We have toppled a ruthless dictator and ushered in democracy, so what now? Looking back at where we are, do you really think that it is worth it that we have so ruined the status quo pre-1986 and insisted on our brand of democracy run like hell by Filipinos as what the famous Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon once illustriously debated in the US Congress. Indeed, what we have now is what President Quezon predicted decades ago and so much of it, we have not been able to leap-frog to where we should be because of our own branded effort to search for what is truth and yet do not wish to have closure in all that we have sought.
So EDSA @25! What now? How many have graduated and work where they should? How many industries have generated so much employment so as not many Filipinos seek brighter opportunities overseas? How many efforts of the government to keep tabs on how we import and encourage our exports? How many have wished for a more metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities than what we have now that claimed cityhood are based on papers? How many have made the effort to offer what they could and should to make this government work the way it should? How many democracy icons born from ordinary people in ordinary circumstances save for the Aquinos and the few elite who claimed sole ownership of the icon of democracy? How many Muslims in Mindanao understood fairly well how this Republic embraces them so they will not anymore resort to secessionist moves? How many in our history books that talk about ordinary heroism by many other Filipinos not only from Rizal to Ninoy? How many celebrated triumphs of the republic rather than counting the ills of society? How many have made it through the era of confused democracy because so many people in many institutions have their own vested interests?
These are my questions regarding how we value freedom and democracy in this country. We have not been able to successfully interpret the essence of democracy and freedom in 1986 and translating these into known benefits that trickle down to ordinary Filipinos. Still, we live in an era where muted opposition is sought. Muted dissent is desired and muted revelations of what has been going on in government because we are not ready to face the truth.
To you, how does this day mean? Like this little tribal boy who holds the Philippine flag in tatters and standing up alone, will we be able to relived our glorious past while pursuing a more cosmopolitan approach to our ills and our will to be patriotic will be coupled with much enthusiasm to be of sincere assistance to those whose lives are at the perils of the distortions of democracy.
