bury me in this dress

This is an article from Manila Standard and I want to share this with my fellow Filipinos.

LOWDOWN
Jojo Robles
Manila Standard March 3, 2006

From a reader, who refuses to be identified, comes this compelling e-mail.
It presents a fresh viewpoint on the current situation and deserves to see
print:

Dear Tita Cory, senators, congressmen, businessmen, media people, leftists,
and all bleeding hearts out there,

I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier than I
am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick and tired of
all you guys claiming to speak for me and many Filipinos.

I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my
freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about yours. You
tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every citizen the right
to speak his or her mind and make his or her own informed judgments, but you
yourselves do not respect my silence and the choices I and many others have
made. In other words, your concept of democracy is limited to having your
rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours.

I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already
responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear —we chose not
to heed your calls to go to Edsa or to Fort Bonifacio not because we do not
love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but precisely because we
love our country even more. Because quite frankly, we are prepared to lose
our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward. You may think
that is not correct, you can tell me all the dire warnings about the evils
of authoritarian rule, but quite frankly all we see is your pathetic efforts
to prop up your cause. You tell me that you are simply protecting my
freedoms and my rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you that when
I feel that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and
fight for them myself.

You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country because
she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality being committed
wantonly in many ways every day and by everyone (yes, including you), I may
have become jaded. But you have not been able to offer me any viable
alternative, while GMA has bent over backwards many times to accommodate you
while continuing to work hard despite all the obstacles and the brickbats
you have thrown her way. From where I sit, she is the one who has been
working really hard to move this country forward while all of you have been
so busy with one and only one thing: to make sure she does not succeed. So
forgive me if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest.
Forgive me if I have chosen to see things from another perspective.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finally lifted Proclamation number 1017 yesterday. However, some are skeptical about her action. Boo to them because I’m glad that it’s over. The president should now focus on improving the economic state of the country as well as aleviating poverty for good.

P.S.

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