Monday, April 14, 2008 Editorial: Lessons from Jun
EVERYBODY'S panicking about the rice crisis. People who used to buy rice twice a week or so are lining up NFA rice stalls from opening time till end of the day.
People watch with trepidation as prices of commercial varieties change, benchmarking their exclamations and conversations on the lowest priced variety, no longer minding the ones that have exceeded P40 per kilo.
Forgotten amid the trepidation are the broiling protest rallies just a few weeks back, as Jun Lozada takes the backseat while the people clamor for rice.
Some are congratulating the Arroyo Administration for yet another masterpiece in silencing growing unrest. Others are chuckling in derision. The opposition are biting their nails in frustration. Like Jun Lozada, lost in all these chuckles, congratulations, and biting of nails are lessons in offering reforms.
First, a call for reform (or revolution) cannot be anchored on just one person. In this case, Jun Lozada. In a similar case, Cory Aquino.
Second, a call for reform (or revolution) requires concrete alternatives. For as long as people only see personalities, a number of them questionable at that, protest actions that can bring on reforms will always remain a dream.
Third, talking will soon become tiresome. We've seen it in Senators Chiz Escudero and Peter Cayetano. They were the darlings of the May elections. Young, seemingly idealistic, very vocal in their opposition.
But when all that is heard from their mouth is opposition to everything, then their appeal begins to slack. After all, Filipinos may love artistas so much, and they may gorge on showbiz chismis more than rice, but they also know what they want from their leaders; mere words will never satisfy them.
We agree, massive corruption as we see in government today is a practice that every Filipino should protest against and demand outright accountability of all those whose fingers are dipped in the pie of corruption. But for as along as no concrete counter-proposals are presented, people will not rise up.
This is today's challenge to the leaders of today. To bring out the fervor and sense of nationalism of the long-suffering Filipinos so that once and for all corruption will be reduced to the barest minimum. And if you're wondering why 'barest minimum' is all that we are aspiring for, it's because we are so jaded about our people, we know a corruption-free society will never be realized here.
Without that strong sense of nationalism, corruption will always be there.
