Change We Do Not Know

GLIMPSES
Jose Ma. Montelibano

You can sense it, like the quiet before the storm, the emergence of factors
and forces that usually converge to create change, big change. Their
domination of the status quo seems unchallenged, even gathering more power.
It has no reason to anticipate disturbance in the political field, and has
managed so far to handle an unfolding economic debacle better than the more
developed countries in the world. Still, you sense it.

Perhaps, it is the Obama wave of change. There is no evidence that an Obama
presidency will be unduly critical of Gloria. In fact, it was always a
belligerent Bush and a no-nonsense Condoleezza Rice that seemed very
dangerous for someone who pulled out from the Coalition of the Willing. But
Gloria survived them by being a political gymnast, and did not have to
completely desert the Chinese as well. Still, there is the Obama wave of
change.

Or, there is still a rapidly unfolding economic disaster that has not yet
revealed the depth of its bankruptcy. Like receiving medical results
confirming that one has cancer, the usual first reaction is denial where
many Americans, corporate and individual, find themselves in. Whatever
Philippine monetary officials may say, the grim reality is that the peso is
tied to the dollar and does not know how to free itself from that bondage.
It is not meaningful to watch the peso’s strength, only the dollar’s
weakness because the peso will fall with it.

And, there is Archbishop Angel Lagdameo. Almost from nowhere, the president
of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) threatens to be
a contrary voice to the dominant political force. It is not the first time
that Lagdameo has indicated a personal uneasiness with the level of
corruption that pervades in Philippine society. But he had been either
tentative or greatly influenced by the fact that his fellow bishops were not
solidly behind his critical stand. The archbishop today appears to have
reached a certain resolve that can catapult him to a platform of singular
distinction.

Poverty and corruption have been around a long time. Because of that
familiarity, Filipinos have developed a tolerant coping mechanism. Sadly, we
have lowered the bar of our own ethics to accommodate that. It is the worst
surrender of the Filipino people, and our greatest shame is the lack of
grave concern for the millions who go hungry. Tolerance of evil because of
its extended presence has kept revolution at bay, and it has not helped
either that no revolutionary ideology has caught the natural empathy of
Filipinos.

But poverty and corruption are not passive evils. They march forward and
gain new territory whenever they can, whenever the forces of good weaken or
withdraw. The nature of poverty and corruption, though, is that they create
victims and more misery as they expand, and their temporary victory is the
very poison pill that brings them closer to their own defeat. Man, after
all, can tolerate wrongdoing but cannot tolerate the pain it brings
indefinitely. A rebellion against evil is a matter of when, not if.

Hunger is one serious pain that triggers revolution faster than most other
causes. In human history, it has mostly been hunger and violence at a
certain level that have been the most popular reasons for radical responses
by a population against its rulers. The administration would do well to go
all out against hunger, not just on the ground where the hunger is but also
in the dimension of public opinion where apathy is.

The Church, too, has no choice but to lead in the drive to mitigate and
eliminate hunger by lending its powerful voice and influence. Continued
silence or absence of manifest religious indignation against hunger will be
a fatal mistake for a Catholic Church which has not only stopped growing but
steadily losing its flock to rival groups. Feeding the hungry is not just a
favorite religious work of mercy but a primary condition for salvation. The
nuance of a silent or inactive Church in the face of hunger will show a
hypocrisy that will have deadly consequences.

It has to come to be that change is coming in a manner and form that will
defy conventional parameters dictated by Philippine history. Just as Obama
could not have possibly defined in detail the change he promised because the
change he represents has yet no precedent in America’s history, so will the
change that Filipinos will witness and participate in.

Strangely, the change will not be about Gloria although it will most
definitely affect her; the change will be bigger than any personality, any
issue. When the dominant convention will be threatened by a fresh gust of
air full of nobility and higher aspirations, it will dig in for dear life.
Its historical and current strength is not a pushover, and change itself, if
it were not the nature of evolution, will have no chance in the Philippines.

The sustained unpopularity of Gloria, the sustained unacceptability of the
Opposition, these are indicators that the Filipino is caught in between a
rock and hard place. If the rock and the hard place were not locked in
aggressive combat, then the Filipino has much more time to stay in between
them. But they push hard against each other and will force the trapped
Filipino to react in a way that is just as difficult to predict.

Filipino politicians will have little idea of what’s coming and the older
ones nothing at all. Despite their intimacy with technology, McCain’s
advisers and handlers did not even anticipate, and could not copy, what
Obama did. And those who seek the kind of change they already know, like a
change of leadership or exchange of positions, they, too, will be harshly
surprised.

A friend told me how baffled he was at convergence of change, how many
things get disrupted at the same time even though they do not seem related.
I told him that great change cannot happen without an unusual amount of
serendipity. Great change must have not only a deep impact but a wide one at
that. Remember People Power, the Berlin Wall, Solidarity of Poland and the
collapse of communism in Russia – these happened in the same moment of
historical time.

Are we in that zone again? Is Obama a signal, just as the collapse of an
economic system? What else is about to erupt? Pray, then, and wish for the
best because life may just have a special surprise for all of us.

Responses may be sent to jlmglimpses@gmail.com

–
“In bayanihan, we will be our brother’s keeper and forever shut the door to
hunger among ourselves.”