Of zombies and trapos: Powerless grassroots, clueless elite and the cycle of corruption

Their relentless assault on our values and institutions has made a caricature of democracy as they feast on our government’s resources and exploit our political immaturity as a people. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in my native Mindanao, the most conflicted region of our country – the most ravaged by disease, the least deprived of education, the most exploited in its natural resources, and the most savaged by war. But the trapo phenomenon is nationwide. Employing patronage as never before, the trapos turn the masses into zombies -- people who seem to have no mind or will, who are readily manipulated as if under a spell, who are made to believe they cannot survive without political patrons, and who vote as importuned or programmed by patronage.Patronage, notably the pork barrel, is a powerful conditioner of voter behavior. It eviscerates decency and morality in otherwise decent and honorable people. It robs them of volition, judgment, autonomy. Trapped under its spell, they cannot snap out of it by themselves. They need to be helped, to realize they aren’t helpless. They need to learn to stand up and fight for their rights. They need to know how it is to be a sovereign citizen in a free society. And the elite need to learn responsible citizenship and the Principle of Subsidiarity. This patronage-induced trance enveloping the grassroots today is clouding judgment and trivializing politics. Under its spell, honest, decent, and competent but financially-disadvantaged candidates cannot win or serve society. Patronage turns politics into the sole domain of the wealthy and ill-motivated. With it running rampant, only the unscrupulous and the corrupt win – who then perpetuate the cycle of graft, thievery, and plunder.

As we face elections anew, it is important to bring this issue out in the open and discuss it at the conscious level, doing so with the view to forming a stream of consciousness in our society that will build consensus against corruption. Consensus is important. It is important in the same way that a vision and mission statement is important in the life of a corporation. We need consensus to bind our diverse, multicultural polity and set it on a firm course towards genuine peace and progress.

Consensus is also important for a sense of community to develop -- the sense that tells everyone we have common interests, that we belong together, that therefore we need to work together, for we all have a stake in the common good. Out of consensus arises political will, a sense of direction, or a purpose for cooperation. Without it we can hardly call ourselves a nation; we are just a bunch of people thrown together by accident of geography but without the enduring bond of loyalty or patriotism.

Consider our country’s condition today. It is in the throes of virtual anarchy and chaos: squatters everywhere, unruly traffic, poor sense of law and order, fragmented constituencies, poor public amenities, rebellious minorities, rampant poverty, discontent driving people to seek refuge in gambling and vice, or in serfdom abroad.

Consider our cities: but for a very few, there is no shared vision or direction in their development. Huge projects are built and no one knows why except that it’s the mayor’s fetish. No one knows how much it costs, either, and no one knows how much goes to the wrong pockets. City Governments do things in defiance of rather than in pursuance of the people’s wishes. This is oligarchy, not democracy.

It is the result of a breakdown of consensus-building mechanisms -- ranging from Congress to the intermediate legislative bodies or sanggunians, down to the inert barangay development councils. This breakdown is abetted by the failure of the constituency at each level to articulate the popular will, which in turn is caused by the failure of supposedly sovereign elite citizens to grasp their role in a republic.

In a republic, citizens are heard, heeded, and represented -- not manipulated, pushed around, or pulled every which way without consent or consultation. Consent of the governed is important. People power is important. But in our case, the power is in the bureaucracy, not in the constituency; trapos are in control, not the people. Instead of the rule of law, what rules is the law of force and the tyranny of numbers.

Wielding the power of patronage and the pork barrel, the trapos keep the masses under their spell, keeping them in a state of dependency. With their backing, they legitimize the illegitimate, block impeachments, rig elections, railroad legislation, and marginalize taxpayers. The marginalization of taxpaying citizens is most pronounced where squatters predominate – meaning, people that vote but do not pay taxes.

Consequently, the people who do pay taxes are without a voice; even if they speak up, they are easily drowned out. Voiceless and unrepresented, they are helpless. Unorganized and lacking political will, they are readily manipulated, fair game for organized syndicates of abusive and opportunistic trapos. Then big-budget projects like markets, bridges, and highways get built without due process or consultation. What else can happen when governance is privatized and decision is personalized? Crony capitalism happens!

The abuse has become so pervasive and shameless that even pigs are roasted, cakes are baked, and priests and churches are contracted to snare unwed couples into mass weddings. No one seems to realize how this hypocritical gimmick yields the trapos a bonanza in terms of grateful “ina-anaks” that become their supporters, followers, campaigners, and voters on Election Day.

Lets face it: A whole new trapo industry has emerged around the merchandising of political patronage. Every bit and morsel of public works and social services today is converted into private tokens bearing the names and faces of trapos. Graft and corruption has reached unprecedented heights of shamelessness!

Hardly a week passes but that there’s a political gimmick in progress – a medical mission, a feeding program, a mass wedding, distribution of health cards, circumcision or haircut for the boys, outdoor salon and manicure for the girls: name them!

