Arrogance of power

Who do not want power?  Juan de la Cruz?  Priests?  Politicians?

Juan de la Cruz wants power desperately.  He has suffered injustices for so long.  He could not even eat three times a day much more send his children to school. With power, his woes would be over.

The hierarchy of power in the Catholic Church, and other religions are very elaborate.  Subordinates are directed to observe blind obedience to the superiors.  After all, the superiors are held to be the vicars of Christ. Power is wielded so the apostolate may be propagated.

Politicians occupy positions of power.  They hold the reigns of the government.  With millions of constituents under them, they need the awesome and vast state powers so the common good may be promoted.

Power per se is not wrong.  Without it, there can be no control, no peace and order in the world, and even in the universe.  Can you imagine what happens to the cosmos if the fallen angel Lucifer were as powerful as God?

The problem sets in when there is disconnect between the ideal and reality.  This is particularly of strong significance in case of politicians because they wield the vast resources of the state.  Corporations may fall; religious sects may fold up.  But their effects are not as pernicious as the failure of politicians.

When politicians fall, and wield power in a manner diametrically opposed to its avowed purpose, the mayhem it will cause to the people multiplies a thousand fold; it is even exponential.  The people suffer physically and spiritually. With wrong exercise of power, people get hungry and illiterate, and their freedoms curtailed.

By virtue of the command of politicians over the multitude of citizens, they can easily play god over the plight and fate of so many people. The trouble with this is that the more they exercise power, the more they think that they hold the destinies of people, and the more they delude themselves of being gods.

Politicians who go beyond the threshold of powerful leaders to being demigods do with delusions that they are already indestructible, that no opposition can stop their further ascent to power, and of perpetuating their grip over it. This is a psychological threshold that not only wreaks havoc over the nation but over the person himself.

We have witnessed in history men who have deluded themselves to be demigods that they led with seeming impunity. It is history too that proved that as long as these leaders are still made of flesh and bone, they too have to suffer the penalties of their abuse.

Adolf Hitler. Benito Mussolini. Saddam Hussein. Joseph Stalin.  These are international figures that have fallen from the ivory tower of their delusions to the ashes of their destructions.

In the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos is too recent in our memory.  He usurped presidential and legislative powers, and ruled with seeming impunity for more than two decades.  He too, like the rest of his breed, had to suffer the humility of defeat and destruction.

Despite the historical lessons, people do not seem to learn, and still insist on threading the path where others have fallen.  Is it human nature to learn things when they experience personally the agony of failure? Or is it just like a child that has to burn his finger to learn that something is really hot which much be avoided?

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a well-read person.  She does not hold a graduate degree in economics without a good reading of history.

But despite the historical lessons, she is showing the symptoms of arrogance of power.  Maybe her stay in the palace when her father was then president, and her own nine years stay there has pushed her to a psychological threshold when a leader thinks that whatever she does, nothing can stop her nor could she be held accountable for it.

History has shown that when this psychological threshold is reached, the leader is prone to commit stupendous blunders.  These are blunders which the people could not anymore take, and therefore, they have no option but to punish the leader.

President Arroyo may have to meditate deep and long whether her charter change moves amount to a psychological threshold of arrogance of power.

when the law breaks down

When lawmen mauled the hapless Roberto Martinez last December 3, 2008 in a funeral parlor this city, who later was found dead near the Taguanao bridge, there can be no other exhibition of lawlessness worst than this.

We saw Jocjoc Volante brazenly lying before the senators. Every day, simple infractions of throwing garbage in the streets literally litter our city. Taxi drivers in the airport mulct passengers with the “pakyaw” basis in derogation of the rates established by the LTFRB. Even the beating red-lights in a traffic jam is a daily dose for drivers.

This disregard for the law, even how worse, can still be corrected. If there is political will, the violators can be apprehended and meted out the full force of the law.

But when it is lawmen that maul, and by circumstantial evidence, kill a civilian, then there is something terribly wrong with our justice system. Who will now protect the innocent from the criminals if the law enforcers are committing the crime, and do so in a manner so flagrantly and in the presence of so many people?

Roberto Martinez, the record reveals, got the ire of a policeman. He was slapped, and in a retaliation later, he hit the said policeman. He was later on in flight from the irate and pursuing police officers, and he went, ironically, into a funeral parlor where the vigil for the dead was going on. This being a big funeral parlor, there were many persons around presumably weeping for the dead. But they may have as well weep for the state of disorder in the Philippines.

Roberto Martinez, a witness recalled, was finally cornered by their pursuers. He raised his hands in surrender, and pleaded mercy, but bullets were pumped into his knees, causing him to fell into the ground. He was kicked and further mauled and was hauled into a vehicle. His lifeless body was found the following day near the Taguanao bridge, in barangay Indahag, this city.

