So it's all over. We no longer have a president that makes us shudder. Democracy is an ideology that, as much as providing its practitioners privileges that no other system of government extends, demands discipline, shrewdness, foresight, and community spirit in exchange. These are qualities that the Filipino people have yet a long way to go to acquire. There is nothing special about the Philippines being alone in a region where the model for economic development involved despotism and iron-fisted rule. It was merely by default as a consequence of our colonial past that democracy grew roots in our country.
And before we even think of pitying these countries for being subject to repressive governments (i.e. their people not being 'free' in our sense) we should pause to think about what being 'free' means to us. If to us it means being able to turn our elections into beauty pageants and variety shows then the Filipino people's concept of freedom is severely flawed. Erap had demonstrated the damage that could be wrought by completely unleashing the mandate of the Filipino masses in their present state of education and breeding. One only needs to count the number of showbiz personalities seeking public office in the next elections to ascertain if any lessons have indeed been learned from the Erap era. We were willing to overlook the fact that Erap kept concubines, loved to drink and gamble, and, plain and simple, was intellectually-challenged, although he already exhibited the effects of these traits early in his presidency. Later into his administration, many Filipinos criticised Erap because his brand of corruption was 'harapan' ' roughly translated, 'in your face'.We also traded various Erap jokes, and we all laughed at the pathetic statement of Erap’s call for a snap election. And then I also remembered all of us cheering after hearing on radio Lacson’s call for Estrada to resign.
Fifteen years after the EDSA Revolution, in January 2001, EDSA II (EDSA dos)...