Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Limlingan: Kapampangan ku, Eku mapagmaragul By DP Limlingan The Advocate
THANKS to technology, I got the chance or rather my cousin got the chance to chat awhile when he sent me an instant message via Internet. For years we had no communication, as he is living a good life in Colorado, USA.
What made our chat open my sleepy eyes in those unholy hours is his question of "koya, nanung malilyari keng probinsiya tamu?"
Perhaps he is just one among those who have the same Kapampangan spirit of taking a pause from a fast-paced life abroad and look behind to our roots. I esteem his act of asking. Instead of asking of where and how I am doing here in our country, he immediately asked a rather disturbing query in his, what I felt, disturbed mood.
I felt also his concern over the plight of Kapampangans and our beloved province as well considering that since our growing years, he has been apolitical.
As we chatted on the Net, I bounced off his question marks and asked him as to what is his idea was of what is going on. I was awed by his retort. He told me about persistent issues clinging to what is happening to the leadership of our province particularly the governorship.
He expressed disgruntlement as he narrated how he sees on Filipino channels the news about Pampanga. He went on saying that there seems to be a great problem and clear and present danger on the supposed shepherd to his flocks that is the governor. I was stunned for a few seconds.
Exchanges of chat messages if not for business purposes are often trivial as chatters share sweet nothings and nothing sweet. That critical hour was made more critical when my cuz kept on raising questions. I am his local eye and in those instances I made him blind being left with no answers to "chat back".
He intimated in one of his questions the lack of sense of being a leader without his followers if what he sees on television was right. He seemed to be intrigued by my minutes of being idle. "If people don't want him anymore, why can't he just resign?" he bluntly asked.
After minutes of being still, I broke my figurative silence in a message I sent to him. I told my concerned folk that the problem haunting Pampanga is rooted in the proverbial tale of knotting the tail of a dog with a cat and ask if they are united. I explained the physical union they have but disunited in all aspects. And the lack of the adeptness of the provincial head to deal with it, I added.
The governor lacks the skill of facing the music and sings a good tune to his people. His ineptness of giving political solutions to political problems is an observable idea. No matter how he would paint the province a good picture, the decay persists. He failed to unite the province as I quote a lawyer/supporter turned critic.
The kingdom of the supposed king has been transformed into a circus. It is where the balancing act of a tightrope walker does not succeed. It is where a lion tamer is often bitten by large felines. There you can find the human cannonball missing the safety net. You can witness the fire-eater being wallowed by the fire he plays with. You will notice the magician losing his magic. One can see an elephant trampling to death his trainer.
Pampanga once grabbed the limelight not only in the region, not only in the country but also in the whole wide world for having a priest metamorphosed into a politician. It is the first of its kind. The positive attraction of people around the globe likewise transformed its poles into negativism.
Calls after calls of stepping down became the trend for the governor, not to mention the very imminent filing of a recall petition. He should be sensitive enough to find ways to level the political playing field. The cat is out of the bag.
When human interactions set in between Kapampangans, Kapampangans abroad and non-Kapampangans, how can we live to the cry "Kapampangan ku, pagmaragul ku" when we are in disunity, disharmony and discord? How can we be true to other people when we have a political leader winning the elections but losing his people?
My cousin is one of course, of those many who are dismayed, disappointed and dissatisfied with what has been going on with Kapampangan politics. How can he profess in the US of A that he is a great proud Kapampangan? How can I too, tell him that he should be proud of being a Kapampangan?
In jest, I would rather say "Kapampangan ku, eku mapagmaragul" just to feature my lowly, down-to-earth roots as a Kapampangan.
