By
Rolo B. Cena
Hushed
Poppies
Dumaguete
Star Informer
23
September 2012
Cebu City,
Philippines
– Every morning along the street, I could see them populating the area with
some others. Occasionally, they would rest
at the façade under the traffic lights when the red light switches on. She’s accompanied by a woman ten or fifteen
years of her junior. Her younger
companion would normally usher her to cars or taxi cabs whenever the green light
catches the flare.
She’s
blind but able to walk.
What
contrasts the scene is the vivid fact that along the area where they beg for
some pennies, the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) nestles. Adding insult to the injury,
the house built by the Department for the “lost and the less fortunate”
Filipinos stands across the street.
They
are not blind; they are very able to walk.
Lately,
P-Noy has been hoping against hope of meeting Hu Jin Tao of the Imperial
Chinese powers. During their tete-a-tete
at the recent APEC summit in Vladivostok, Russia, he was hoping to meet him; he
failed. Lately, he was still hoping to
meet him. He dreamt.
What
runs counter to his action now is when he heeds not the recommendation of Sen. Panfilo
Lacson to talk to the Chinese government over the Scarborough to avoid trading
the barbs. Uncalled for exchange of
hullabaloos can only propel unsolicited messages that can possibly, if not
probably, smudge the relationship we have established with the Asian economic
giant. Now, he is in dire need.
P-Noy
is not blind; he can ably walk. More to
this, he is not deaf; he can audibly listen.
Recently,
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile exchanged accusations and unpleasant words
with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV over Scarborough Shoal. The former even lambasted the latter for
calling Sec. Romulo a “traitor” during the meeting with China. It was reported that Enrile was just
responding to the privilege speech of Trillanes accusing the former of being a
“lackey” of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Senators
Trillanes and Enrile would have recalled that both of them staged and defined
their own respective and peculiar sense of being a traitor: The former led a military uprising against
former Pres. Arroyo, claiming themselves as protectors of the Republic; the
latter consciously defended the
dictator who was gradually killing the Republic and killed hundreds of
people. Just wondering what happened to
the arrest and search order during the martial law days.
They
are not blind; they can skillfully walk.
More than this, they can even dexterously kill people in the guise of
protecting the national interest of the Republic. Witnesses can attest to that; some of them
are still alive despite the consequential economic, social and political
deprivation.
The
mid-term elections are coming close.
Politicians in the guise of Enrile, Trillanes, et al are starting to
make ripples in the red seas of dirty Philippine politics: Ripples that effectively send signals of
trust-me, believe-me, and vote-me flyers; ripples that contagiously deliver
signs of don’t-forget-me, don’t-forget-my-dad, and don’t-forget-my-son fillers.
Pleas
can be articulated anytime; providential response is never pre-mature;
politically-colored man-made mercy is.
The
blind, old woman down the street nobly begs for her sustenance sans the
intention to cheat or steal at all. These
politicians of the “Peoples’ Hall” do beg in the guise of public nods, competently
articulated sentiments with the oppressed, and sending financial helps and
cause-oriented programs to the poor people, with the end in mind of getting
back their investments.
Truly,
when one is in dire need: bow, beggars,
bow!
