Accents
Servants of the people
Here I am in the heartland of America, happy in my grandchild-sitting spree and freed from the inanities of politics Philippine style. Were I a political has-been, for instance a defeated candidate for public office or a topnotch in the election turn-out, would I be so relieved being far away from the fever and the fret.
Let me just recall that I am an ex-future political animal who was once offered inclusion in the line-up of "counciloriable" in my town, Oton. I was then president of the high school alumni association and the person in charge of the "wheeling and dealing" must have thought yours truly was a poll powerhouse. Looking back, I wonder what the outcome might have been, but mine was the grace to refuse the offer with a "No, thank you." Serve your Kababayan as a councilor, yes, but as an activist will tell you, there are other ways of serving the people.
Reminds me of one Cristeta Rivera (my long departed mother) who believed in many other ways of being a "servant of the people." She prayed that father, Simplicio C. Carreon, Sr., should continue being high school principal and not enter politics. Heeding his supporters' advice, father ran anyway, won three elections and was mayor of our town for twelve years.
Reminiscence goes further to a decade ago when fresh from baby-sitting my apo, I came home to Bayan Ko jolted by a scene approximating Ripley's Believe It Or Not: a Kumpadre was very neatly sweeping the roadside fronting our yard. I looked around to see six other people sweating it out, broom in hand.
What could be the explanation for this surge of civic mindedness? Straightaway I got the answer: "We are the servants of the people." That's what the seven barangay councilors called themselves as they continued cleaning the streets "because, remember, next week is fiesta of our barangay saint." And hey, not to forget, "July 15 is barangay election." Dulcet smiles and some not-so-subtle hints followed. Aha, when you fill up that ballot, remember these incumbent kagawads who are running for re-election.
Servants of the people, huh? I thought I have become blasé on matters political and electoral in my Duyan ng Magiting, but this blatant pakitang ta-o really took the cake, rather gobbled the icing from an already stale cake. Did I get my metaphors all mixed up! What if my Kumpadre came in and swept our yard too? Gosh, I could have a heart attack.
Decades ago, before I was old enough to vote for my father, elections did not have the madness involving the dramatis personae with their arsenal of guns, goons and gold. I surmise the three G's must have come about with the Marcosian national leadership that was so flawed and criminal it made us the economic basket case of Asia.
I remember that come election time, a farmer from a far-away barrio would come to our house with his farm-produced upo at kalabasa. An ina-anak of my father would come with a sack full of kadios intact in green pods, and chickens too. These, they said, were their contributions to the food preparations for the voters who might wish to come up the house to partake of some meal after they had voted. Indeed, humble gestures from friends and relatives in the farm—trying to help in their own small way. Thus, after election time, I found our kitchen heavy with sacks of rice contributed by family friends from the barrios. Memories of an era long past when life was simple and the three G's were far from being entrenched in our political culture.
I cannot reconcile the contrast between elections then and elections now. Gauging from the norms of GMRC (that appears in the report card of elementary pupils to stand for Good Manners and Right Conduct), have we deteriorated as a people? Money flooding from nouveau riche political patrons, votes for the highest bidder, charges and counter-charges of corrupt practices, the wheeling and dealing, intrigues ad infinitum, etc., etc. -- all the political clichés that have turned the country's moral landscape to black. How naïve I was to believe that EDSA I and EDSA II would so cleanse us and bail us out of this morass.
Again the question: Have we deteriorated as a people? I refuse to answer the question in the affirmative. I can only hope and pray that the ice of cynicism I harbor would break. Hope and pray that the Pinoy abroad won't dismiss with uncaring indifference the goings-on in the homeland. Hope and pray even more that the majority back home would be driven to full force dynamic action of EDSA I magnitude to counter guns, goons, and gold.
(Comments to lagoc@hargray.com)