Here’s a letter to the editor in Inquirer that I felt captured a lot of what I wanted to say about this Erap vs Gloria issue, and the prevailing apathy of this generation.

“We are glad that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has pardoned Joseph “Erap” Estrada. We thank both of them for reminding everyone that justice here in our society is a plaything of the rich and powerful, that the search for truth can only end up in a blind alley.

We are also glad to know that Ms Arroyo is capable of feeling — never mind how twisted her brand of compassion is — whenever her political survival is on the line. We are glad Ms Arroyo once again spat on the spirit of EDSA People Power 2, thus reminding everybody — especially the middle class — that it takes more than a restrained remonstration to build a better future, to free our people from the elite’s exploitation and domination.

We are glad Estrada puked on the masses that stormed the gates of Malacañang at the height of EDSA 3, and that he swindled those who believed in him, those who sacrificed and died for him. We are glad the self-styled champion of the poor accepted a cowardly, pathetic and self-gratifying settlement with the same faction of the elite he regularly lambasted as the “real enemy,” that he finally went back to the fold of his social class. We are glad that with his newfound freedom, he frustrated the Filipino people’s longing for truth, justice and accountability.

We are glad that Ms Arroyo and Estrada have finally shed every cloak of pretension, removed every prop of the make-believe “Erap-Gloria war,” thus freeing us from the pressure of choosing between “Erap for the masses” and “Gloria of economic paradise.”

Now it’s clear: the fight is between them and us, between the haves and have-nots, between the different factions of the elite, on one side, and the poor who for the longest time have been sidelined, used and abused, on the other.

Now, let us march on the streets not in their name, not with their plundered resources, not upon their prodding; without them, without their plastic smiles, without their fake patriotism, without their unsolicited leadership, without their phony loyalty to the people — the same people they unhesitatingly rob and oppress once they are in power.

We are sick and tired of them all. Let us tell them that we are tired of elitist “reruns,” of their unchanging, conjured dreams, of the same “trapo” [traditional politico] governance.

We must muster our strength because a better world is not only possible but is under construction. We should not limit ourselves to outlining an alternative society; we must begin building the edifice of a humane and egalitarian future, now! Let us spare the generations to come this system.

Instead of getting frustrated and disappointed, instead of running away to some First World country, instead of being paralyzed by apathy and indifference, let us have the resolve to have another EDSA People Power uprising. Let us reclaim it from the elite who bastardized it.

Let a hundred EDSAs bloom. EDSA uprisings that are radical, mass-oriented and explicitly against the rule of the elite.”

EMMANUEL M. HIZON, JAMES MATTHEW B. MIRAFLOR,
39-E Maginoo St., Barangay Pinyahan, Quezon City

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