The Citizen On Mars

The news on the radio yesterday afternoon were blasting again, about Malacañang harking once more ‘bout the inanity of every soul that turns against it. I listened more closely and wondered if there’s something tumultuous happening again in Manila, like military men marching into a chapel not merely to pray. The news anchors on the radio were out-of-breath and so animated that you’d thought ABS-CBN and GMA would pre-empt the afternoon cartoon shows once again, as if they know something tumultuous would be happening even before the public knew about it, or for one, even before Malacañang hears about yet another threat to the status quo. Like media is more intelligent than government intelligence wallowing in audit-exempt intelligence funds amounting to billions of pesos of taxpayers’ money.

Maybe, its time to admit that we can’t really blame President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for being media-paranoid for even I myself is amazed somehow at how uncanny these media agencies could get at times, having that extraordinary foresight in getting the news even before things actually become news. Do you know what I mean? But then, it wouldn’t be astonishing to half-expect these giant media stations to have insider knowledge about almost every out-of the-blue movement of military forces. In my mind, if I have to put myself into the shoes of those military men who would stage the anti-government move, I would of course use media to the hilt, by informing one or two of their newsmen, to be there when it happens. That way, media could amplify the effectiveness of the unrest, if ever it earns any success at all. Similarly, if I put myself into the shoes of “some” media persons, I would find myself in steep competition for that proverbial career-changing scoop, and most probably (although I am not saying that I might actually do it—it depends), I’d make myself gamely available to these adventurous military men, having my cellphone number or numbers in their phone books (maybe a number to a different cellphone or SIM card), and when every time I received that call, an invitation to be there when it all happens, I would partly feel that it’s my duty to bring the news to the public, as it happens blow by blow, and partly I would feel perhaps that in the dog-eat-dog world of media, the fastest to the news survives while those who are slow to the gun on salacious scoops wither. I’d rather survive than wither.

Now, I am not saying that these ideas of mine are true and veritable, but I am saying that this might just be how things happen in the real world. And then we go to that proverbial question of whether or not media had exceeded the limits of ethical propriety or even if whether or not, they would be in complicity with some radical forces in the political sphere (since this administration is continually rewriting the legal definition of sedition and rebellion—in their books, there could just be sedition by receiving a call from a high-ranking military officer who had just marched into a chapel not merely to pray, along with hordes of his men) .In my mind, no one, not even Malacañang should assume everything by just seeing the surface of things, for intentions and motives are to be proven by unambiguous evidences and not merely by a heavy presumption or a Secretary Raul Gonzales’ hunch.

Now let’s go back to that news on yesterday’s radio. The anchormen blurted out loudly, in bated breath, how President Arroyo lambasted every soul bent on “military adventurism” for no amount of armed rebellion would flourish without the support of the people, especially thousands of them marching the streets of EDSA or Makati and never letting go even if hunger and thirst ravages them, and most especially not merely in thousands but more so in the hundreds of thousands. When Marcos and Estrada were brought effectively ousted, I estimated that those who marched the streets were at least a hundred thousand. And President Arroyo continued to declare that any of these sorts of misadventures would surely fail and would only asphyxiate the nation’s economy. For one there, I had thought President Arroyo was even bold enough to suggest what these adventurous military men really needs, like giving bright ideas to the enemy. “Kung gusto ninyong makuha ang kapangyarihan, kailangan ninyo ang suporta ng daang-daang tao”, I almost heard her saying.

To think, President Arroyo is right to the point this time. In our political environment, attempt at toppling the government purely by armed uprising does not really hold sway, for it seems that any number of radical military men suddenly holing in a posh Makati hotel or in a military chapel are virtually committing seppukus if the people would not come to prevent the government forces from bombarding them with mortars and gunfire. To think, to this day, no coup de etat had succeeded in toppling a government in this country. The 1986 EDSA revolution was triumphant not by a pure coup de etat, although it was initiated by one. What we had then was a previously unnamed mode of revolution that was later on termed as People Power, a purely Filipino invention. If not for People Power, the yellow ribbons of Cory Aquino, Cardinal Jaime Sin and his Radio Veritas, I shiver just thinking what might have happened to FVR, Senator Enrile and Gringo Honasan in 1986, after holing themselves in a twin military camp along EDSA. Especially considering how ruthless General Ver had become in the mind and perception of the public then.

In 1991, a former general had suddenly become Prime Minister in Thailand after a tumultuous upheaval. And some American critics had actually praised the former military rulers of Thailand for bringing the necessary order in the then frail banana republic, especially now that ever since, Thailand had successfully catapulted itself into one of the most enviable economies in the world, as its GNP had gone double than that of the Philippines when just barely a decade ago, we were toe-to-toe with it. In Thailand, a military takeover had once become a boon to its people.

Of course, in Myanmar the situation was different. The military rulers there had proven to be so antagonistic and backward that until now, Myanmar is getting nowhere. The SLORC junta there had become so ugly in the face of international politics after having locked up the charismatic Aung Sang Kyi. Clearly, military rule in Myanmar is one roaring excuse why military rules or takeover is never a convenient and practical remedy.

In Pakistan, a military takeover there had made Pervez Musharraf world famous (not only for saying that if a Pakistani woman would like to emigrate into Canada, she should have herself gang-raped) since the U.S. government, and possibly the Central Intelligence Agency, had been praising the “good things” he had done to Pakistan. With Musharraf, America had found an overeager ally in a very chaotic region. But it seems, only America is happy with him and every Pakistani is still hungry and despondent.

But in the Philippines, military rule in the 1970’s had left the nation deeply scarred and wounded that it still has recurring nightmares in the form of suspiciously baseless “emergency rules” of President Arroyo. And in this country, military takeovers have all became like botched handiworks of Wily E, Coyote, making President Arroyo looks like a very guile and clever Road Runner. Beep! Beep!