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Friday, July 08, 2005
Roperos: Swirling ‘devastation’
By Godofredo M. Roperos
Politics Also
It’s like having been overwhelmed by succeeding typhoons with winds beyond 500 kilometers per hour, the way the Philippines look after opposition leaders did the things they thought would get them back into political power earlier than 2010.
It is really painful on the part of those who have tasted power to find themselves suddenly without it. To be only on the periphery of the power center when one should have been right there “where the action is, where history is being made.”
What I wish to bring about here is the slowly unraveling mystery behind the tapes that appeared in the national scene from nowhere, sowing political chaos in their wake, and causing a near-collapse of the Arroyo government.
It is being alleged now that some personages in the ranks of the opposition worked behind the scenes to rock the Arroyo government in the obvious hope that its “rafters” would weaken enough and collapse.
On the surface, the scenario would seem magnanimous and motivated by a deep concern for the national welfare. But on closer scrutiny, it is inlaid with what appears to be an overriding desire to attain political power again by any means.
While it is true, and this I agree, that the aspirations of certain opposition members are legitimate and sound, what these aspirations may have failed to consider is the impact they would have on the overall national welfare.
Indeed, the prevailing condition of the country has become so frail and shaky any further action that, like a typhoon, would blow against it might cause a devastation so difficult to cope and would rend asunder the very roots of our existence as a free and sovereign nation.
Lest I be accused of being overly melodramatic, let us assess some of the “devastation” the country has experienced.
First is the slowdown in the entry of direct investors into the country. Second is the weakening again of the value of the peso. Third is the people’s sense of political insecurity. Finally, there’s the psychologically debilitating perception of the people here and abroad that the Philippines has become an Asian region basket case.
Indeed, our national leaders appear to have done nothing through the decades to make this nation truly strong and powerful. And so did the individual citizen.
Through the years, it seems this nation’s history has always been attended with swirls of devastation that kept its social, political, and economic stability always as an on-and-off affair. Filipinos were never extended the opportunity to develop strong enough roots to establish a nation with formidable structure.
Pursuit of personal political power has always ruled our times. How else do you think did power politics and political “warlordism” came about with their attendant political rivalries and feuds?
Add on top of them, election fraud and terrorism, vote-buying, graft and corruption in public office, with the naked use of political influence to serve personal political interest, and we have the formula of the national devastation such what we are experiencing now.
Sadly, these features of our national society have become part of our culture as a nation. I think it is time we should strive to extricate ourselves from this political quicksand.
(July 8, 2005 issue)
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