These instruments of patronage and electioneering are a plague upon our political system. No road, pavement, or building is built but that it must bear the name and face of a trapo or the label of a company that donates big to their campaign chests. You can now get things for free at drugstores, funeral parlors, beauty salons, schools, and hospitals by simply signing away your vote or your support! The scandal is appalling!

Most of the culprits in these shameless gimmicks are our lawmakers. It’s hard to believe they don’t know how the abuse is driving our society to the depths of moral retrogression. Not to be outdone, their conniving partners in the executive branch serve as pimps, pushers, and merchandizers of pork barrel. Everywhere there is credit-grabbing – and for what? – for squandering the people’s money.

How did we manage to depart so far away from our role models? Ramon Magsaysay, Claro M. Recto, Emmanuel Pelaez and, yes, Ninoy and Cory, must be turning in their grave.

They had integrity. They had delicadeza. They made us feel decent; they made us hope in democracy; they made us believe in self-help and autonomy; they made us care about duty and honor, about God and country. But today we have demagogues, charlatans, dealmakers, plunderers, political prostitutes. Because of them our society is viewed as the most corrupt in Asia. Instead of making us proud and confident as a nation, they make us feel dirty, embarrassed, even inferior about our nationality.

We once had in Ramon Magsaysay a leader who stirred up the masses and awakened their sense of sovereignty, including mine while I was still in high school. He opened our eyes and made us aware of our dignity, our rights, and our inherent power. In so doing, he empowered us and brought us the light of hope during that dark period in our history.

When we lost him in a fatal plane crash, others picked up his torch. One of them was Mindanao’s Emmanuel Pelaez. He showed how a provinciano from a small town called Medina in Misamis Oriental can be a class act on the world stage and rise to the pinnacle of national politics without resort to guns, goons, or gold as many did and do to this day. He was a beloved congressman, senator, vice president, secretary of foreign affairs, peace negotiator, United Nations Representative, and ambassador to the United States. He was the quintessential statesman.

Back in my hometown of Cagayan de Oro, we had Justiniano Borja, beloved mayor. He showed how even a lowly City Hall can be a staging point for statesmanship and win respect not only for himself but for his constituents. Although Cagayan de Oro was then only a fledgling urban center, it hosted ambassadors and Magsaysay Awardees who came to see what sort of people lived in the nation’s best managed city of the time. His wise leadership kindled pride of place, citizen involvement, and, yes, patriotism! But he too died too soon.

Then we had Reuben Canoy, the mayor who helped define a vision for a friendly city. But beyond that, he gave the nation’s neighborhoods a sense of identity and power by conjuring their ancient roots as self-governing barangays. He was and is a beacon to the grassroots with his popular on-air vernacular mantra that “An informed citizenry makes democracy strong, while indifferent and neglectful citizens imperil freedom and liberty.” The rebirth of our barangays is Reuben Canoy’s enduring legacy to Filipino nationhood.

Where are there leaders today with such vision and statesmanship? Who do we look up to as an icon for good, honorable, honest governance? Is there one in your city, in your region, in our nation, who makes you feel proud, who makes you feel honored, who inspires you by his statesmanship?

To be sure, trapos are not entirely useless -- if only because they serve as examples of how not to govern and whom not to vote for. It is they who inspire journalists to write of corruption, of greed, of manipulation, of dynastic ambition and monopoly, of lust for power. It is they who inspire disgust and drive decent people to agitate for reforms. And it is the way they provide for their families or enrich their cronies that lead to EDSA uprisings.

Who these trapos are, I don’t have to mention, for they are already well-known. They save us the trouble of identifying them by their habit of plastering their names and faces on billboards, streamers, vehicles, even garbage bins. They reveal themselves by festooning sidewalks, overhead cables, and public vehicles with their shameless names and faces. Their postings hang like dirty laundry throughout our landscape. Then, adding insult to injury, they stick the bill for all this vainglory into the pockets of taxpayers.

My suggestion to you is, let those shameless faces and names serve as reminders of whom to ignore on Election Day!

But what we say here may be for naught; because with all the flattery and lionizing these trapos get from civil society groups and from people that constantly vie for a share of their pork barrel bonanza, they’ll probably get re-elected. Yes, they’ll win again because people who claim to disdain corruption and abuse pander to them, surrender governance to them, and give their minions free play in their community’s backyard -- in their own barangay.

Remember: the precincts are in your barangay; it is where they hatch and rehearse their schemes on how to pay off and herd the zombies into the voting booths. The plotting and the scheming and the paying-off is happening even today, day to day, week to week, month to month all the way to May 2010. If you continue to ignore the goings-on in your Barangay Hall and its compound, no amount of poll watching, protesting, or praying will hold back the trapo tsunami that will befall us on Election Day.

So who are the zombies? They are either us or our neighbors! They are anyone who surrenders his barangay government to trapos big and small! Because they are zombies, they need to be shaken and wakened so they will snap out of the spell induced by patronage and graft and corruption.

Thank you for listening. God Bless you. God bless Ang Kapatiran party , the only non-trapo political party hereabouts. And God bless the Philippines!