One may argue that this is not the worst of the state of disorder. These policemen are plain thugs clothed in a policeman’s uniform. They may have joined the police service not on the basis of competence and qualifications, but simply of “padrino” , a system of patronage politics when one gets appointed if he has political backing. The argument may go this way: “This is an exception rather than rule; a case of few rotten tomatoes in a basket.”

Due to what happened, one may scream bloody murder. But wait for the flourish, err the pouring of hot chili in a gaping wound.

Police Director Isagani Genabe of the City, in the initial interviews said that he did not conduct the investigation yet because there has been no formal complaint lodge in his office. Imagine the innards twisting in revulsion to the statement.

The corpus delicti, the body of the crime, has been found. The lifeless body of Roberto Martinez was found, bearing bruises, stab and gunshot wounds. Confronted with the gory details, the police czar has the gall to say that the investigation will commence upon the filing of the formal complaint.

The police as a force is tasked to protect lives and properties, and to enforce the rule of law. When somebody dies of a violent death, there is obviously a criminal out there that should be apprehended. This the police must pursue. When a bomb explodes, the police must go to the site and investigate.

Or should the police wait for an explosion in its precinct or the dead body delivered in its doorsteps, and the police blotter written in blood of the victim, before the investigation may begin?

What happened to Roberto Martinez is a sad footnote in the history of the city. Yes, there have been gruesome crimes already in the past. But these crimes were committed mostly by civilians, and if ever a policeman was involved, he acted alone or in conspiracy with civilians. But this one is the worst. The lawmen conspired, and mauled their victim, in the presence of so many people who were weeping for the dead in the vigil, in the funeral parlor.

Weep we must, for the victim, for the arrogant display of authority, for the lackadaisical attitude of our police czar.

There can be no breakdown of law and order worst than this.

politics by anecdotes

1. It’s political season in the Philippines. Anecdotes would, to my mind, offer a clear picture of the political landscape here. So let me share some, in the hope that we can have lucid interval in the otherwise insane political realities.

2. The Philippine Congress is bicameral in nature, closely following the Amercan model, owing greatly to the historical fact that Phippines was once an American colony. The Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives were once populated with great statemen and learned men of letters and law. We had the eminent Claro M. Recto, Jose Diokno, Wigberto Tanada, Jovito Salonga, Arturo Tolentino, and others. We used to addresse them as “Honorables” , befitting of their stature. Lately however, comedians, action stars, [and God forbid, a boxer who has not even finished secondary education wants to run also] are now in the Congress. There was this congressman who said in his speech, “I will cementated the road from Cagayan de Oro to Bulua, and vice-versa”. Now tell me, should we call them “Honorables”? . I may have to take bonamine tablet, an anti-vomitting prescription, before I can pronounce the word.

3. My former law office partner was once a Vice-governor of the province, and went on to become a Congressman. I was privy to the inner sanctum of political schemes. In 1998, he ran and won the lone congressional seat of our province. The hardest obstacle in his election was the mayor who was also a gambling lord, and therefore had guns , goons, and gold. No lawyer would dare to accept the assignment during election time in his municipality, but being the rebel and adventurous in the group, I obliged. In his municipality, there were precincts that had zero vote for my partner even if the latter’s relative would swear to have voted. We filed criminal cases against this mayor, and all the lawyers in our law firm were in constant threat. We had to spend for bodyguards for two years. But during the 2004 elections, that mayor and my partner ran under the same political ticket. In politics, strange bedfellows can sleep together.

4. Philippine election is a year-round affair. If you are a congressman, you have to help all the elections in the province, save perhaps for the positions in the churches. There was this election for the Samahang Kabataan, a youth oganization that has a seat in the local legislative council. There are 14 municipalities in our province. It was a 7-7 for the opposing political parties. To break the tie, we had to get the vote of one Samahang Kabataan president. We had an associate in our law office who just passed the bar exam and was still single. We requested him to win the heart of a lady president. Before the election, our associate and the lady were sweethearts. We were assured of the majority vote.

5. Money can buy votes, so do cut-out newspapers. In one of the political conventions, a member who was seeking nomination, was into vote-buying. He cut newspapers to the size and shape of paper bills; on top and bottom of these cut – out papers, he placed real money, inserted these into envelops, and distributed these to the delegates before the votation. As the distribution was made in the convention hall, those who received the enveloped did not verify the content. [There is still honor among the dishonorables] That scheming member won, and the delegates who were hoodwinked, did not complain. They cannot flaunt their greed and ignorance by complaining.

6. I know of a judge who swears he will never run for public office again. Right after he passed the bar exam, he wanted to help his small town. He ran for a seat in the local legislative council. Brimming with idealism and confidence, he predicted his eventual victory. You see, the highest educational qualification among his opponents was a third year college. In that field, no way could a lawyer lose, so he thought. After the polling centers were closed, he went home to take a rest. He asked his mother whether she had voted. The mother, who was already near senility, said yes. Then the son asked whether she voted for him. The mother took from her pocket a piece of paper, and let the son read the contents. The names of the candidates were written but his name was not one of them. He asked his mother, “What are these names mom?” She replied, “Those are names of the candidates I voted because they gave me money.” He lost in that election.

