Politics was never a part of me while growing up. Largely because my parents were apolitical. It does not really mean discussions about something politics in the households were nonexistent, then. There were, however, very limited - to information that were disseminated through the radio, if not by word of mouth. My first awareness of an election was the Macapagal-Marcos presidential election in 1965. No, I wasn't a voter that time! I waited for 16 years before I could, when voting age was still at 21.
I developed interests in political activism in college, as I moved from a far-flung village, where life is so naive and is plainly simple, to a metropolitan where the daily conundrum seems to involve politics. Even in the campus, some 'left-leaning' student organizations had their way, despite of the school's strict and highly restrictive regulations, engaging fellow students with extra-academic issues including socio-political activism. Got a few classmates and friends who were active, and had been out in the streets in rallies and demonstrations.
Not until I did my graduate work in UP-Diliman that politics slowly started rooting in my being. In the early afternoon of August 21, 1983, while we, the dormitory residents, were doing our sportsfest, news broke that Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in the Manila International Airport, on his arrival back to the Philippines. Waves and waves of demonstrations and protests were held daily following the well-staged event. And then, I found myself among so many, shouting and chanting, as we braved the heat and exhaustion, while walking from the Diliman campus down to Plaza Miranda.
I learned that as a citizen, I can't just be pathetic, indifferent or numb. I was endowed with senses of sight and hearing to see and hear how things are going around us, and the mental faculty to evaluate how the unfolding of events impact us and the generations who'll come after us. I was moved by the this question which relentlessly reverberated in the halls of UP - 'sinong kikilos kung walang kikilos, sinong kibo kung walang kikibo, kung hindi ngayon, kailan pa?'. There was my eureka moment. That I have the freedom to express what's on my mind, to be part of the voice that speaks for those who never had the chance to vent their minds.
I realized that politics is a way of life, not just only during elections. People choose individuals to lead the reins of governance who are in turn expected to protect the interests and to better the lives of the governed. But the politics we have known today has transcended way beyond the welfare of the governed, with interests permeating and funneled to personal gains and enrichment. To allow this unscrupulous practice to keep going is for the governed to do nothing!
Makibaka! Get involved!
