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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Maxey: Remembering Rizal
By Ram Maxey
Bar None
I WATCHED on television the dousing with a water cannon of the frontline of opposition marchers at the Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge in Manila the other night. Thoroughly drenched along with the other lesser lights were such big guns of the opposition like former vice president Teofisto "Tito" Guingona Jr. (why is he always smiling?), Senator Jamby Madrigal, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and running priest Fr. Robert Reyes among others.
The marchers were "fired" upon when they tried to march through Mendiola St., which was declared by authorities off-limits to rallyists. The marchers had been allowed to do their thing at Plaza Miranda that had become the traditional venue for those who stage protests for redress of grievances against the government.
History tells us that it was the late President Ramon Magsaysay who once asked Malacañang advisers whether a certain government policy could be "defended at Plaza Miranda". He didn't say Mendiola.
By opting to march to Mendiola the rallyists, instead of holding their prayer-rally at Plaza Miranda, chose to challenge government authority, which in that instance was represented by a phalanx of policemen who had orders to prevent the rallyists from entering Mendiola.
Disciplined policemen merely follow orders. In that Mendiola caper, they exercised what has been described as calibrated preemptive response (CPR) through the use of a water cannon. The purpose was to stop the marchers in their tracks but not to cause them grave injury.
But the marchers defied authority. Hence, the provocation came from them. There are four colleges along Mendiola St. and at that hour thousands of students were entitled to respect from their elders represented by former students like Guingona et al. That was not the right place or the right time for a prayer-rally which the students hadn't asked for anyway. What was wrong with holding such a prayer-rally in Plaza Miranda where the rallyists had a permit to hold it in the first place?
What's so special about senators, representatives, members of the clergy--and even a former vice president for that matter--that they cannot be called to account for breaking the law? Is Fr. Robert Reyes exempt from arrest if he breaks traffic rules just because he is a priest? Aw, c'mon...
I lost much respect for Fr. Robert Reyes when he cowered under fire of the water cannon. He should have stood his ground, be a hero with head held high in defiance of the CPR in the form of a barrage from a water cannon. After all, it was only water. Dr. Jose P. Rizal did not flinch when he stood before a firing squad on the field of Bagumbayan that early morning of December 30, 1896 calmly waiting for real bullets--not water--to slam into his body.
But then, he was Dr. Jose P. Rizal.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (October 18, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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