This is in reaction to the Youngblood article titled “One broken family.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 12/18/08) After reading the article, tears welled up in my eyes at the thought that young as she was, she had seen the injustices being committed in our country. She was very frank and overflowing with righteous indignation when she, “Just when I thought it is never too late for justice to be served (especially in the Philippines, where the justice system is always 10 years too late), connections have once again overpowered justice.” I believe this statement rightly describes our present justice system, which is animated not by justice but by power, wealth and connection.
Those in power now who are abusing their influence (especially our representatives in Congress) must never underestimate the ability of our people to force them out of office. Heaven forbid, time may come when, because of deep anger and hatred, our people would feel that chasing our very corrupt leaders would no longer be enough.
We can learn from a country with lots of similarities to our history and nature as a people: Cuba. In 1934, Fulgencio Batista took over the government in what was known as the “Revolt of the Sergeants.” He ruled for 25 years as a dictator and was widely perceived as very corrupt. He committed a lot of human rights abuses against his own people. The United States condoned his regime because he was friendly to their interests even if they went against the interests of the Cuban people.
In July 26, 1953, a group of young men led by Fidel Castro and his brother Raul attacked the Moncada army barracks in Oriente province. It was a failure and led to the death and imprisonment of some rebels.
This didn’t deter the Castro brothers from removing a very corrupt and abusive leader in power. After being pardoned in 1956 as a result of public pressure, and with the help of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, they again tried to remove Batista from office. In Jan. 1, 1959, less than three years after being released from jail, they finally succeeded in forcing Batista out of the country.
Political ideologies notwithstanding, Castro represented the anger and hate of the Cuban people against a very corrupt and unpopular leader. In our country, we have a very ripe moment to force our “self-appointed” and very corrupt leaders to justice. But time is not on our side. And many more will die from the injustices in our land because we know what to do but don’t act on what is right.
(First published in the Letters to the Editor section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 31,2008)
