Courage On

I was longing for real change when Duterte came to occupy the highest seat of government in 2016. His journey to presidency was fueled by one of 21st century’s new superpowers- social media. It was also in that same year that I met Maria Ressa through Facebook. She asked me how I saw Duterte as president and immediately, I said that I liked him. It seemed he was dead serious about fighting corruption which leads to poverty eradication — the real and root cause of drug-related crimes in this country. I lived with the farmers, fisherfolks and the urban poor while in fieldwork in college when a guy declared robbery in a jeepney I was riding and found myself staring at a gun pointed straight at my forehead. Part of my young adult life was spent living in urban poor areas while my father fought cancer and lost.

I am in a much better situation now- thanks to my education and the generosity of the company I work for. But sadly, the efforts of the past administrations didn’t do much to change the economic stability of many of the people I left behind. My country is still in poverty and I was hoping for real and progressive change. And by this, it meant making sure that the environment is protected, the citizens are heard, and our well-being and sovereignty is given priority. Progress means more than just increased GDP, and countless new roads and skyscrapers.

I didn’t mind that the president’s mouth is filthy. I was more concerned about how he was going to use his platform to execute his promises and plans for the new Philippines. Having my professor Judy Taguiwalo — a Martial Law activist and prisoner; and Gina Lopez-a fierce environmentalist, as members of his cabinet was, I thought, a promising start of something good for my beloved country.

Sadly, it was all for show. I realized that I was applauding a circus. I was in a play where clowns sing and dance onstage to get elected, where a dictator is buried as a hero, where the interests of the rich and the powerful are the only ones that win, and where a repressive communist country such as China is highly regarded as a friend. I am in a circus, where the clowns are too insecure and sensitive, that they get offended when people don’t laugh at their insensitive and sexist tricks. In the circus, dissent is unwelcome and the clowns crave for loyalty and applause. They have forgotten that they’re onstage to make the audience feel happy…to serve the country. When the audience questions some of their magic tricks, they stop smiling and become really scary. They threaten and kill thousands, too. Many urban poor small-time drug users and pushers lost their lives. And both Judy Taguiwalo and Gina Lopez were eventually dismissed from serving the country.

When we met, Maria mentioned something about groups trying to manipulate and spread disinformation but it took a while for me to process because I had NO idea what she was talking about. You see, when you are in her presence, you are somehow taken into a different and exciting world of ideas. You get to engage in smart talk based on facts, logic and data.

When Rappler published its brave report on cheap troll armies and how Facebook allowed and helped in the widespread distribution of politically-motivated and manipulative articles, I had to swallow my words and apologize to Maria when I realized that I was wrong. I didn’t know better. It dawned on me when I read Rappler’s and other international media groups’ investigative piece about the weaponization of the internet that the world is in deep trouble. We have never been this polarized. Facebook’s algorithms and business model are to be held accountable.

We are in trouble also partly because of people like me who didn’t bother about knowing the candidates’ background and who didn’t exercise their right to vote. I didn’t vote in 2016. I had to travel by land and sea to my island province for more than 16 hours and I didn’t bother doing that. A two-way airplane ticket to this island is as good as going to another country so I didn’t bother buying that ticket as well. Although had I voted, I would have chosen a woman as president.

Four years passed and it’s surreal to see Maria Ressa face several legal charges. Her own freedom is at great risk. She is in my thoughts and prayers (yes, agnostics pray but only a bit differently). She is set to go to court to receive the judge’s decision on a cyber libel case that was filed against her and a former employee. If acquitted, and she should be, she still has 7 other legal cases to face. Let us help hold the line and stand by them during these difficult times.

The younger generation in government will be at the frontlines in fixing the mistakes of the past and fixing will not be enough. We will have to learn how to innovate where technology is used for the proliferation of what’s good and useful. We have to learn to use technology hand in hand with ethics and standards. It’s high time we all have to redefine our future. Silence is consent and choosing to be neutral is helping the oppressor continue to sow seeds of terror. Freedom is not slavery. This is the time to speak out or pay the price by slowly becoming like rag dolls, unable to say NO to the clowns and their friends.

Many of us choose to be silent. Many say that they have so many other personal problems to worry about and have no energy left to meddle with what’s going on. But we are in a situation where our actions or inactions could change the course of the future. Yes, we all have our sets of challenges but let these not be a reason to turn a blind eye on social injustice and world affairs. First, they came for the journalists…and we didn’t know what happened after that.

I hope that despite our own problems, we still find time to be informed, to become responsible users of social media, to think before we click, to vote, to support local journalists, to become citizen journalists, to continue to seek for truth and facts, to not be easily swayed by fake and manipulative articles, to not be afraid to accept that our perceptions could be wrong, to be loyal to the Philippines and not to any politician, to define our principles and values, to not hold back in questioning older generations about the whats and the whys of their established institutions, and to hopefully build new ones based on the learnings of the past, the realities of the present and the promises and threats of the future. Remember this when we choose the next group of people to lead our country. Let the standards we demand from our next leaders be the same standards we demand from ourselves. Do this. Do this for your children.