Saturday, September 29, 2012
Manny Pangilinan’s royal pique, Elias and Ibarra
By MARLEN
V. RONQUILLO
Rizal’s
Noli Me Tangere’s recurring narrative is sense of country.
Crisostomo Ibarra, the main character, is someone who loved his
country because his country gave him so much—the best in life and
Maria Clara.
The
Indios of his time and place would be happy with just one, the
beauteous Maria Clara. But Ibarra had it all until the fall from
grace, the tragic result of his essential and basic decency. He was
not even the born hero, predisposed to fight the injustices and
inequalities of his time.
The
real hero was Elias, the boatman. He was a dissident on a mission,
who loved his country and loved it more as he suffered from his
efforts to see the light break through the darkness and hopelessness
of his country inflicted by the frailes and the guardia civil at the
micro level and the Empire at the macro.
The
more Elias got trapped into the vortex of the insurrection, and as
his personal perils escalated, his love of country grew deeper and
sweeter. Until his last breath, he was still pining for that “dawn
of freedom” to break through .
On
the 40th anniversary of the declaration of martial law on September
21, the true-to-life stories of latter-day-Eliases, had been
inspirational. Many had fallen prey in the darkness of the martial
law years and their next of kin had to remind others of their great
sacrifices. Others had survived to tell their stories. While scores
of young men and women in that generation minded their own business
or got their head start in life with the cronyism of martial rule,
the modern-day Eliases took the path of dissent and dearly suffered
for that choice.
It
was in this context of the recollection of the sacrifices and the
young lives snuffed out in their prime during the martial law years,
that Mr. Manny Pangilinan, the helmsman of a vast business empire,
stood out like a drunk in a churchyard with his declaration of pique.
That he was thinking of packing his bags and leaving the country for
Hong Kong and bringing all his investments with him. The source of
his pique: Senator Trillanes’s declaration that Foreign Affairs
Secretary Albert del Rosario was making his decisions on the
territorial tension with China partly to help his close
friend—Pangilinan.
Just
that and Mr. Pangilinan got royally piqued?
Let
us go back to the source of the royal pique. His name was mentioned
in passing. He was not part of the dramatis personae. If at all, the
mention of his name was part of a brief aside.
And
yes, he is threatening to leave the country because of that.
What
if some senator were brave enough to haul him into a Senate inquiry?
Senators, of course, do not do that to a immensely wealthy man, who
happens to own a media empire. Mr. Pangilinan should be relieved that
the Philippine Senate does not have uncompromising characters such as
Bernie Sanders or Russ Feingold .
But
what stood out was this, the servility of the Philippine Senate
aside. On the day, the country was commemorating those who have
fallen during the dark and perilous days of martial rule, an
immensely wealthy man reminded us that some had little if not zero
sense of country at all. I will pack my bags and leave because I am
mightily piqued.
Wow.
And
we seem to be trembling over the proposition that this immensely
wealthy man would indeed leave the country that is predisposed to
give in to his every bidding. Decamp for Hong Kong to leave the
miserable country where he has been some sort of
Tycoon-King.
Wow.
With
the exception of Mr. Pangilinan and the top 10 percent, Filipinos do
not have the option of leaving after facing a molehill of an
irritant. We know who pack their bags to leave the country in a daily
mass exodus—OFWs packing their bags for the various work diasporas
to remit dollars back into the home country .
For
those who are not OFW, we are here in the country for good— to live
the inadequate or miserable lives we have. And taking the blows of
life—some benign, some brutal—with some kind of stoicism and
patience. Of course, above the ordinary lives are a special kind of
people with extra-ordinary stories of greatness and love of
country.
A
heroic few, do transcend the humdrum of their lives to fight despots
and tyrants, corrupt leaders and kleptocrats. The martial law years
proved that and the Bantayog ng mga Bayani lists the more prominent
ones. Some can live a life that is close to the perfect human being
like the late Jesse Robredo.
Some
can soar like Elias, who, when confronted by darkness, will lay their
lives to etch slivers of light into the dark dead night and torment
the power-corrupted rulers.
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