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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Wenceslao: Rage building up within
By Bong O. Wenceslao
There are embers that do not cool off even with the passing of the years; instead, some burst into flame again once fanned by the black wind. I was a fresh elementary school graduate when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, and thus grew up witnessing the abuses. That lit up the fire in my belly, pushing me to fight the good fight.
I once wondered whether the rage, cooled by age and the toppling of the Marcos dictatorship, would envelope me again. But times have changed, I told myself. Marcos is dead, the democratic space has widened. A return to authoritarian rule, constriction of democratic space---these won’t happen, I reckoned; won’t heat up a cooling ember.
Then came the black wind. President Arroyo declared a state of national emergency. A newspaper was raided, sparking worries among media practitioners. A crackdown is ongoing---arrests here, the filing of charges there: first in trickles then suddenly becoming a deluge. The nightmare is back and with it, yes, the rage within.
If we give the Arroyo administration an inch, would it continue pushing us off the cliff? Many of us did give this government the benefit of the doubt, and only because we hate the alternative. I fought the Marcos dictatorship, so I could never link arms with an Imee Marcos. And I could never clap for a JV Ejercito or Jinggoy Estrada. But now, this?
That freedom should be defended at all cost is already a cliché. That it is better abused than curtailed more so. Those who lived through or fought Martial Law once used these clichés as their mantra. When I think of those years when government controlled the media and people were arrested on a whim, one phrase rings true: Never again!
Indeed, never again should we give up our freedom for such terms as public good and national security. When Marcos declared Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972, many did clap their hands, unfortunately believing in the lie that, “sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan.” In the end, we all rued the day we were lulled into complacency.
Today, a declaration of a state of national emergency. Tomorrow, what? So rage, rage against the dying of the light.
TEXTREAX. Jojo Lim of Guadalupe, Cebu City texted this message for Marine Col. Ariel Querubin: A good soldier obeys orders and follows the chain of command. If you cannot do that, be a barangay tanod na lang.”
From an unidentified texter: “The road that stretches before the feet of a man is a challenge to his heart long before it tests the strength of his legs.”
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (March 1, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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