My plea

The end of February is around the corner. I, like most Filipinos, cannot help but relive 1986.

The fervor, the hope of better things. Sadly, a quarter of a century after, we are still holding our breath for true reforms.

I wonder if Noynoy Aquino feels the same way.

His mother, Cory did what the armed New People's Army could not do since 1968. Eject a tyrant and his cronies from power. Many fault her for being inutile; I personally credit her with getting the ball rolling. We, the people, should have done more to keep the momentum.

2011. Is this the democracy we hoped for? If it is, then it was much ado about nothing. We are freer, I guess. We have had elections. Were the elections free? Well, like every freedom, Filipinos have – it is relative. Free press? Well, it would appear so. But does our press freedom get to the truth? When many media-practitioners are beholden to envelop of "goodwill," and influence is peddled like cigarettes on Manila thoroughfares? When every facet of the Filipino's life is tainted by the stain of corruption?

One cannot walk a block in the Philippines and not be a witness to the stench. From the fake La Coste shirts that people wear, to the un-cemented, usually unexistent sidewalk, to the gawdy billboards that proclaim some local politico doing something (that they should be doing anyway!). Everything is touched by corruption. Freedom, you say? Freedom from what?

It is so tragic that parents have to school their offspring to do unto other before others do unto them. We justify this as a necessity for survival. We have grown so used to rationalizing corruption. We have moved the line that separated right and wrong countless of times. All in the name of convenience.

How free are we really when we have made a dent in ridding our society of the corrupt forces --in the military and their corporate allies -- that were the cause of the 1986 revolution in the first place.

In the weeks and months after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, the oligarchs and the elite moved quicky. Their moves did not rely on masses. No rallies to organize. No crowds to mobilize. No heroics, no personal sacrifice. All they needed, they already had. MONEY. SOCIAL STATURE. Now, the vacuum has been filled. It was merely a change of last names on top. Same filthy game.

Noy, pare, my hope…no… my plea. Take legal action against ALL enemies of the people. Try all who are responsible for raping the country. Punish the criminal cronies and oligarchs. Do better than what your dad and mom aspired to do.

There should be no statute of limitation on corruption and plunder. Go back 4 decades! Make things right. Rid the country of the tumors that afflict it. Show me…show us - that democracy does work. Prove to me that February 1986 was even worth a blip in Phlippine history.