Heroes for President (Love Stories as Election Campaign Ads)

As we approach the May elections, we expect more media noise coming from the hundreds of candidates in their TV, radio and print campaign ads. Good for business, in general, but not so much for our tranquility and our efforts to achieve moral recovery. As the Medicis of Florence loved to proclaim: “Money to get the power, power to keep the money.” A concise definition of politics, if we ever needed one.

There is the billionaire who spends millions to gain access to the highest position of the land. His many and certainly expensive TV ads alone are veritable movie-trailers showcasing his past, his accomplishments and his abilities. Then, there are the two cousins – scions of wealthy landowners and industrialists – who are paraded as young and dynamic leaders, eager to serve the people and to please them with their promises of, well, wanting to serve them. Both also have their own ads, obviously created by the best PR and copywriters around – crisp and clean visuals and catchy cinematography that would make many would-be movie-makers envious, if not for their quality then the financial windfall they would provide. Such things don’t come cheap, you know.

Marcos had his “Iginuhit ng Tadhana”, a love-story starring Luis Gonzalez and Gloria Romero, which introduced him and Imelda as the "saviors" of our country. At least, with a movie, one stands to gain back some of the investment. Perhaps, the “Apo” was much wiser than we thought he was. Putting up the CCP was in itself the crowning jewel of his regime as it showed the world how beautiful Filipino culture was and how generous a government can be to preserve or develop its culture. Some, of course, would say it was nothing but propaganda. For some, it was indeed a shot in the arms for our artists and, it follows, for our people.

Others would say it was nothing but business as usual. Money making more money for the rich while sparing some loose change for the service industries. Media and the film industry stand to gain from this recent surge in demand for political ads.

However, business and culture are much like food and flowers in a restaurant. You can eat the former but not the latter. Yet, this kind of thinking is exactly what keeps us from maturing as a people: We spend each day thinking about what to feed our families while we forget to feed our souls with the finer things in life. In fact, we continue to patronize cheap western music and Korean telenovelas and forget to appreciate our own excellent music and literature. Ironically, CCP’s cultural events are affordable only for the wealthy. Whereas pop or rock concerts get replayed often on the TV networks, not many of CCP’s shows get enough sponsors to air them. Thus, we remain an unaware and confused people, subject to exploitation by cunning people.

One of the latest attempts at mimicking Marcos’ use of film as campaign tool came in the form of a network’s soap-bio on the love-life of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. Aired on primetime last weekend, people were treated to an “infotainment” (drama-docu show, that is) which probably garnered a sizeable chunk of the viewing public. Considering the network’s open and self-serving endorsement of Noynoy’s bid for the presidency, it was an unabashed plug for his character and his legacy as the only son of what many recognize as modern heroes of our country.

And they are heroes, if we are to set up before ourselves high standards of courage, dedication and sacrifice -- the very same standards we use to declare our OFW’s as our modern heroes. What makes Ninoy and Cory exemplary is the vast influence they had within a particular period in our political history. Specifically, in relation to the Marcos regime. They served to set us free from two decades of darkness. We celebrate -- and will again celebrate next month -- that fact as the EDSA Revolution. For how can we forget the glorious unfolding of our nation’s destiny without mentioning the contributions of these two personalities?

Yes, we need to thank them and uphold them as cherished leaders of our nation for when the time came when we needed them, they answered the call. And yet, the present requires that we kiss the past struggles and glories goodbye and face the future still with an open embrace. Open to new opportunities and new ways of meeting fresh challenges. Let us keep Ninoy and Cory as symbols of freedom, among so many others from the past and in the present who lived and live to make democracy a reality.

Noynoy, as a symbol of one family’s struggles and triumphs as well as a budding icon of what our nation can become is indeed a welcome potential. He deserves to be heard and given the opportunity to prove himself. Or, perhaps, he has already been given that chance and that it is time to make the right and mature judgment on his ability to lead our nation.

Would Ninoy, the father, have made a good president? Perhaps. If the TV drama is to be believed, he would have kept his promise to be uncorrupted, as his son now also promises not to steal from the nation. Ninoy never became president and Noynoy just might become one. But let us consider their qualifications, to be more subjective.

