Does the Philippines need another major social upheaval before it can finally enter a consistent era of progress instead of growing, economically or otherwise, in fits and starts?
I often heard, growing up, that the reason we Filipinos have not learned to work together toward peace and prosperity is that we have not really had a definitive historical moment marked by the sort of bloodshed that is at the foundation of many progressive nation-states.
Today’s social media conversations contrast the responses of Indonesians and Filipinos to corruption in their respective countries.
Indonesians, oppressed by a worsening economy and income tax-free officials who rewarded themselves with large housing allowances, have been marching in protest, provoking a military crackdown that has seen many forcibly disappeared, injured, or killed — including motorcycle taxi driver Affan Kurniawan.
Filipinos, on the other hand, have responded to the scandal of plunder in overpriced shoddy or nonexistent flood control projects with a deluge of humorous social media posts.
Lyrics of a music video speak of being a contractor, paid in the millions by the Department of Public Works and Highways, as the ultimate dream, the perfect path to wealth.
Netizens characterize investigations of the flood control mess in Congress as a charade of crocodiles against crocodiles, the reptiles having become symbolic of corruption in these parts.
But as the Cebuano author Lawrence Lacambra Ypil has pointed out, “a country with a sense of humor but without any means of accountability is corny.”
***
The 21st of September is not only the anniversary of the late president Ferdinand Marcos’ proclamation of martial law in the Philippines and the feast of St. Matthew, tax collector turned apostle, gospel writer and martyr.
The day is also celebrated everywhere as International Day of Peace per the calendar of the United Nations (UN).
In 1981, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom sponsored the UN General Assembly resolution to establish international peace day.
UN member states resolved to devote this day to “commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”
The celebration used to fall on a moveable date, each third Tuesday of September, the opening day of a new session of the UN General Assembly.
But in 2001, the assembly decided to fix the global celebration to Sept. 21, separating it from the start of sessions.
The peoples of the world donated coins out of which smiths cast the peace bell that those at the UN ring every peace day. Japan’s UN Association donated the bell as a memorial of the war’s human costs.
The peace day resolutions invite nations at war with each other as well as smaller entities involved in armed conflict to observe a global ceasefire every Sept. 21 with a view to ending all armed conflict and attaining absolute world peace.
The resolutions also invite individuals and groups “to commemorate, in an appropriate manner, the International Day of Peace, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire.”
***
Those who say Filipinos need civil war to finally unite toward genuine progress (which only unfolds amid peace), need healing from gunpowder brain disease.
Peace, as popes, philosophers and statesmen frequently emphasize, flows from justice. One does not, as Thomas Merton once wrote, wage war to attain peace.
This applies whichever war or conflict we speak of: between Israel and Hamas, Ukraine and Russia, Indonesian officials and ordinary citizens, Filipino government leaders and Juan de la Cruz and Maria Clara.
Justice comes when greed for land as well as terrorism and hostage-taking ceases, when cultural imperialism ends and national rights to self-determination are respected, or when the monstrously greedy, in Indonesia, in the Philippines, and elsewhere make reparations for their roles in the deaths of the poor.
We Filipinos need no war to realize that we have let too much blood be sacrificed to greed. During martial law and in the coup attempts to restore the elder Marcos or install a military junta, we sacrificed blood to powerlust. In the “drug war,” we sacrificed blood in exchange for fake security. In this time of flood control corruption scandals, we realize we have sacrificed the blood of those who died due to floods, by leptospirosis (such as Dion Angelo de la Rosa), or otherwise.
For those with stained hands to return money that they stole or confess their part in atrocities will be but baby steps to justice that heralds peace.
And yes, institutions that tragically have a reputation for being crocodile-infested have the burden of making themselves truly accountable. Auto-investigation is not expected to work. It will not satisfy.