21st of September

By Rolo B. Cena
The Gulf Files
Dumaguete Star Informer
25 September 2011

Riyadh,Saudi Arabia – There are two major significance this odd number accords the world and the Filipino people: The “International Peace One Day” and the declaration of Martial Law thirty-nine (39) years ago. The former is an advocacy that calls for all citizens of the world to take on peace and cause to be its agent; the latter is a self-serving interest conceptualized to create a stress-contained serenity narrative of dictatorial dominion and brutal rule of the Palace.

The 21st of September reminds us of the belief that we are one community, one citizen and one spirit: a community with the belief that instilling peace within the inner recesses of the hearts and minds creates an asylum of healthy disposition; a citizen with familial objective of advocating and maintaining peace builds an edifice of genuine people’s supremacy and good governance; and a spirit with contagious resolve fashions a sanctuary of immortal tranquility and peaceful community of Filipino people.

The 21st day of September reminds us of the freedom promulgated in the portico of Aguinaldo’s shrine in Cavite; the freedom that gave us the privilege to enjoy democracy in its truest form and meaning, with the absolute application of the rule of the people and the rule of law.

It brings us back to the memoirs of EDSA, where one trumpet was sounded off by one humble Cardinal that gave birth to the People Power that toppled a regime that abused lives, controlled the economy, and fabricated history. The 21st of September equates with the 25th of February that catapulted the rise of true democracy and eventually indisputable peace.

In contrast however, the 21st of September reminds us of the “Marcos Law,” a partisan belief that the Palace is the Law, the Palace is the Rule, and that the Palace is the Force: the law that revealed someone is above the law; the rule that revealed supremacy over its subjects; and the force that controls the community of believed-to-be idiots.

It reminds us of the Martial Law, the Romualdez-Marcos conjugal dictatorship that re-defined freedom, re-orchestrated peace, and re-created atrocities: freedom re-defined in the guise of cronyism and false application of bureaucracy, peace re-orchestrated in the guise of the New Society, and atrocities re-created in the manifestations of New People’s Army, Moro-Islamic Liberation Front, et al. This later gave unprecedented birth of Abu Sayaff propelled by the subsequent demonic Laws of Man that controlled the palace.

The 21st of September reminds us of the 21st century Filipino idolatries: crime, grime and slime. These three, in all aspects, are powered by greed and voracity. It reminds us of the most heinous of all politically-propelled crimes in Maguindanao; it reminds us of the most popular grime concocted by the wittiest of minds: the Poe-arroyo Presidential race; and it reminds us of the most horrendous slime ever actuated: ZTE-NBN deal, the fertilizer scam, etc.

Surely, the two scenarios vividly define contrasting epitomes of peace in one plane of thought: two extremes that demand both harmony and greed: The former being the end product of genuine peace, the latter being the consequence of a fabricated and highly malicious one. But then again, both lie on the same plane of thought.

Under the precepts of true order, where all the elements in the universe are in harmonious adjunct with its other, harmony and greed do not and cannot meet even when peace becomes the focal or central point of order, or in it its truest form and meaning, is enforced. Harmony and greed do not blend; neither does peace with martial law.

But contrast oftentimes provide colors that sooth, pictures that link, and messages that command: soothing colors that clearly demystify the good, the better and the best; linking pictures that exemplify the bad, the worse, and the worst; and commanding messages that magnify the good, the bad and the ugly.

Demystifying the good, the better and the best gives us the full picture of the Aquino administration, a replica of his mother’s, the icon of democracy, where transparency and good governance are two of his most important spices in re-cooking Philippine government. Linking pictures that exemplify the bad, the worse and the worst personifies the administration of the petite lady, now Pampanga Representative, where her greed and voracity ranks second to the former dictator. Magnifying the good, the bad and the ugly reminds us that once the Country was chosen by the good, ruled by the bad, and led to perdition by the ugliest of political souls.

21st of September should remind us of one thing: never do that again! What ever calls for it, be still!