#ampatuans

Agra breaks into tears but still sticks to order - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

So were many of those killed. In denying their families their day in court, in purposefully ignoring and subverting legal jurisprudence, Agra has effectively made a farce of our legal system. He's exemplified why the Philippines, as a nation-state, is no longer looked upon with respect, but pity. And in some international circles, outright disgust.

If Agra really and truly stood by his decision and believed that it was proper and correct, he would not be crying. The backlash would not be affecting him. He could point to the law and say, "What I did was perfectly legal, look at the legal history upon which my decision is justified." But there is no such legal history, there is no such defense. So, instead he has to use emotional pleas and justifications to defend and obscure his initial unethical, immoral and illegal decision.

By any other name, whether from the father or because Agra is a crybaby, they are crocodile tears.

Even behind bars, Zaldy Ampatuan manages to reach out and wreak havoc upon unsuspecting men.

His latest victim is Noynoy Aquino, whom he suddenly endorsed as his Presidential candidate a day after saying that he was for Manny Villar.

Ampatuans managed public funds like clan's own purse - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

There is a clear correlative between education and social empowerment. Coupled with economic opportunity social structure (an order that those in power may want to maintain) can be re-ordered. It is a lesson well worth understanding, especially in light of our history.  The Propaganda Movements of the 19th century began precisely because of this type of social change.  The Revolution became a reality precisely because Filipinos developed a social class which became educated and economically independent, and thus became socially empowered.  They began to question the prevailing social structure of the age, and wonder:  Shouldn't it be better?

It is with this in mind that I am again struck by the quote from Eastern Mindanao Command Chief, Lt Gen. Raymundo Ferrer in the recent Ampatuan expose by the PCIJ:

“If you are a warlord, it’s better if you have an enemy...because if it’s peaceful… somebody will challenge your political leadership, people will be educated, they will start questioning or start invoking their rights… it’s better to keep them ignorant, it’s better if they’re poor because they will just depend on what you give them."

When I say things like the Founding Fathers of the Philippines rhetoric remains as important today as then, it is precisely because of this situation. Sadly, the quote above could be applied to the rest of the country as well.  Maguindanao is the worst of the worst.  Not the worst of the best.

Recently, Dr. Alejandro R Roces ran a column which broached this very subject: 

The Filipinos became empowered and a middle-class of economically self-sufficient and intellectually forward thinking individuals formed. They developed economically, which in turn allowed them to take advantage of a world rapidly shrinking. Young Filipinos for the first time were venturing out. They were being educated away from home (in some cases abroad) and as a result were being introduced to new - revolutionary - ideas.

Economic and educational empowerment can lead to unexpected results; for those previously who had nothing, the consequences are uniformly positive. For those who are in power, jealously guard that power and refuse to let it go, the consequences of empowerment can be disastrous.