Refugees of the dream
Some friends of mine attended the rally on Ayala Avenue last Friday. They walked over from their offices. As the rally progressed, they grew more and more uncomfortable. They were surrounded by the hakot crowd—busloads of people who had been paid by politicians to appear at the event. This is not about class or snobbery. This is about wanting to express your outrage, and finding that the guy standing next to you was paid to show up. You hope that his outrage is genuine, and you really can’t begrudge him accepting money because he probably needs it. But it’s not right. This is not what People Power was supposed to be. People were supposed to be united by their convictions. Now it’s been reduced to a show of numbers. My friends repaired to a nearby Starbucks, where a whole bunch of people who had also come to the rally from their offices had also taken refuge. That’s what they were: refugees.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 18th, 2008 at 09:34
Did they attempt to talk to them, though? Try to find out firsthand if the outrage is genuine? If it is genuine, I wouldnt begrudge them the baon and the transpo and the allowance given to them by their leaders for missing one day of work if they indeed truly wanted to be there. Unlike most of us who visit your blog, most of these people are ‘no work, no pay’. If they skip work, they won’t get their minimum wage for the day.
Yes it isnt about the numbers. It is about doing what you feel is right no matter what your neighbors think and do. Doing what is right isnt neighbor-dependent.
February 18th, 2008 at 13:34
i’l do the same starbucks thing if i’m with the hakot crowd because i feel that the event is so… artificial. just like lozada’s tears.
February 18th, 2008 at 13:58
i personally knew of catholic students who were forced (and school-bussed) to attend the big rally that ousted a previous president. it was part of school attendance raw, tha rally.
February 18th, 2008 at 16:59
[…] Casiple mean? Observe how some of the Middle Class who went to Makati ended up disillussioned, as Jessica Zafra recounts (see also Patricia Evangelista’s column, Liars); no such worries or fallout from the […]
February 18th, 2008 at 18:55
The whole intention it worth commending but knowing Guingona, Maceda, Binay, and other trapos behind this rally, I see hopelessness.
Wala na bang iba?
February 18th, 2008 at 20:18
I hope your friends tried to talk to the people in the so-called hakot crowd.
If they did, then they could’ve asked them about their grievances. Maybe they were there because they really wanted to and because they were getting “something” for their participation. Maybe they were on the bus because it was free transportation to attend the rally. College students often arrive in busloads because their school provides the buses.
Sa tingin ko, pare-pareho lang naman tayong biktima ng mga kasakiman at kapalpakan ng ating pamahalaan e. Marami sa mga isyu’t problema ng mga mayayaman, problema rin ng mga mahihirap.
Salamat po.
February 19th, 2008 at 09:19
The whole intention it worth commending but knowing Guingona, Maceda, Binay, and other trapos behind this rally…Wala na bang iba?
Guingona, Maceda, Binay, et al were in the gilid of the rally. Those behind the rally were the technical people. At the front of the rally were students (law schools were well represented), religious leaders, labor leaders, farmers and fisherfolk, artistas, rakistas, retired soldiers, housewives, grandpas and grandmas, office folk, etc. If youre asking ‘Wala na bang iba?’ andun sila at the front front of the rally. And yes, malay mo, yung iba nasa Starbucks seeking refuge from the bussed horde. ;-)
February 19th, 2008 at 11:32
I was not at the Makati rally last Friday, but I was present at the mass in La Salle Greenhills yesterday and tonight at the Church of the Gesu in the Ateneo. Both venues were packed. Not to cast aspersions on the crowd in Makati, but the people I saw in La Salle and Ateneo were not hakot. Perhaps the most telling sign of the times is that the middle class is singing Bayan Ko with fervor once again. This plaintive ‘national anthem’ of protest, whose anachronistic lyrics do not even fit the moment, is once again dug up from the ‘baul’ of national collective memory and, what do you know, is none the worse for wear. People Power of EDSA 1 magnitude these manifestations are not (not yet, anyway), but the stirrings are starting to be felt. The most important part of your post is the fact that your friends joined the Makati rally to signify their outrage. That is key. And it is a good start.
February 19th, 2008 at 12:15
i dont know with you guys but i always have this feeling this whole thing will again die its usual death. so if i were you, and if you dont want this prediction to happen, start your hakot now. haay, can we move on now? like enough already. i still have my latte to finish. and those tears…argh!
February 22nd, 2008 at 20:31
The First Quarter Storm is gone and done. No amount of Bayan Kos will bring back the glory days of student activism, the rallying up in arms. Face it: like her or not, GMA will stay ’til 2010. Done.
February 22nd, 2008 at 22:09
dearlyderangeddarla, how sure are you that she will willingly relinquish the presidency in 2010? If she is clinging to power now, how much more in 2010 when she is no longe r immune from suit?
February 27th, 2008 at 08:50
I also think GMA will be able to finish her term in 2010. I doubt she would attempt stay in Malacanang after that, it would be suicide.
Call me cynical, when La Salle GH hosted a mass, I had a feeling Ateneo would do the same shortly after.