg of images: calls for resignation, the bungled efforts at cover-up, the obsequies of self-appointed apologists flippantly discrediting the contents of the tapes as a scenario for destabilization, rumors of an imminent junta. The nation was even astounded by the artfully contrite expression on Gloria’s face when, after three weeks of silence, she admitted talking on the phone to a Comelec official, while all the time insisting that this "lapse in judgment" was meant "not to influence the outcome of the election" but merely to protect her vote. And having said she was sorry, Gloria tried to fish for compassion by announcing that she was exiling her husband so that she could get on with the expedient business of governing.
And barely had Gloria’s strident voice of expediency died down when the voice of Jesusa Sonora Poe, aka Susan Roces, rose in counterpoint for all the nation to hear: May kasabihan tayong mga Pilipino: Ang sinungaling ay kapatid ng magnanakaw!” Susan Roces finally fulfilled a promise she made in December, that she will be the Voice of the People. This time, she minced no words in denouncing the immorality of a stolen election. Speaking in a voice quivering with the hurt and anger that has stayed dammed up all these days, she declared: “Nakalulungkot at nakagagalit ang kasalukuyang pangyayari. Noon ang sumusupil sa ating karapatan at nanglalamang sa atin ay ang mga dayuhan na sumakop sa ating bayan. Ngunit sa kasalukuyan, ang nanlalamang at kumikitil sa ating mga karapatan ay sarili nating kalahi at kadugo.”
No less than Corazon Aquino herself congratulated Susan Roces on “the passion of her speech and the sincerity of her convictions.”
It was not the voice of an aggrieved widow that we heard, but the voice of morality, exhorting us not to forgive evil by excusing it, by tolerating it after it has been smothered by “an act of sacrifice” on the part of the evil-doer. Just like Darna pitted against the snake-haired Valentina, we should confront the evil full in the face, call it by the moral abomination that it is, and not a “lapse of judgment” by one who should know better. We should let its disgusting face shock and stun and anger us.
The country needs anger now. How long have we continued to allow evil because we have not been angry enough! Forgiveness is the not the answer to Gloria’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.
So we applaud the courage and anger of Susan Roces, because her denunciation has freed us from the bondage of irrational trepidation. What she said were things we have always wanted to say but were frustrated at every turn by the apparatus of manipulation and deceit controlled by the Palace.
I once wrote that Susan Roces need not join the political Opposition, and that she is better off doing things on her own, in her own way, at a time of her own choosing. Thankfully, this unsolicited advice was heeded when, asked if she would lead a campaign to force Gloria to resign, she said: “Ayokong haluan ito ng pulitika.” For as long there is a Susan Roces who speaks her inner truths quietly but clearly, without being captive to labels, she will remain credible and believable.
So we applaud the courage and anger of Susan Roces, because her denunciation has freed us from the bondage of irrational trepidation. What she said were things we have always wanted to say but were frustrated at every turn by the apparatus of manipulation and deceit controlled by the Palace.
I once wrote that Susan Roces need not join the political Opposition, and that she is better off doing things on her own, in her own way, at a time of her own choosing. Thankfully, this unsolicited advice was heeded when, asked if she would lead a campaign to force Gloria to resign, she said: “Ayokong haluan ito ng pulitika.” For as long there is a Susan Roces who speaks her inner truths quietly but clearly, without being captive to labels, she will remain credible and believable.
At the risk of plagiarizing myself, I say again that Susan Roces is the new face of the people against a bad and insensitive government. She is critical without being offensive; combative without being obnoxious; effective without being malleable. She is credible without effort; articulate without the frills; honest without being obsequious; sincere, sharp, forthright, incisive and precise in her statements. And, Susan Roces does not carry the grime and has not been tainted with the filth often generated by those in the political arena.
For a year now, those opposed to Gloria had been in a debacle, not so much because they were robbed of the victory at the presidential polls, but more because they have not found a way to unite and carry on the fight. Might not the fractious Opposition, just like the hopeful ordinary millions, now look to Susan Roces? Susan Roces not as a leader, but the exemplar on how one might deal with a government that is immensely immoral and corrupt, and insensitive to the people’s needs.
As for the rest of the nation, each Filipino must now decide for himself what is expedient and what is moral, which choice is patriotic and which isn't. We should not shirk this obligation if we still hope to live with ourselves. If we decide against our conviction, we will have reduced ourselves into qualified and unexcusable traitors, both to ourselves and to the country.
Listen once again to this righteous anger of Susan Roces: Nasa taongbayan ang pagpapasiya. Naranasan na nila ang Edsa I, II, III. May nabago ba? Kailangan suriin natin sa ating mga isip kung ano ang gusto nating klaseng pamumuno.
All Susan Roces has to do now is give flesh to what she said when she cautioned: “I do not have an army at my command. But if someone takes the lead at the propitious moment, I am ready!”
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