So-Yeung: Fantasy/reality

Friday, July 15, 2011

VERAKAI! A few weeks ago, my husband and I saw Cirque du Soleil perform in Manila. It was a visual masterpiece. Vividly colorful costumes, breathtaking stunts and special lighting effects created a fantasy world for young and old alike.

The characters moved as if devoid of bones but packed with fluid muscle. Girls danced and contorted, folding their backs effortlessly. Performers twirled around in the air, while one hung onto a hula hoop just with her toes.

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Magic. The audience was transported into a fantasy world, swept up in a story filled with music, French accents, over-the-top costumes and funny, weird, and joyful characters. Though the ticket price was steep, it was worth it. We were transported into a world of wonder.

Fast forward to present and I, and the rest of the Philippine nation, are seeing another fantastical play unfold, though this time in the political realm. Compared to the magical and fun-filled afternoon watching Verakai, however, this one is no picnic in the park.

Consider the emerging cast of characters and the opening act. Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao and member of an infamous political family, comes forward and points fingers.

He volunteers to be a state witness against his own father and brother regarding the 2009 Maguindanao massacre. He bares that his former close ally and ex-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did indeed cheat in elections. He says that some candidates in the 2007 senate race earned not a single vote in his region due to Malacañang electioneering. Of course, he was careful not to implicate himself in the maneuvering that supposedly gave now Senator Miguel Zubiri some extra points.

Perhaps he points in order to distract the public from his own blood-stained hands. Perhaps he wants to save his skin by offering documentary proofs that could bag bigger catches. Whatever the reason, Zaldy Ampatuan is grabbing headlines and throwing big numbers like P200 million, as in the amount of kickbacks GMA received from Mindanao infrastructure projects.

Aside from these allegations, there is the scandal involving SUVs, bishops of the Catholic Church, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and a priest's cringe-worthy letter announcing his upcoming birthday and a request for a gift from the then president GMA. (How ironic it would have been if the request was for a Porsche, since the Church was one of the most vocal institutions that criticized President Noynoy Aquino's purchase of the secondhand luxury car.)

Oh Philippines, my Philippines. Just a month after celebrating Independence Day and Jose Rizal's 150th birthday, here we are again, embroiled in more embarrassing mess involving top political officials.

Reading the newspapers feels surreal, as if wading through a fictional narrative filled with extraordinary characters yapping away like animals in a zoo. This is no fun. This is reality that should be part of a movie instead; one where we rail on the bad guys, cheer on the good guy and emerge from the theater breathing a sigh of relief that the whole thing is not real. Except, this IS real and the good guy still has not shown up.

Does it even matter if there is a good guy in reality? It might matter in fantasy where a clear narrative is needed to satisfy the audience. Reality tries to satisfy no one and thus no clear narrative is needed. Whereas we demand a clear resolution in movies or plays, reality does not bow to our needs. In reality, the bad guy often seems to get away with things.

A family that kills their enemies, a president who takes millions of public funds, officials that make votes disappear, church leaders who ask for cars, parents who neglect their children, employees who steal and lie at work, students who bully the weak and different, reality offers up characters that make us want to puke and wish we're sucked into Verakai instead.

But, sometimes reality can be better than fantasy. If we decide not to be mere audiences and participate, and demand for actual change to happen, for perpetuators to face consequences, for justice to take place. This is the only aspect of reality that surpasses fantasy, the opportunity for the "audience" to jump in and take part in the story.

(Jocy L. So-Yeung teaches at Davao Christian High School.)