The rains poured heavily on the first day of September. There was
a typhoon coupled with a strong habagat but not even that could
explain the temporary but significant dip in temperature that suddenly
enveloped the air. It did however prompt conversations about how the
cooler "ber" months have arrived and Christmas will soon
be here.
We all know how
we Filipinos love Christmas. By this time, one could expect Christmas
carols being played once in a while over the radio. Come October,
you could see a few downtown shops putting up their yuletide decorations.
In our home, the Christmas tree takes its place in the living room
corner around late November (Of course, the longer to enjoy the decorations,
the better…or at least that's what we think).
But I am not sure
if Filipinos are such in a mood for an early merrymaking or even a
later one. Lately this year, with each coming of a typhoon, comes
a wave of bad news. First we had the embarrassing escape from prison
of Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al Ghozi (he confessed to the
bombing of the light railway station in Manila on December 30, 2000
which took a number of innocent lives); then came the July 27 Oakwood
(Makati) mutiny; then the scandalous "Jose Pidal" account
where no less than the husband of President Gloria M. Arroyo is embroiled
in allegations of corruption. At first it was interesting to follow
investigations whether held in the Senate or special commissions created
to probe the various incidents. But it has come to a point that the
public is not laughing anymore. In fact, people are getting weary
and upset that these scandals and politicking among officials are
hampering our little progress. The frequency of bad news was just
too much for comfort.
And the sentiment
is growing and spreading among a wide spectrum of populace -- from
businessmen to workers to your regular man-on-the-street. Last week
on a TV interview, I was surprised to see a normally non-political
actor Aga Muhlach expressing his frustration over what he perceives
as the way leaders and officials are adding to, rather than taking
away our problems. On feedback sections in newspapers and television
talk shows, readers and viewers mince no words at echoing the same
sentiments and calling for ceasefire between bickering personalities
and institutions. Even the media is not spared; as one reader says,
the media also gets the blame for amplifying the terrible events happening
around… an accusation which may be fair or not. But the flavor
of the month which gets the most criticism is the Senate which is
conducting its never-ending investigations on almost every issue that
would crop up.
Tourism Secretary
Richard Gordon likes to put this self-destructive tendencies of Filipinos
as "shooting ourselves in the foot", somewhat akin to our
"crab mentality" attitude. With the way some of our countrymen
are behaving, who needs foreign terrorists to create problems for
us? No thank you, we can ruin our country ourselves. Oops, pardon
the sarcasm.
Oh well, it is
3 months away before December. Who knows, by some miracle, this country
could still get its act together and we shall have some merrymaking
after all. Or perhaps that is wishful thinking. With elections coming
eight months from now, things could probably just get dirtier and
uglier. Now pardon the cynicism. Maybe things aren't that bad...maybe.
