Former President Corazon Aquino will be buried today amid widespread public mourning and displays of solidarity symbolised by yellow ribbons, yellow-coloured clothes, and “L”-shaped hand gestures.
The variety of symbols that have come to represent the ideals that Aquino stood for trace their ultimate origins back to her husband Benigno Aquino Jr. The concept of “Laban” as a rallying cry for a Philippine “Opposition” goes back to Benigno Aquino’s leadership of said “Opposition” against President Marcos and became (as far as I personally recall) a household slogan in 1979 1978 when parliamentary elections were held.
Back then the dominant political party of the Philippine “Opposition” was known simply as Laban.
Then President Ferdinand Marcos’s party was the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan or “New Society Movement” — popularly known as the KBL.
Humour me and consider this brief thought experiment. Forget for one moment the personalities, intentions, and agendas behind the two political parties in 1979 1978 and focus on their names alone:
- New Society Movement
- Fight
The first implied a To Be proposition for the Filipino People. The latter implied no more than a contrarian position to the incumbent.
Fast-forward thirty years to 2009 and regard the political landscape of today.
What has changed?.
Only one thing has changed. Back in 1979 1978, said contrarian position included a fight to “free” the Filipino people as a direct and measurable outcome of toppling a real dictatorship. Today in 2009, there is still some sort of “fight” to topple an unpopular President. But there is no “freedom” to fight for because it already exists in Philippine Society.
Since 1979 1978, the names of Philippine political “parties” have become a bit more elaborate, hyphenated, and hybridised. But the “Opposition” position remains essentially the same. After all the symbols have been gestured and exhibited and after all the platitudes and slogans have been recited, it proposes essentially NOTHING.
Since 1979 1978 the word “Laban” has become but another platitudinal embellishment on the names of “Opposition” “parties” that followed. “Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino”, “PDP-Laban”, Laban this, Laban that, Laban in da Morning, Laban in d’Evening. The dilution of the hard Laban of 1979 1978 into the insult-on-the-intelligence softdrink that it is today reflects the dilution of what the Philippine “Opposition” “stood for” in the last thirty years — from toppling totalitarianism to merely engineering and exploiting unpopularity. From being truly united against a clear-and-present enemy to being a flaccid, fragmented, sorry excuse of a “force” against an ill-defined bogeyman.
Cory Aquino, the last of the only two direct embodiments of “Laban” and the colour yellow has died. The yellow ribbons will be worn, mass rallies will erupt, balloons released, and gestures of solidarity will probably be made at scales not seen since 1986 (or at least 2001).
But when the euphoria has died down, all the signs-of-the-crosses have been made, the adrenaline subsided, and the streets swept clean (or maybe not), there will only be one question left staring us in the face:
What next?
Remember that question folks.
It has stood unanswered for the last several decades.
Someone ought to build a monument to symbolise this question — so elegant in its two-word simplicity (so probably not fitting the Filipino’s aesthetic tastes); because I foresee this question as becoming a far more enduring symbol of what it means to be Filipino than the concept of Laban ever will be.
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Wasn’t ‘Laban’ (‘Lakas ng Bayan’) in 1978 (not 1979)?
Yes, cjv.
oo nga. what’s next? ano ang susunod na gawin pagkatapos nating ma “inspire” ng cory magic?
what’s next?
I don’t know, but I know what OUGHT to be next:
Lose the old culture and adopt a new one that works,
leaning a little on the reputation of Ms. Aquino.
Joe
It’s kind of like a relationship. The romance initially fires it up. But unless the relationship evolves or matures into something that is not all based on flowers, Valentines, and candlelit dinners to sustain it you’re in trouble once the honeymoon period is over and the job of managing a household and raising kids (i.e. the part when you become responsible) begins to stare you in the face.
Pinoys are like that. We are constantly scrounging around for a hero or symbol to inspire some kind of romantic, religious, or idealistic fervor. The trouble (or void) emerges when it comes to the part when we need to become responsible for our own success. Like a relationship where the candlelit dinners become less-frequent as it evolves, a maturing democracy will see a corresponding reduction in ocho-ocho antics in favour of more grown-up ways of getting things done — like due process via institutions.
It’s simple, really™ — though not for the small-minded.
Speaking of small minds, thanks for the tip, cvj. I’ll make the correction in a minute.
