I can understand the rage felt by those UP students who mobbed Department of Budget Management (DBM) Secretary Florencio ‘Butch’ Abad in mid-September. The behaviour of these activists represent an explosion of pent-up anger over what many believe to be an astounding case of wholesale national thievery that will likely go unpunished.
Came very close to being seen as the victim: DBM Secretary Butch Abad
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However, because the beneficiaries of this alleged thievery — Philippine Congress — are themselves the primary channel through which any punitive action against Abad and his boss Philippine President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III could be effected, there is no more than the slimmest of chances that this case will ever be resolved and the perpetrators ever brought to justice.
What are we in power for? This question has become synonymous with Philippine Congress. In the Philippines, thief and judge are both powerful and friends, while the ordinary Filipino taxpayer sits outside of that circle of friendship. Those UP students who had nothing left except their rage perhaps represented a microcosm of the Filipino people’s only “option”.
However, the key argument against the way these UP students conducted themselves before the Budget Secretary on that night on the 17th September 2014 is that they resorted to violence. Vencer Crisostomo, chairman of Leftist group Anakbayan and a former chairman of the militant League of Filipino Students (LFS) himself confirmed the group’s use of violence in his account of the incident posted on Facebook. The protesters, Crisostomo wrote, “hurled crumpled paper” at Abad and “threw coins and mamera at him.” Crisostomo also related that as Abad boarded his vehicle, “a student got close and grabbed him from the back by his collar.”
Anakbayan leader Vencer Crisostomo
(Source: Twitter profile)
Unlike in societies where there is no freedom of expression and where the law does not protect the rights of dissenters and people who find themselves in the custody of the police, the Philippines has a working criminal justice system and a Constitution that guarantees these rights. So one can argue that these UP students did have a choice — a choice to demonstrate their protest of the government’s alleged thievery within the framework of the very law that guarantees their right to do so.
But when these students resorted to acts of violence against no less than a Cabinet Secretary of the Republic, they crossed a couple of lines. The first is a legal line — i.e., the government would have well been within its rights to have these students arrested and charged for endangering the life of a Cabinet official. The second delineates their moral ascendancy — if Abad had been hurt as a result of the actions of these students (making it easier for his camp to paint him as a victim), the cause they were championing would have been undermined as a result.
The thing with violence is that there is no going halfway. Only a fool would throw little pebbles when faced by a rabid dog. Any violent measure you take against a foe who could kill you should go the whole nine yards. That means, if you plan to fight said dog, it would be in your best interest to be armed with something that could actually kill it.
When you choose to use violence against your government, you better make sure you plan to go the whole nine yards to overthrow it and crush it completely. If you choose to break the law to further your revolt, make sure your objective is to win said revolt so you could replace the law you violated in order to achieve that victory.
That way you’d be able to answer this simple question with a lot more conviction after an incident such as the one involving Abad in the UP Diliman campus that night:
What next?
The Philippine Constitution affords every Filipino the right to demonstrate their grievances against the government over a variety of legal means. In that light, every activist needs to ask himself the important question first before going about their protest activities: How far am I planning to take this?
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”
― Malcolm X
‘I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.’
Mahatma Gandhi
Quote Mahatma-coat all day long, but what happened to him?
So be a tree hugger, see where it gets you, lol ! You live a an illusion of democracy. The countries politics are as pollutted as Manila Bay.
What do you suggest, if not a Robespierre style French-Revolution type slaughter? More ‘Pauper-,er I mean “People-Power” Revolutions where no one gets hurt ,except the guy who dreamt it up,and nothing changes (but someone’s face on piece of currency) ? and you all get laughed at while the people who run the whole charade act as if Geezus Cristo has ordained them to run the country and loot the treasury as if they are ‘chosen’ by God to do so? Really? what do you suggest?
THE GATES OF HELL is putting it mildly, and to get some change it needs to RUN CRIMSON RED inthe streets.Go ahead and fool yourself, as if you have some sort of democracy and functioning government/country. Listen, and you listen good Son: if you do not do something DRASTIC ? you’ll be doing the same exact thing 50 years from now. That is if the archipelago is not under-water.
Abad deserved that treatment. He is a Thief, together with his Boss : Aquino. The grabbing on his collar is just a show of FRUATRATION on the thievery happening in our government.
Next time: throw rottten eggs and rotten tomatoes on him. He is Rotten…he deserves those rotten things…
“Kapag inagaw ng lalaking may baril ang tinapay mo, anong una mong aagawin? Yung tinapay, o yung baril?”
Hihintayin ko na nakatalikod na sya bago ko bunutin yun baril ko nakatago :p
There is a protest fatigue now. Yes, people are angry about DAP issue. But, that was months ago. Filipinos have short memory and shallow grasp of national issues.
I must admit that when I learned that some UP students angrily protested against Abad, it made me to smile. Kudos to students, so to speak. But, then again these are leftist students. They eat, love, live protesting against the government. It wasn‘t the whole UP student body.
