Between Cynicism and Stoicism

A Reaction: P.Noy’s SONA, July 2012

President Benigno Aquino III opened his SONA by greeting some honorable guests and by addressing the Filipino people as his bosses. This gives emphasis to the president’s advocacy to democracy and the Republic, where the government is by the people and for the people.

His controversial enactment of the Anti Wang-wang policy few years ago roused the interest of the public. Some say it is irrelevant and it was criticized by many. Yet, Aquino justifies the Anti Wang-wang policy and how it was meant to jumpstart his administration’s advocacy against corruption towards social justice and equality.

He said, “It has been two years since you (the Filipino people) said, we are tired of corruption and of poverty. It is time to restore a government that is truly on the side of the people.”

President Noynoy has been clear about his propaganda back in the last presidential elections. His campaign against corruption was what put him in his position as President of the Republic of the Philippines. He constantly reminds the people that he does not, and will never forget why he was elected.

Though, I still think it was kind of irrelevant and “political” to mention their family’s suffering during the Marcos regime. The Marcos regime is part of every Filipino’s history, whether they have lived through those years or not. The Martial Law is a sensitive, communal memory of the people and their posterity; and need not be brought up. It was, for me, like a cheap way of commemorating his father’s, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., glory and heroism. Really, Noynoy should stop being in the shadows of his “glorified” parents.

 He should, instead, let the people see him as a different individual that has become the president of the Philippines at his own right through the people, and not because he was only put into power for the reason that he was an offspring of two parents with political and charismatic genes.

Though, yes, he wouldn’t have been where he is if not for the status of his family and the Filipino’s patronizing to late Ninoy and Cory Cojuangco Aquino, but, election is over, and this SONA— is his.

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President Noynoy has been sadly tagged as “incompentent” especially at the start of his regime and that infamous bus incident only made things worse for him. In address to this, the president’s SONA highlighted the achievements of his administration so far. He proves to the people that statistics and data would disprove the false accusations of him being an idle president.

He emphasized that it was a difficult start because he didn’t have enough to start with in the first place. The previous administrations left him nothing but debts to pay. Money in the bank was negative, and he is pressured to pay those debts in a span of six years! That seemed an impossible task given that these debts were carried over since Marcos’s time. Really, what can one person do? And then there are these groups of people frantically rallying and causing riot on the streets without even understanding first. I mean, I am on Noynoy’s side on this one.

And calm your horses! I still have to get to the good part—

“Tayo na ang nagpapautang.”, said P. Noy. The Philippines is now an active player in the economy of Asia. GDP has earned a 6.4% growth. President Aquino reported results of our economic gains! Multi-national companies are interested in the Philippines once again and have started to invest once more in our country. The country has regained the trust of foreign investors!  And as the president said, it is all because the country is open for business under new management.

According to the President’s report, we have achieved change, and moreover, progress. We have now developments in education, budget on classrooms and textbooks for learning, the PhilHealth where free health medications for the poorest families and health benefits for everyone are made available, modernization of the Philippine Army, Housing programs, the establishment and empowerment of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), more job opportunities and TESDA, funds and developments in Research and the DOST, better transportation due to road constructions, new highways and railways, and even new airports.

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I’d like to believe that the data and results provided to the people are legit and not manipulated. And I guess, I am more inclined to think that it is true. Few months ago, I was still studying in Manila and there had been developments observed in the metro. After 3 years, just this November of last year, I went home here in Iloilo and saw how much this city has developed from the time I left it. You can see the results in the eyes of a common citizen. This SONA, for me, has been generally straight forward, informative, and useful. Now, the people shall expect more from the administration and I hope the president lives through the expectations as he did at the start of his term.

History

There was never history. It was always about the present.

This is the best insight I got from the movie, “The History Boys”. I shall quote Tom Irwin when he said, “But this is History. Distance yourselves. Our perspective on the past alters. Looking back, immediately in front of us is dead ground. We don’t see it, and because we don’t see it this means that there is no period so remote as the recent past. And one of the historian’s jobs is to anticipate what our perspective of that period will be… even on the Holocaust. ”

I don’t think there is even a need to elaborate the latter. The words were clear and straightforward.