Ninoy was a traditional politician before he became a reformer of some kind. A defender of the system before he became an activist. A conventional thinker before he became a pacifist-rebel with a just cause. A mainstream Catholic before he became a mystic of some sort. I hope the soap drama would ultimately showcase (Part 2 is still coming) these nuances in Ninoy’s transformation as it is crucial in determining if we all have understood what it takes to bring a nation back, close to its Eden-like condition (Rizal’s vision of our own ancient past).

The questions then that we must ask, if we are to make the right choices when the time comes to choose our leaders, are these: Did Cory truly embody the same visions that Ninoy had (as well as those of Rizal, other heroes and those of our own today) when she served as president? Did she fulfill the dreams of her husband not just to restore democracy but also good government and social justice? If so, will Noynoy be able to do the same? If not, why should we entrust to him the seat in Malacanang? Has he done what is necessary to prove that he really is the very person his own father would elect to fulfill his (Ninoy’s) own dreams for our country?

It doesn’t take to be a son or daughter of Ninoy to know his ideals, the same ideals that our previous heroes held and defended with their lives. We only need to be aware of our own capabilities and duties to be ready when called upon to serve in turn.

The true measure of Ninoy’s success as a political leader and as a belated visionary late in life should not be simplified as if it were a natural or conjugal succession with Cory’s becoming president. It is a dangerous assumption that leads people to think Noynoy would then be the next and normal heir to the mythical throne of EDSA. EDSA was a phase, just as the Philippine Revolution was. Did we have the best leaders during the Revolutionary Government? Did we achieve our aspirations under their watch? Will we do so now under the one we want to elect? Is Noynoy the genuine reformer, activist, visionary and thinker that we need in this critical time of our history? Can we honestly say that he is and not merely hope that he will be when he needs to be?

Beyond mentioning the political baggage that the Aquino-Cojuangco family carry into this presidential campaign, we must look at a person’s claim to his ability to lead our nation in relation to our long history of heroism and not just recent political realities. For many are the problems and the enemies that we must face. The same issues that beset our fathers under the Spanish and American Regimes remain today in the same forms, colors and odors: black, odious and rotten corruption and exploitation of our social, cultural, political and physical environment. The skin colors and the names may have changed, the addresses and the costumes may also have changed, but the rules of the game have remained the same.

The powerful and the moneyed still hold sway over our lives and still hold the reins over how we think, believe and move. The friars may be gone; but their descendants are still around preaching love and receiving blood money. The Ilustrados may have long been silent; but their heirs still sit in gilded chairs in mansions. The Guardia Civil may be only be a memory now; but their brood still lurk somewhere ready to pounce upon those who disturb the status quo.

Elections give us a chance to see ourselves where we really are: Back to Square One. Corruption is with us and will be with us when we lie with the worms in the grave. For now, we lead ourselves into thinking that real heroism comes merely to those born of heroes and not to those who live it and plod through its struggles and come out as totally transformed individuals.

Who among our candidates have gone through a transformation from inside out? Who exhibits in living form the life worthy of our admiration and emulation? This is what should guide us this campaign period.

Perhaps, what we need is not a new president but a new spirit of heroism within us all, one that makes us to walk and live as heroes ourselves and not just followers of heroes. Perhaps, what we need then are movies that help us to become heroes and not movies that lead us to worship others as heroes – whether fantastic or real heroes. We certainly cannot fly like Darna does; but we can be compassionate like Josephine Bracken who cared for the wounded during the Philippine-American War. We cannot be as strong as the Flavio, the mythical Panday; but we can be as strong of mind and of character as Rizal was when he led the way to our freedom as a nation.

Incidentally, I wrote a semi-historical script of the love-life of Jose and Josephine a few years ago. The story makes Rizal the president of the Philippines, a timely idea that may help us consider how he would have behaved as a political leader. Here is an idea: Why don’t we writers and film-makers come up with stories of real or fictional people who will exemplify the highest ideals for us and candidates to follow? So, instead of us watching people tell us how great they are, we can show them how great they should be, that is, great enough for us to vote for them. But I still have to hear of a wealthy candidate who will bankroll a film on the life of, say, Bonifacio or Mabini just so he or she can win an election. Now that – is a real dream!


(Photo above: Is it a butterfly or a shell? Images can be deceitful.)