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18  The Government as Instrument

 

Agreeing with Mang Henio, Mang Ruben now wants to have his say. Our experience, he says, should now have clarified to us that we can no longer take the attitude of one waiting for a Messiah or Saviour other than ourselves.

Years ago, we thought President Ramon Magsaysay would be that Messiah. He died. Then President Garcia succeeded him. We thought he was no good. Then we had Macapagal. We thought he was worse. So we had Marcos – we still have him. Well, what can we say? These Presidents get worse and worse.

Christ himself, the true Messiah, has shown us that we can only depend on ourselves. This is the reason, I guess, why He left his people and “ascended into heaven,” as the Bible says.

Peter and the other disciples were so sorry to see Him off and so self-diffident. They were probably sulking over the ascension of Christ. I’d not be surprised if one of them complained: its okay for Christ to have gone away.  No spear can

 

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reach Him now. But what about us? Here we are, left behind with nothing: no constitution and by-laws, and to top it all, the administration is against us.

Now we know, of course, that Christ did the only sensible thing: to have faith in the people so that the people could have faith in themselves.

If we have this faith in ourselves, we shall cease looking towards the government as Messiah or Saviour but only as an ins­trument which the people can use for their own good

Now only a few rich people who are well organized can use the government as their tool. The majority of us are so isolated from each other, so disorganized that to us, the government is not a tool but a master. We have no democracy but only a “demonyokrasya” or demon-crazy.

So, the first thing we need to do, Mang Ruben’s voice taking an imperative tone, is to recognize that though we are presently inferior to the rich in political and economic power – we already have one thing in our favor: our numbers.

But our big number alone is not enough, Mang Ruben emphasizes. We need to give it quality by organization. If each peasant moves alone, he/she cannot effectively fight for his/her rights. Truth and Right might be on the peasant’s side; yet, he still needs to gather together the strength of the whole pea­santry.

 

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The situation is similar to a broom, he says. If I now give you one midrib, how easy it is for you to break it.  But if many midribs are gathered together into a broom, no Muhammad Ali or Flash Elorde can have the strength to break it. It is when we overcome our isolation and achieve unity that we become strong.                                     

This task of overcoming our isolation and achieving unity, says Mang Ruben, is precisely the task of organization. When we get organized, we will be surprised at how many hitherto im­possible tasks we can accomplish together.

Take the example of a jeep, another peasant interposes. It is a wonderful piece of organization. But the driver is even more beautifully organized than the jeep. Hence the driver can bring the jeep wherever he wants. But should the driver himself be disorganized like when he is drunk or sleepy: then, of course, he could not bring the jeep; wherever he wants; rather, the jeep might bring him to the bottom of the sea.

From our experience, if would seem clear that the same situation holds true with regard to government at instrument of the people. When the peasants are not wide awake and well-organized, anything can happen to them. They will be led wherever other interests want. The peasants do not become their own drivers. In fact, they are treated as beasts of burden.