Friday, March 03, 2006

Poor Little Rich President

We have admired Yoly Ong for a long time. As President of Campaigns and Grey, a multi-award winning communications firm born in 1986, she and Marilyn Villapando (another lady we admire) as well as their crack team have proven that you don't have to "sell out" to do excellent work. Their friendship empowers us.

Folks in the PR and advertising business normally keep themselves in the background, preferring their work to represent them. It was therefore a surprise to receive an email from Yoly last night, as well as her license to reprint it. To us, it is a beautiful letter, simply written but powerful and full of the pent-up emotion many of us in this protest movement feel. It contains all that we believe is true in black and white and so, we proudly share it
:

WHY GMA MUST GO

Like the rest of the ABC+ ECO classes, I figured we should just ignore GMA and go about our lives. After all, there's no acceptable alternative on the horizon. Better the devil we know than the one we don't, right?

I even said she was most likely the real winner in the 2004 elections. After all she had the incumbent’s advantage. She spent billions of pesos for her campaign. The P800M fertilizer fund and P500M health insurance budgets were diverted to buy votes. Then to ensure a convincing victory she topped it off with Garci. You see, the little woman vowed she would get a lead of at least 1M votes over FPJ. That way, even if the Opposition cheats, she would have a buffer. Her other ambition was to get more votes than Erap, partly to thumb her nose up at him and his loyalists. Mostly so she would feel the love of the people because in truth everything she did was really for love.

She wasn't always a cheat and a liar. In fact there was one moment of epiphany when she actually had the decency to say she wasn't going to run because she was such a polarizing and divisive personality. Alas the Holy Spirit left too soon. And her broken promise became yet another one of many more to come.

Since the Hyatt 10 resigned, the dark side has completely taken over. Like the votes she bought, she systematically bribed cronies and critics alike. When position and money didn't work, fear and intimidation was the alternative mode of persuasion. Instead of capable men and women, she filled up critical government positions with loyalists whose self-interest hinged on preserving her own.

And so she has slowly corrupted everyone and everything she has touched. The military. The judiciary. The businessmen. The church. The police. If the soldiers are restless--- give them a house and an increase. If media cannot be co-opted, threaten them with PP1017. It’s actually PP1081 all over again. Arrest all who speak out against her. Commies or Professors, it doesn't matter. You’re invited for questioning if you’re not for her.

Now she wants the charter changed in order to perpetuate herself. Using tried and tested methods she tried to use No-EL to suborn Congress.

Can you imagine the damage she can wreak till 2010 and beyond? All this while the First Gentleman amasses a fortune from all government deals and the son smuggles racehorses and God knows what else.

But who will replace her? Even Noli has been persuaded to remain loyally supportive. All trapos are the same. We replaced an incompetent plunderer with a diabolical one. What’s to assure us it won't be from “the pot to the fire” again?

And with this unanswered question we go about our own business. Irritated at the inconvenience caused by street protests. Disdainful of Cory, Hyatt 10, Civil Society and the whole sanctimonious lot for trying to get us back to the streets and pricking our conscience. We couldn’t possibly link arms with Ping Lacson and Jinggoy and God help us, the Reds! Why even Winnie Monsod said so! And she’s credible isn’t she? She even wonders what the fuss is about a state of emergency!

Hold on a second. We are now questioning even the basis of democracy. Has the little despot insidiously corrupted us without our knowing it? We are actually making excuses to help her stay in power, even if we don’t really like her and we all know she and her husband are corrupt beyond belief.

We close our eyes to the horde that surrounds her. One adviser operates big time illegal logging. Another “owns” the entire pier and the multi-million smuggling operations that go with it.

Now with PP1017, we have another reason to pay no heed to politics. After all we don’t want to be invited for questioning, do we? In fact, we don’t want to be questioned by anyone. We’ve put our conscience on sleep mode.

What is the life span of a tyrant? History will tell us that they will reign while good men do nothing. But one thing is sure: A leader who does not possess the “friendship” of the people CANNOT lead. Even Machiavelli knew that. Well Madam, you will go down in history as the most UNLOVED president this country ever had. Poor Little Rich President!

I am going back to the streets and anywhere else where I can shout my disgust in the most powerful way I know how. GMA has to know that there are some Filipinos who cannot be bought or frightened.

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4 comments:

Sidney said...

The whole political system is corrupted to the bone. Even to be elected a barangay capitan or a representative of the "Kabataan" you need money to get elected. How much money (and dirty tricks) do you need to become a vice-major, a major, a congressman... It goes all the way up. How will you ever be able to nurture unselfish, clean leaders?
How can you expect a new generation of politicians to rise if everybody get corrupted from the start?

Edwin Lacierda said...

Ms. Yoly Ong says a mouthful and that mouthful cannot be swept under the rug of apathy and indifference.

What makes her admirable is her boldness to speak out in the light of the profession she is in. Where once she walks in shadows, she now stands astride in the light. This is no lady shooting from the hip.

Her essay can perhaps be described as a succint intellectual evolution of GMA believers who saw the light. And definitely, one that present GMA admirers cannot debunk so casually.

In the absence of light, darkness prevails.

JB Lazarte said...

darkness sounds more exciting than...

Leah Navarro said...

Yes, it is a sad reality, but all the more reason to push for a clean Comelec, well-run elections, the education of our people so we can elect the right leaders with proper discernment. I really can't see that happening unless we get to the truth about those tapes. How can you run clean, honest elections if the present leadership has blocked every way to the truth. She's never faced the music! It just doesn't follow, logically.