RIBBONS
GALORE!
by
Antonio C. Antonio
July
18, 2014
Early
this week, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III went on television to defend
the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) after the Supreme Court declared it
unconstitutional. Towards the end of his
speech, he asked his followers to again wear yellow ribbons as a sign of
support for his DAP. However, Typhoon
Glenda seemed to have doused cold rain on the President’s call. Power outages, in the aftermath of Glenda,
did more harm to the President’s call as netizens could not immediately react. But as Glenda left and electricity was
steadily being restored, yellow ribbons began to rain down on social
media. On Facebook alone, it was quite
noticeable that yellow ribbons started to become good substitutes for
individual profile pictures.
The
President’s call for the wearing of yellow ribbons was met with equally
passionate calls by other sectors in the political spectrum to wear ribbons of
different colors. Supreme Court employees
(still loyal to former Chief Justice Renato Corona) were encouraging people to
wear black ribbons. The militant street
marchers of today were calling on everyone to wear peach ribbons to support
their impeachment move against the President.
While others, like the Marcos loyalist, wanted blue or red ribbons in
their bid for a presidential comeback in 2016.
The political opposition also wanted peach ribbons. Hardcore environmentalists would even frown
at the sight of other ribbon colors and would rather wear green as it
symbolizes life and a healthy environment.
It was a confusing call for too many ribbons that the actual symbolism
of their colors seems to have been lost.
As a result, a great majority of Filipinos simply decided to refrain
from joining this ribbon craze.
Curiously,
there are also ribbon-wearing proponents who are encouraging the use of
red-white-blue-and-yellow ribbons which are the true colors of the Philippine
flag. They were recommending this ribbon
because they are pro-Philippines, period!
They don”t want to be identified with any political movement as they
simply want to profess love for our country… nothing more, nothing less.
I’ve
always regarded the yellow ribbon as something sacred. After Senator Ninoy Aquino was assassinated
in 1983, when it was not fashionable and even dangerous to wear a yellow
ribbon, I wore it with nationalistic pride and defiance to the oppressive
Marcos regime. Back then, the yellow
ribbon had a deeper meaning… it symbolized a struggle for the return of our
basic freedoms. I should mention that my
late mother was the Provincial Chairperson of the Cory’s Crusaders in 1986 and
I was a street parliamentarian affiliated with the August Twenty One Movement
(ATOM)… but I cannot, in conscience, wear the yellow ribbon now to show support
to an executive branch that is bent on disregarding a co-equal branch of
government (the judiciary). There are
those of us who still believe in the democratic principles, however imperfect,
by which we have survived as a nation so far.
I believe that the venerable yellow ribbon should be used for a deeper
cause than a tool in a popularity contest.
The
wearing of ribbons (whatever color we may choose) will not change the DAP
issue. If the Supreme Court rules it
unconstitutional, so be it. A lot of
Filipinos still believe that the DAP was a good-faith measure and, more
importantly, still believe in “daang matuwid”.
The more ideal thing to do is simply be honest… how much was dispensed
under the DAP?… where did the money go?... and, let these government agencies
account for the use of the funds. People
are restless simply because they are not well informed. Let’s forget this utterly selfish,
self-serving and meaningless ribbon strategy.
Our nation’s ills will never be solved by ribbons galore.
Just
my little thoughts…
(Please
visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders and Landscape Ecology UPOU on
Facebook or follow me at antonantonio.blogspot.com)
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