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 t was on a rainy
fourth of July, in 1946 when the Stars and Stripes came down from atop its Luneta flagpole for the last time and the Philippine flag was hoisted in its
place. That
day, we became the masters of our national destiny. At long
last, the colonial powers were leaving our shores and we were finally in control.
And all through the two
decades that followed, we took our nation-building tasks seriously. Only the best
and the brightest made it to public office. And although Uncle Sam still managed
to retain a bit of a say over our country's governance, we Filipinos held the reigns of
power and the country operated smoothly. The Philippines was headed towards a
bright future with nothing but sunshine and blue skies ahead.
Now, fast-forward to today
and what do we see: a nightmare no one from that earlier era could ever have
imagined possible. No longer do we have the cream of the crop in
government; today we have for the most part entertainers whose only
qualification seems to be their
ability to laugh and cry on cue. Gone are the great statesmen and women who
lived simple unassuming lives; now we have media personalities who flaunt their wealth
and material possessions in compensation for their more scholarly shortcomings.
Today, cunning
opportunists from discredited administrations that were thrown out of power have absorbed the bitter lessons of
EDSA 1 and 2 and are now trying to use a similar strategy
to topple the Arroyo government. And from the perspective of many overseas Filipinos, the
curious events now taking shape in the Philippines, seem suspiciously like orchestrated
hysteria!
At the same time we also have to give it to
a many of our kabayans... they have a flair for the dramatic; they give credence to
rumors and gossip; they believe in all kinds of superstitious nonsense;
they are
clannish and loyal to a fault; and they really don't seem to take things very seriously. And this is
exactly what the anti-government forces are capitalizing on in their current effort at mass
destabilization. They are hoping that beyond a certain point, reason and logic
will no
longer prevail, and a herd mentality will take over--and give them their opening for a
grab at power.
 In the end,
however, it is unlikely that the Arroyo administration will be toppled. The Filipino people will
never let it get to that point. The "masa" may have a field day downloading silly "Hello Garci" ringtones
or soaking-up all the latest intrigues and rumors, but at the end of the day they know when they're
being used. Thus Filipinos will willingly accept the President's apology for her
lapse of judgment and will move on, knowing that much of what has been leveled
against her was orchestrated by an opposition whose leaders have been
accused of far more nefarious deeds than anything they could ever pin on GMA.
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