Cheer-yo!
Tumbok ka rito, Benigz…kung hindi dsarating ang ganitong pagbabago walang kaulugan ang sakripisyo ng mga taong tutoo tulsd ni Cory…
anong sakripisyo? ano ba ang kakaibang hirap na dinanas niya na hindi dinanas ng odinaryo at mahirap na pilipino? at ano naman ang mga biyayang tinamasa niya na hindi natikman ng kanyang ordinaryong kababayan?
“What next?”
That question is only for spectators and pundits.
This explains a lot about why Pinoys cannot move forward. :-D
The Marcos regime existed to teach us a lesson. Not to take our
Freedoms for granted. They are not Free. You have to fight for
them. Or they will be taken away by a Dictator or would be Dictator.
Nowadays we use our freedom as an excuse to act like a bunch of clueless buffoons. Freedom granted to Pinoys is like a blowtorch given to a 2-year-old boy — lots of power but no sense of accountability.
Isipin mo, Atty. Ben.
Sino ang magagawang pagbuklurin ang opposisyon noon para labanan si Marcos?
Iba ka talaga.
sa palagy mo ba si laurel, hindi puede? kung alam ni cory na hindi siya handa at wala siyang pagnanasa sa kapangyarihan (o magpagamit sa mga “vested interests” tulad ng simbahan, at mga oligarch na nawalan ng poder tulad ng mga lopezes), hindi ba ‘yon mas dakilang “sakripisyo” para sa bayan? sa panahong ‘yon na malaki ang galit ng tao kay marcos dahil sa pagkakapatay kay ninoy (bukod sa marami pang ibang pagmamalabis), sa palagay mo ba e hindi pa rin kayang talunin ni laurel si marcos sa isang patas na halalan?
Thanks Ding.
But then I emphasized this in another life:
The best way to honour fallen heroes is to build upon their sacrifices and deliver real and measurable RESULTS.
Look around. Lots of yellow ribbons, “L” hand gestures, and crowds standing around — just as in 1986.
But the question remains:
Where are the results?
We can wear yellow til we turn blue, but the TRUTH is a bit more demanding:
It is ONLY when we are able to answer the above question CONVINCINGLY can we TRULY claim to have HONOURED the sacrifices of Cory and Ninoy.
It’s simple, really™.
a naughty friend says we should also honor our leaders while they are still alive.
he says a 21 gun-salute should be appropriate in honor of the incumbent. he however suggests a slight deviation. he says, instead of aiming at the sky, the honor guards should aim a little lower.
on a serious note…
this “what next?” question really needs to be answered. perhaps those of us who have the knowledge and clarity of mind should come up with a blueprint or plan that the rest of the population can just follow. something like a to-do-list.
anyone up for the challenge?
The incumbent President always get the 21 gun salute.
The years after Cory has proved that the democratic space that she restored is keeping the country going despite attempts to derail that space. FVR tried it, Erap lost it when he fell asleep at the switch and this little one has been trying it since 2004 and has been continuosly thwarted.
If not for that democratic space she would have plunged the country into a monstrous financial crisis after the elections. It had to take the U.P. School of Economics to make their report public before she reacted. What happened to the Congressional Budget Office? Where was NEDA. She fired Canlas because she did not want to hear the truth.
When a country loses its primary budget surplus – when interest payments go over tax revenues minus expenditures you have a fiscal crisis that will become an economic crisis.
She brought the country to the edge. The choice was stark.. Do An Argentina or raise taxes. She chose the easier path…. It was she who delayed the NAPOCOR price raise only to transfer the loses to the budget and then raise taxes anyway to pay for it. Rates then had to go up anyway to compensate.
Then when Greenspan lowered interest rates to counter recessionary pressures disinflation set in with lower interest rates. The fact remains she more than doubled the debt of the three previous Presidents. Debt service almost reached 90% of the total budgets.
All this was reported and debated in the media and other circles. Most of the uninformed did not even know this was going on. With less than 4% of people paying income taxes the rest of the indirect taxes are diffused over the vast majority of the population. Then you have the hidden tax of inflation on top of that.
How many Congressman or Senators even realize that our so called economist expert almost burned the house down.
During the Marcos years the technocrats were muzzled. Today you have the right of center and the left of center groups keeping watch… Cory’s legacy of that democratic space…
I would say that 95% of the media is of a tabloid nature. The same holds through in the U.S. today. It would be maybe 80% in the U.S.