Abad is a wise crook. He knew that people would easily forget and forgive. It is just a matter of time. Look at the Marcoses, or even Erap. They are back in power.
In the Philippines, patience among politicians is gold. If you are a corrupt politician, you come to the best place. Here, you can steal. Hide your loot. If you‘re caught, expect peoples‘ protest. Be patient. Deny allegations. Fight the legal battle using a fraction of what you stole. Justice can be bought here. Just be patient. Enjoy.
Our society embraces corruption. Admit or not, no one is saint here. Our government is the image of who and what we are as a whole. Abad is like us, and so is PNoy, etc. For we give them the power to rob us. We tolerate them. If not true, why are we not storming Malacanang now? Think.
Sarado ang utak at may manhid tayong administrasyon that no matter how many people’s march take place, nothing changes. That’s the main reason for protest fatigue, I think. And the protest flavored by some razzle-dazzle and selfies causing loss of focus prevents us from getting the desired result. At parang sports at holiday sa Pinas ang protesta, there should always be a break in between fights.
“Because we’re the government, we rule”, they say because the real bosses don’t know how to be one. Also, it seems that people are merely waiting for someone to lead them. It’s not a question of “Is it me?” anymore because that’s the very question one is avoiding. Common people’s thinking was like, “Simulan n’yo, susunod ako”. Sometimes that’s not even the case (“Kayo na lang. Kaya n’yo na ‘yan.”).
What next? Probably people who’ll evolve as “the game changer” otherwise the government will again turn a blind eye and deaf ear on masang Pilipino.
Is Violence the last answer to the pent up anger and deep Frustrations of the so called Peace Loving Filipinos, against the Monumental Corruption of the whole Philippine System?
I can relate and understand these Frustrations, must I resort to Violence? Perhaps If I live in the Philippines 24/7 and is subjected to these corruptions in every step of my daily life, I too, might take my protest further. Something got to change in the Philippine system, the Peace Loving Filipinos is a volcano waiting to erupt!
Yeah!! you’re right… para saan pumupunta ang mga pera na binabayad namin????!!! sa bulsa?? grabeh sila!! pinaghihirapan natin yun tapos binubulsa lang nila???
Throw him at the nearest garbage heap, like in Ukraine…
I too was glad to see these students “maul” Abad. That guy is just too smug and needs to be taught a lesson and stopped. He deserves to be ousted from his post and put in jail … if not killed… ok I said it. But the duty for that does not lie with the leftist students. (Though I dare say that if he set foot in PUP, his fate would have been worse.) The duty to oust this government lies with those out of college, working and no longer living with their parents. The question is how do we get out of this rut? I think part of the problem is that there are still a lot of people out there that think that Abad’s boss is a saint, and by that I mean the generation of the parents of these students–people who were old enough to have participated in people power. If only he was as reviled as his predecessor, we could actually find it in us to take to the streets or take up arms. But again, the duty is not with the students, but with their immediate elders and for that we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Yes, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Look at what is going on in your country. Poeple living like fuckin rats while the people who run the country for the last 50 years have stolen the childrens future.
I know dogs that live better than 90 % of the people living in that slum lord country….and the nightmare that is the Philippines did not happen overnight, oh no. It happened over the course of the last 60 years. Everything that the country had to offer its people was stolen.
So forget being ashamed, get fuckin mad !
We need more of this. Government should fear the people. But why is it that no one has done this to Estrada, Revilla and Enrile?
AND every single one of the rest of them and their thieving scamming families and friends?
This shit also happened in ukraine.. well, not exactly but the ukranian people fighted for the good government.
Unfortunately, most Filipinos’ knowledge of the world is limited to the major OFW destinations, so they probably don’t even know what a Ukraine is.
No, what happened inthe Ukraine is beyond what meets the eye.
Furthering protest doesn’t have to lead to violence. If they really do care about their protests, it won’t be a half day event. Protest until the whole world hears them.
Siguro naman pag nangyari yun, mahihiya na ang mga taong gobyerno. Sana gayahin nila yung protest sa Hongkong ngayon.
Hong Kong. This is how you do it
Macho Filipino blah blah blah going to have a picnic in the park or put a picture on Facebook.
Whatever despicable words that will be thrown at Filipinos the real fact remains: that majority in this Hell of a country are pure unadulterated self-centered undisciplined cowards who never have the inborn capability to see beyond what their own piss can reach, especially if it is based on the real concept of right and wrong.
HongKongDong says that “I know dogs that live better than 90 % of the people living in that slum lord country”, is as fact.
Observing the mindset of most people it seems that dogs are behaving like people while people behave like dogs. With one huge difference though, dogs usually worship those who feed them while Filipinos would surely devour and abuse those who show pity on them.
*********PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT************
THE FILIPINNES? IT IS DOOMED.
GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN.