Mounting Frustration

So.

Proclamation No. 1017 has already been lifted.

So.

Are we now supposed to go back to the way things were, as though nothing happened?

I hope not.

First, something did happen. People's rights were not merely trampled upon, but were virtually steamrollered. For a day short of a week, we were under pseudo-martial law, and I think the reason why most people did not blink about it was that it went under a different name.

Second, I do not want to go back to the way things were, if it means having to wake up everyday, being scared that another threat to national security (the government, or the people, whichever way your mind is directed to) would materialize.

It's ironic to think that during EDSA Revolution, Marcos was removed from his position and ended martial law (sure, he declared martial law to be lifted a few years before 1986, but that seemed a sham), and exactly 20 years after, we become subjected to something almost similar to that.

We have gone through a lot of different oppressors, both foreign and local, in our history. Though we have prevailed and are still standing right now, it seems that every time this happens, a small part of us gets amputated, never to be returned again.

This is the third time GMA declared that we are in a state of national emergency, and also the third time she lifted it - (coincidentally) before the case regarding the proclamation's constitutionality could reach the courts.

Given all these just made me think. Will we never learn from our mistakes? Will we always go through the same thing over and over again (as a telenovela on TV is entitled)? I know for a fact that Filipinos are not stupid; I honestly think that our race is made up of quite intelligent and resourceful people. Yet why do we never learn? Is it the famous Filipino hospitality, to the extent that we actually welcome all these, even if it brings us pain? If so, then that goes beyond hospitality and enters the realm of masochism.

Personally, I do not believe in rallies. I might agree with some of the reasons that people have when they go out to the streets, but I'm not comfortable with the means chosen. Rallying always brings the threat that this would be another EDSA Revolution, and I'm actually scared that the Philippines will reach EDSA No. 250, and people are still discontented. In short, there is a very real possibility that we will never outgrow this, and we are actually faced with the idea that every president may always be deposed/disposed of via this. I think that people are getting way too comfortable with the idea that we have this much power, that they do not really think carefully on who to elect, since, as a fallback, "we can always go to EDSA).

A person cannot please everybody - that's one of the major things I've learned in life, but what s/he can do is do the best that s/he can, and to outweigh the dissenters with those who are at least satisfied with the way things are.

So.

What do we do now?