HOTSPOT
Tonyo Cruz
To be honest, we kids who grew up in the 1980s were too young to remember the Marcos dictatorship. So when opportunity presented itself in 2001 to do something good for the country, many of us went to EDSA and many other places across the country.
It wasn’t easy. The president then enjoyed mythical popularity both as an actor and as a politico for a long time. Fed up with the elite’s false pretenses and hollow promises, the poor majority cast their lot with him, only to be disappointed yet again.
For the second time, the people directly exercised sovereign power to settle what politicians were unable or refused to settle.
The situation today may be different, but the major antagonists and problems remain essentially the same.
The namesake and son of the dictator leads the race backed by traditional politicians based on surveys. Heck, the president even fielded his daughter as running-mate.
Why the dictator’s son leads the race nowadays confounds many, including my friends. But the answers should be obvious if only we did not pause our political awareness and did not leave politics to the politicians. The system allowed the family to run for office, welcomed them back to politics, failed to seize all their loot, kept them out of the slammer, and allowed them to slowly ease into the social limelight. In short, impunity.
The answers should be obvious too in the frustration and disenchantment of the poor and the middle class with the parade of administrations that followed the dictator. To sum it all up, the presidents since the dictator’s downfall collectively gave democracy a bad reputation. It was thus unsurprising that a plurality elected a strongman in 2016, as democratic forces waned in prestige amid the rise of populism here and abroad.
The elections today have cut us all up several ways. Many focus on the 14 years of dictatorship which really should never again happen, even as the forces of dictatorship have deodorized themselves of nearly all their stench and have repackaged their progeny as a “uniter.” Others see 30 years of democratic disenchantment. Then there are those who are fed up for the last six years.
The ongoing national debate about our politics not only allows us to pick a side, but also to get the best combination from all the available options thus far. And here, let me just say, I don’t think we give fellow Filipinos the credit they deserve.
Is it not possible that the principal candidates could all be partly wrong and partly right at the same time? Is it not possible that in the last 50 days of the campaign, one candidate could rise by speaking the truth to the people, be the people’s advocate, and deliver a vision that will change the course of the race?
Vice President Leni Robredo is the candidate best positioned to restore people’s trust in democracy. Her humility and readiness to listen provide her an opportunity to see through not just the last six years or the 14 years of martial law, but in fact the last 50 years of the Filipino experience and offer a new democratic vision. Her independent candidacy creates a new safe and democratic space, and distances her from a party saddled by a reputation for arrogance and entitlement.
Robredo has shown brilliance in championing the democratic way as more effective than tyranny in serving the underrepresented and marginalized. She must respond to Filipinos returning democracy’s tattered promissory notes. Repent for democracy’s shortcomings and hypocrisies, Robredo must do so too to win back people’s confidence. Why? Accountability sets democracy apart from tyranny. Democracy holds itself accountable to the people.
Surveys may give us a snapshot of our people’s mindsets, but history is a better guide. The last 50 years have led us to where we are now and to the leaders offering themselves to start the next 50. Robredo can be that changemaker for how we say, win and vindicate democracy.
With Senator Kiko Pangilinan as runningmate and diverse backers ranging from Magdalo to Makabayan, Robredo can do it. For the aspirations and activism of the “once young” like me and today’s young ones eager to nurse democracy back in the pink of health, Robredo must.