Till today most Pinoys are clueless as to the need for government. The so called educated ones are the worst.
Yeah, she inspires, but the hard work was done by the Filipino people. The democratic space was fought for by the Filipino people – Cory on her own is nothing.
Moreover, she came at a time when the broad mass movements on a roll.
The reactionary elements of the coalition piggybacked Cory into the mass movement, ultimately leading to a hijacking of the mass movement’s agenda and using the democratic space to return the landlords into power and institutionalize protectionism in the constitution. Which brings the Philippines back to pre-1972.
So, yes, absolutely, “The so called educated ones are the worst”. and the oblivious ones that fall for the educated ones lines are the worst-est.
Yeah, she inspires, but the hard work was done by the Filipino people. The democratic space was fought for by the Filipino people – Cory on her own is nothing.
Moreover, she came at a time when the broad mass movements on a roll.
–I so agree with this!
i also agree. i have a full-length article entitled “The Politics of Dying” on this subject which i submitted to nick for publication. i hope it will see the light of day.
The problems of underdevelopment is complex in the Philippine scene. Brian Arthur of MIT likened the digital revolution to a higher and completely new stage of human societal development akin to the industrial revolution.
The Philippines has not not yet even entered the industrialization stage of development.
Mechanization and the automation process of industrial manufacturing is the pivot for societal development. All modern aspects of human life is strategically dependent on it.
The ability to build machinery and tools is a critical first in that process.
Look at bO he talks about getting real but has a problem explaining what is real and what is pure nonsense. Hence he sticks to slogans…
Simple question once again… Is we are to climb the ladder of economic and societal development where are we on the ladder?
Let us get real about finding out first where we think we are?
yeah, and under the guise of finding out where we are – running in circles for for decades like a chicken with its head chopped off – we have yet to then figure out where we should be, or we would rather stick to “finding out where we are” so as to not to think about where we should be because of the responsibilities that come with the territory.
The homeland Pinoy would rather have someone else be responsible for his own success instead of grabbing the bull by the horns himself. What happens afterwards is the pinoy-in-the-pinas’ stewards take care of themselves, except the Pinoy – time and time again. To which Gary V croons – “Di na natuto”.
Do your homework first before you comment, Mr. J_ag. The difference between what is real and what is pure nonsense is quite clear.
When a politician is able to articulate a framework for change that is:
- coherent
- internally-consistent; and,
- underpinned by rigorous thinking.
he provides some degree of comfort (but by no means a guarantee) that he/she:
- understands the current state from which our efforts to change needs to jump off from;
- has carefully thought through a program or plan of effecting said change; and,
- has envisioned a to-be state for our society that is achieveable within his/her term.
BongV already makes a more detailed description of this approach to thinking in his seminal article Is the Philippines Ready for Change?.
What is commonly seen is more of an unstructured wish or should/must list.
And what is even more commonly seen is a pathetically barren landscape of substance such as what I present in my brilliant Stocktake of Presidential Candidates’ Vision for Pinoy Society (click here to check it out).
The best example of how it is done is, well, how I do it. GetRealPhilippines.com pretty much paints a picture of the As-Is state — a society that is culturally barren and intellectually bankrupt as to suck at, say, construction and design of even the most rudimentary of machinery and be hopelessly inept at developing and implementing large-scale integrated systems of infrastructure (such as, say, a comprehensive mass-transit system).
And if you will turn to my brilliantly-elegant Solution Framework, you will find a beautifully-architected system of initiatives focused on rectifying the cancerous dysfunctions of Pinoy society that infect it at its very fabric.
It’s simple, really™ — though not for the small-minded.
I find it really hard to believe that so many people got inspired by Cory when hardly anyone seem to follow the simplicity lifestyle that they said she promoted. Just look at her own daughter Kris Aquino who frequents plastic surgeons to enhance her looks. And did I mention that’s her own daughter?!