7. I know the family of our vice-mayor in Cagayan de Oro City. The vice-mayor was a school mate in the college of law here. So do her brothers and sisters. Her father was once a mayor in the city. They had a band. All members of the family were good singers and can play any musical instrument. They were that close. The father, who is a lawyer, raised a good family: three lawyers, one doctor, an accountant, and the rest were all successful in their field. The father wanted to run as vice-mayor so as her daughter. Both belong to different political parties. They had a pact that no one would run. But the daughter did run. Feeling betrayed, the father attacked her daughter in the radio programs. And the daughter just answered: “He was a good for nothing father anyway.” When the mother was dying, they even filed cases as to who among the two should have a custody.

Man’s Infinite Hunger

 

The tragedy of human existence is its finiteness amidst the capacity of man’s infinite hunger: hunger for fortune, fame, and power.

Clint Eastwood, in one movie said: “The man in the gutter works so he earns money. He needs money to buy him food. He needs food to give him energy. He needs energy to enable him to work.” He sees man’s Sisyphean damnation on earth.

Yet man, though has his feet deeply planted on the ground, is capable of weaving dreams, of wanting to go beyond the Sisyphean cycle, of perpetually wanting more for what he already has. Though the myth of Sisyphus is the favourite among existentialist philosophers, yet its relevance on human experience only tells of an open ended-story. Sisyphus is not a summation of human existence. That is why it remains in its proper genre, a myth.

There was this child who was raised in the most of the rural setting. His friends never exceeded twenty two because that was the only number of kids in his small place. There was no electricity. The public school was made of pre-fabricated materials. He was always on top of his class because they are only few and the teachers were all his aunts or uncles. The Christmas and New Year’s eve always consisted of baked rice and if the pocket would allow, pancit canton.

One day, the kid went to the city with his father. He was awed with the glare of the neon lights, the many dishes in the restaurant, and the huge university campus he was smitten with.

In his heart, he resolved to be in the big city, to enjoy the luxuries the place brings, and be schooled in that huge campus. He kept his dream in his heart and slowly, he realized the dreams of his young mind. But having realized what he once dreamed of before, he now fancies of things far greater than what he has achieved. He weaves another dream, and once the new dream is realized, he weaves of still another, and another, in perpetuity.

That has been my story which can be yours too. But that is the story of humanity too, of man’s insatiable desire to go beyond what he already has, of man’s quest for far more greater things – this is man’s infinite hunger.

Man’s infinite hunger is both a boon and a bane of human existence. Can you imagine if Adam and Eve were contented of the paradise God has gifted them? Everyday would have been for them a moment of total bliss – no pain, no disease, and no hunger. But is that truly human existence? That life could have been the life of angels. How could they possibly enjoy and appreciate happiness without the experience of sadness? Happiness, without the danger of pain, is a conundrum. Is not what makes us happy is because of the triumph over pain and sadness?

Man has become what he is now because of his infinite hunger. Humanity has evolved in rapid pace because it is his nature to go beyond his present situation or status. A person who does not dream ceases to live. We have scaled Mt. Everest, dived into the deepest trenches, tinkered with the human gnome, explored the moon and other planets because that is part of the definition of man – always aspiring, always dreaming.

But his infinite hunger too is our boon, the boulder that the Sisyphus in us has to carry forever. Look around you. Have you heard of a billionaire who, not satisfied, still envies his friend who is richer and more famous than him? The next day, he is headline news. He is involved in corruption. You may ask: Why should a billionaire still have to commit crimes to amass wealth? Is it not that even in his lifetime and those of his grand children, the money he has amassed is already enough for luxurious lifestyle?

How many dictators, having tasted power, wanting to reign with absolute powers? Take Burma. The military junta has been ruling the Burmese people for 45 years now. In order to reign, the junta has to quell the opposition, imprison the leaders, gas the people, and lately, kill the monks. And they do these with seeming impunity. The junta is already ruling, but why not allow dissent? For absolute reign? Observe your local politicians. He started to get elected alone. Then, with his wife, later with his children, and still with his grandchildren. Not content with political power, he slowly intrudes into the businesses, and in order to strangle the competition, he wields his political clout. Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippine dictator for 20 years, even tried to intrude into literature by supplanting the legend of Malakas and Maganda( The Strong and the Beautiful) with his and his wife’s story. If he were still alive today, what could have prevented him from being the main actor in the Genesis story?

In fact, I may ask, why do I blog? Is not that knowing the finiteness of my existence, I still harbor in my heart the desire for eternal, that even if I should die, I still leave imprints of my existence? Even in the throes of death, man still quests for something greater than the present, something beyond him – the true mark of his infinity.