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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Aguilar: Lord please help my country!
By George Aguilar
Rational Animal
I SPENT Holy Week in Metro Manila mainly to be with a brother who arrived from the US. Besides, from past experiences, the most pleasant time to be in this huge and over crowded city is during holy week when most Metro Manila residents leave for the provinces. This particular visit wasn't pleasant though. I perceived signs of trouble in Metro Manila last week. I really hope I'm wrong on this but it may be prudent to submit said perceptions just in case.
First of all, not too many people left for the provinces during Holy Week in Metro Manila this year. During the "bisita iglesia" the streets were full of people walking to the different churches at night. Normally this would be a good sign that show that our people remain to be religious and loyal to our cultural practices. But those people chose to stay behind rather than to return to their hometowns to do the "bisita iglesia" there. Perhaps the term "chose" is inappropriate because those people didn't really have a choice regarding the matter of returning home. It may have been the case that those same people chose
to stay put in Metro Manila because times were hard and they didn't have the money to travel long distances.
My siblings and I went to Ayala Alabang, a posh subdivision south of the Makati district, to visit the crypt of my grandfather under St. James. Lo and behold the rich residents were there in droves, alighting from there SUVs to visit the church and light a few candles. This phenomenon made me change my hypothesis that only the poor people chose to remain behind in Metro Manila because they didn't have the travel money to do otherwise. Those people, with their fancy clothes and nice cars, could have easily afforded to spend Good Friday somewhere else where it was cooler.
Perhaps those rich people chose to stay at home to escape from the horrendous traffic along the north and south superhighways that comes about during Holy Week. Maybe they were people like me who lived outside Metro Manila and chose to spend Holy Week with their relatives there. But I doubt the latter thesis because there were just too many of them at St. James. This also doesn't explain why the people, poor or rich alike, were doing the rounds of going to different churches rather than enjoying the long weekend doing more mundane things as many folks have done in past years. Perhaps they just didn't feeling like spending money, even if they could afford it, during these trying times.
The answer may lie in sentiment as well as in economics. I also sensed feelings of despair and apprehension from people belonging to all sectors in Metro Manila during my last visit there. My uncle, whom I have always admired for his practical but insightful views, told me that people were uncertain and afraid about the future in Metro Manila. He said that the poor were not only feeling uncertain but were angry simply because they were going hungry. He said that the Filipino is patient but only for as long as there is still some food to eat. Because most of the poor in Metro Manila are down to eating only one full meal a day, consisting mostly of instant noodles that has little nutritional value, he was afraid that violence may erupt soon.
These feelings of uncertainty and fear may be a major reason why the churches were full in Metro Manila last Holy Week. When hard time comes people find their refuge in religion and traditions that bring about more feelings of certainty and stability.
While religion is always a good thing, the religiosity I saw in Metro Manila last week was also a bit unsettling. I saw the poverty there while passing through the shantytowns and I felt the anger that the some people flashed at me when they saw that I was full while they and their children were hungry. I heard people who weren't poor, even those from the wealthiest class, complain about the state of things from politics, to bad governance, to the fake cha-cha, to the lack of investments and business opportunities brought about by too many rallies and political squabbling. I felt small and afraid and so I knelt and prayed " Lord please help my country in these trying times."
(April 18, 2006 issue)
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