(Author's note: the upside of working overtime in the office is that i get some lull time, when i find myself caught up in audit. i get a chance to unblock my writer's block ;)
I watched some show a month ago. It described Filipinos as a culture and a people always in need of a hero. Why? Well, I’ll just take this opportunity to allow my overly unqualified self to psychologize this.
We are a persecuted people. We are the underdogs in every race we enter into. We are all Marimars and everyone else is our very own Angelika. This is why we always need a hero. Someone to save us from suffering. Someone to look up to. Someone to thank after the storm has died down.
A recent storm in our lives has not exactly died down, but our society is apparently in the midst of a hero most of us are grateful for.
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada. The former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation. The “lowly”, Chinese immigrant forced into the limelight of the ZTE scandal. A man who testified against a number of public officials regarding their corrupt ways, including his own, and gave the whole nation a dose of a medication it just so needed—the truth. For that, he is being regarded the modern-day hero.
Psychology now aside, I now question not the credibility of his person as a witness, but his newly-attained celebrity-slash-hero status. I could see that he is now on a pedestal built by our being, again, a society thirsty for truth, salvation, and a clichéd hero. What I could not see and understand, however, is why, in God’s holy name, we put him up there. Way up there.
It all started when he was repeatedly asked to attend the Senate hearings on the ZTE probe and when he never seemed to heed to the Senators’ requests. He never came to the hearings. Someone said he was out of the country. Probably in the UK or something to that effect. He was threatened with an arrest.
Finally, rumors surfaced that he was coming back to accede to the Senate’s request. But when he arrived in the airport that day, he never came out. Everyone came looking for this guy. More rumors came up, of him being kidnapped and sorts. He popped up the next day already in the care of the La Salle brothers.
He graced the Senate hearing with his presence, at last. Not to mention making his most awaited appearance with the La Salle brothers and (RVM) nuns in tow.
Since then, he has been engaged in what I call a nationwide “concert tour”. Like some rock band, he goes around cities, provinces, and schools to impart his little known experiences as a Senate witness to the people who apparently still want to know more.
Frankly, I am sick of his act. No, I’m not saying that he is a grand liar. I am just tired of him basking in fame as if he really is a hero. He does not deserve my admiration, and really, anyone else’s for that matter.
I know of a hero as someone who did something great. In a grand scheme of things, a hero does something out of the ordinary to effect some good. By those simple criteria, Jun Lozada, does not impress me.
Just when did the tables turn? How has something that is supposed to be a “given” like telling the truth become so…hero-like? In this day and age, I understand, the truth has become so rare, that anyone found telling it is regarded as amazing. However, I believe that it has become so overrated, especially when it is told in such a grand manner… (cue clips from the ZTE hearings with Mr. Lozada bursting to tears one moment after the other)
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV
We should remember that corruption is a crime of complete deception and dishonesty. And Jun Lozada was really once part of the deception. Him “outing” himself and the rest of the ZTE players should not be considered heroic. It was his obligation to the country, a country that has been plagued decade after decade (after decade) with graft and corruption, to tell the freakin’ truth for it is what we have always deserved. We are all expected to be honest and anyone found to be just that should be thanked, I guess, but not put up a pedestal. I know that we are part of a system that rewards perpetrators who have suddenly had an attack of conscience. To me, that is just a pity. If someone has done wrong, he should be punished. If he subsequently decides to be honest about it, well and good, but what wrong he had done in the first place should never be decriminalized. Telling the truth is merely an obligation these perpetrators, just like Jun Lozada, had to fulfill, plain and simple. The truth is always fascinating, but it is not out of the ordinary, much more heroic. No medals or certificates should be given out to people who choose to do something so pedestrian.
I would like take this opportunity, though, to recognize the efforts of Mr. Lozada. Thank you for telling the truth. Thank you for shedding us some light on a long-running political myth. If you did anything heroic, it would not be telling the simple truth. It would be going out of your comfort zone, even risking the normalcy of your family’s life and safety. That is admirable, dear sir. Apart from that, I remain unimpressed. You’re still no hero to me, unfortunately.
All this has been disappointing: truth becoming so rare, corruption being more common, and the constant cycle of having whistleblowers as our heroes. We do not need this type of hoopla to find our heroes. In fact, we do not need heroes to save us. We should keep in mind that there could be greatness in everything we do, however mundane that thing is. We could be our own hero. Because as much as stories of others inspire us, it will always be us who can solve our problems and get ourselves out of persecution.
No comments:
Post a Comment