People with money in the Phils don’t really want change because it means giving up a life living like kings and queens, with a maid on call 24 hours a day. I will only believe that things are improving when the household help already enjoy a minimum wage and have the same benefits as any employee with a clear scope of work or job description.
ilda,
alam mo naman ang pinoy-in-the-pinas, puro porma – wala namang binatbat.
how do you pay your house help :)
I don’t have any household help. We do everything ourselves that’s why I know how hard it must be for the maids to clean up after someone and be paid peanuts by their masters (wala pa halos day-off).
wala naman sanang problema sa credibility ni gma ngayon kung walang garci na sumulpot, kakosa pa rin sana ni gma ang MBCD kung di nila kinanti yung kapatid o pinsan(?) ni G. Luz na undersecretary ng Deped, at kung di nabaril at namatay yung kumanta sa fertilizer scam….kailangan pa ba sabihin yung iba pa?…about Cory’s inspiration and the people’s hard work…sa isang banda, bakit ba ang isang tao ay nagpapakahirap magtrabaho, di ba dahil sa inspirasyon…tulad ng mga ama na nagpapakahirap magtrabaho ay may inspirasyon na makapagtapos ng pag-aaral ang kanilang mga anak, makabili ng bahay at lupa, pagkain, para di magutom ang pamilya…sino ba ang pwedeng maging inspirasyon nung mga araw na iyon?…pwede ba sa Enrile? si Ramos? si Laurel?…si Cory…siya ang tamang imahe…na nakikita at nasasalamin ng people sa sarili nila…isang ordinaryong pinoy na biktima ng karahasan dahil sa pagkakakulong, pagka-exile, at pagkapaslang ng kanyang asawa…si GMA naging presidente lamang siya ng i-power grab niya ang pwesto ni erap…inamin ni gma at ikinwento pa kung paano nila naisakatuparan ang mga pagpapa-plano nila kasama ang mga heneral, pulitiko, at ng businessman para mapatalsik si erap (nadulas ang dila na dapat ay sikreto lamang,kumbaga dahil sa sobrang pagkatuwa)…ayan…napakamaliwanag…hindi comparable si gma at cory…ang layo ng agwat nila…lalo pa ngayon si Cory nasa langit na…si gma nasaan kaya hehehe
nosibalasi, didn’t Cory help GMA get rid of Erap during EDSA2 and then regretted it later? It seems you don’t know your facts. And she also tried to get rid of GMA through another people power revolt that failed. That is why it remained a frustration to get rid of her. It became a habit to use street revolutions instead of using the constitution.
The people of the Philippines should give more credit to themselves for the success of people power that got rid of a dictator, Cory did not do it single-handedly. Isn’t that why they called it people power?
We like putting people on such a high pedestal just because they are religious. She served her country during her presidency but her actions were not well thought of for quite some time after.
ilda, it seems that you are the most gifted brilliant person here at FV. Cory helped the civil society group in ousting erap, while gma as i said…made a power grab because she made countless meetings with generals, politicians, businessman to oust erap…and used the civil society groups…di ba afterwards na makuha na niya ang pwesto…sino-sino ba ang inupo niya…mga members ba ng civil society group???…yes Cory tried to oust GMA, but she do it face to face…after her secret meeting with GMA at Malacanang…then she decided to voice out her calls to gma publicly that she should make a supreme sacrifice. Yes, Cory did apologized to erap last Dec 2008.
Edsa 2 was a set-up plot…to power grab the most loved (CDE class which I belong) elected president. ano ba ang percentage ng CDE class sa total number of voters sa buong Pinas.
Thanks nosibalasi for saying I’m the most gifted, brilliant person here. I wish I could say the same about you.
You lost me at your first sentence, really. You just muddled up all the facts. GMA was the VP of Erap so of course she was going to replace him after he was ousted. I bet you even voted for GMA at the last election or worse, you probably didn’t bother to vote that’s why she won and now you regret that she is in power. Puro na lang regrets talaga, oo. Hardly anyone thinks first before doing or saying anything kasi.
ang hirap sa mga pinoy mahilig magsugal kahit nag-aalangan sa isipan nila…i will collect the winnings from you, i did not voted for gma :)
nosibalasi, thanks for finally acknowledging that there was an election. Whether you voted for her or not is actually irrelevant. The fact is, there was an election and GMA won. Your talk of power grabbing earlier was full of crap.
Where had you been all this time, ilda?
ilda you lost in the woods…get a directional map…and you’ll find your path.
I guess when it comes to the truth, some people just can’t handle it so they resort to lame sarcasm.
that’s bacteriarism :)…anyways, its the only culture some people have.