Mostly form, little by way of substance. That is how our democracy is similar to the religion the majority of our population swears by.
And it is perhaps in this context that what we commemorate as the “people power” revolution that was Edsa Uno has failed to live up to the expectations of many Filipinos.
I recall how my mentor, Salvador “Doy” Laurel used to say about the then-imminent fall of the dictatorship: “It will be like a grand fiesta, with people pouring into the streets in joy, loudly proclaiming the return of their liberties, their freedom!”
Well, it was indeed. An astonished world looked at us with admiration, as we were able to oust an entrenched authoritarian ruler without bloodshed. For a few shining moments in history, we were on center stage in the world.
But after the euphoria died down, when it was time for us to roll our sleeves and get back to the tedious work of rebuilding a nation from the long night of freedom’s slumber, we faltered.
What we so proudly claimed to be the return of democracy was just a return of form—the formal institutions of democratic order; the return of individual liberties and the recognition of individual rights; the establishment of the three branches of government, supposedly co-equal; freedom of speech and the guarantees thereof to media.
But where was the substance? And after 31 years, how much substance?
The oligarchy that Marcos promised to banish but instead merely re-cast into cronyism, a “zaibatsu” fueled by greed rather than love of country, was once more re-cast, returned through a mere change of power-wielders.
Same script, different actors. In fact some of the old actors remained on the stage, still practicing their old tricks upon a population marginalized by the lack of real democratic power in a polity where the economy remains controlled by a very few, in a society of extreme inequality.
The “elite,” which have through the years evolved from the hacenderos and ilustrados of the Spanish regime. They retained their privileges because they were co-opted by the American colonialists. Now they still hold the levers of power because they are fortified by a ruling class of Pinoys and Chinoys whose wealth is a function of rent-seeking.
I have always maintained that democracy is not merely about formal institutions; it should be about equal opportunity. There is democracy when those born poor are afforded by democratic order the means with which and by which to advance their status in society, improve their quality of life, and provide for a sustainable future.
That is what the bloodshed during the French Revolution eventually did for the people of France, now advanced into a quality of life with few equals.
And while the Chinese do not up to now bask in the forms of a democratic order, their polity has given the people continuing liberation from the bondage of poverty. There is the substance of equal opportunity, even if bereft of the forms of democratic space.
I repeat: ours is a democracy in form with little substance.
It’s really like our Roman Catholic religion, which the majority practice as a matter of formal routine. We are awed by the pomp, regaled by the rituals and the festivities redolent of incense, take the sacrament of communion without the appropriate contrition, yet in the end fail to possess the spirituality that means practicing the lessons of our faith in everyday life.
One of the main reasons the State finds it exceedingly difficult to provide for the basic needs of our people is that over the last 31 years, we have doubled our numbers, mindlessly, as our Church has kept on preventing the State from implementing a rational and sensible population management program. Our local bishops close their eyes to the fact that we are about the only predominantly Catholic nation (the Vatican city-state excepted) which does not pro-actively implement State-sponsored reproductive health programs, let alone allow divorce.
This religiosity in form with little spirituality is still a drawback from the time when Spain conquered the “indios” through sword and the cross, piggybacking the propagation of the faith on a retention of the familiar pagan rituals, as they did in Latin America and the Southeast Asian colony they named after their Rey Felipe.
This lack of spirituality among many Catholics is perhaps the reason people do not listen when the bishops tell them that multiplication is based on the sanctity of the life of the unborn. Survey after survey through the last 20 years would show that more than two-thirds of Filipinos are in favor of birth control and reproductive health measures, despite pulpit exhortation or oratio imperata.
In the words of Pope Francis, “inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful, between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, undermines the credibility of the Church.”
Yet some of today’s bishops try to relive the power they exercised during the time of the frailes, through the “moral” influence they exercise among the political and business elite of this benighted land. This is why they have become so far removed from the reality of blight among the numerous poor. To be fair, many priests and missionaries working in countryside are still regarded by the poor as beacons of morality and guidons of hope, the sad part being that because of their empathy towards the plight of the marginalized, many have been attracted to the siren songs of the left. But the bishops are otra cosa.
Mayor Inday Sara Duterte said it succinctly, when she reacted to the words spewed by Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan during the 31st anniversary of Edsa Uno. Her father the President wisely downplayed the anniversary in terms of ceremony and ritual, exhorting the people instead to reflect on what was right and what went wrong after the historic events of February 1986.
Said Inday Sara: “Your group is sadly a bunch of hypocrites. While you were up there riding high on your horses, you failed to notice that many of us down here empathize with what Rodrigo Duterte is saying because it is the hard truth.”
Juxtapose that with what Pope Francis said about how inconsistency between pastors and the faithful undermines the credibility of the Church.
Having been acolyte-factotum of Cardinal Sin during those heady days of Edsa Uno y Dos, Villegas now sees himself not only as curator of the Edsa Shrine but has arrogated upon himself the role of protector of the diminished Edsa covenant.
He mistakes form for substance, and cannot countenance a leader like Duterte who wants to give our democratic form the substance of equal opportunity. Duterte from his Davao habitat has seen why and how the shining moment that was Edsa failed. Now he wants to rectify it, albeit with great difficulty.
Our lord bishops should well reflect on what Pope Francis said, ironically on the day preceding the Edsa they so miss, that “atheists are better than Catholic hypocrites”.
Amen to that.