We look back and see things in our perspective. Our perspective is because of what is happening around us at present. We have no right to claim we know or understand how the nomads lived and first settled beside the river of Ganges, nor do we have the right to judge Hitler or Stalin. We do not even know if the history we know of holds true or is simply a fiction written by Homer when he was bored of Illiad. Rene Descartes would even scare you by saying that everything you see and come to know is a mere projection of your mind. Although I believe that Descartes is some sort of nut job and considering things only at the end of the spectrum.

Have you also noticed that History is all about man’s victories and incapability with women following around carrying a bucket, as Dorothy would describe? It is patriarchal, therefore, biased. So can we really rely on the knowledge we have of our past?

I do not suggest that we burn our history books because, everything should be represented, therefore named— the reason why Thomas Hardy made a poem about the soldier named, “Drummer Hodge”.

We know of the past, but we will always know so little.

Blessing

As Plato would say, more people means more conflicts.

Fr. Luis David, a Jesuit priest himself, believes that we should not be swayed by the overly conservative members of the church against the bill which is actually beneficial for women.

This entry is not about the worn out RH bill, though. This is about the reality of idiocy, selfishness, animal instincts, and hypothalamus hyperactivity.

Just recently, I was able to read Ellson A. Quismorio’s (Manila Bulletin, July 11, 2011) article on Nerissa and Jimmy Gallo of Tondo, Manila.

Nerissa (43) gave her husband Jimmy (45) a total of 16 children, but unfortunately, four died of a disease and two were estranged for reasons I don’t really give a shit about and neither does Quismorio. That leaves the couple with 10 children probably running around Tondo butt-naked during the day.

Four daughters-in-law and four grandchildren also stay with them. Twenty people inside a room which Quismorio described as a box serving as their living room, dining room, and bed room (I still wonder how they managed to end up with 16 children with this setting). The outdoors serve as their rest room. They call this matchbox their “house”. They did not even bother with the compartmentalization of their matchbox house.

Although Quismorio ended the article with admiration for their efforts in struggling against poverty and being “happy” and “blessed” with so many children, I had this crease on my forehead spelling out the word, “bullshit”.

Seriously? They even think that this is what God planned for them? Then that’s “their” god. Their god must be a very unjust, or rather, a sadistic god who takes pleasure in the sad misfortune poverty brings, or probably a pedophile god with fetish for children running around naked with their exposed organs dangling. God bless their souls!

“We don’t mind being poor as long as we are together,” Jimmy said.

Ten uneducated children? Four dead and two estranged? Well now Mr. Gallo should probably mind because his six children departed and they aren’t with them anymore. I would really like to ask him what he means with the word, “together”. Together lang siguro sa kung sino ang matitira. 

Nerissa knew she had to take the pills as early as 1990— four years after their marriage. Because of this, she did not bear a child from 1990-1994.

But as I said earlier, this entry is about the reality of idiocy, selfishness, animal instincts, and hypothalamus hyperactivity.

Nerissa stopped taking the pills because she said it was, “nakakatamad”.

Here, I would quote Quismoro’s paragraph:

“The woman also candidly recounted one “hot” night with her Jimmy, who tried on a condom. “He took off the condom midway. He did not like the feeling of it.”

She expressed her intent of having her tubes tied but Mr. Gallo did not allow it.

What’s her best solution now? She said, “I think I’m too old for ligation now. I’ll just wait for my menopause.” When asked if she regrets having so many children, “God gave them to us, so we have no regrets in having them.”

She should not have regret. After all, it’s too late for that and would not change anything anymore, but is this really God’s will for them? Or is it the tendencies of the ignorant and uneducated? They are not to blame. They are actually victims. Whatever has affected their way of thinking, lack of self control, poverty, and illiteracy roots in the imbalance of our society. We all are to blame. God has nothing to do with this and most of all, God does not bless us this way.

Going back to the RH bill (because it seems relevant), if the bill could alleviate situations like these even just a bit, then there is no need to act conservative and put on a mask of holiness amidst the harsh reality. Are you really preserving life by keeping things the way they are at the moment? Well, to speak of virtue and what to do is not the solution at the moment. It’s too late for that.