Wrote this for the book launch of “Na Kung Saan” by Teo Marasigan, February 6 in UP Diliman. The task was to talk about intellectuals in the time of Duterte, na nakapaloob sa forum na “Kamalayan at Kultura sa Panahon ng Pasismo.”  

I met Teo in college, in the 90’s, but only built a relationship with him in the Gloria years, in the late 2000s, when so many of us, my Nanay Angela and myself included, ended up using the internet for blogging. This was pre-Mocha, pre-paid mob, pre-Facebook boosting and trolling.  Then, people were still writing long-form articles, well-threshed out yet open to discussion, in fact begging for a discussion, naghahanap ng makakausap tungkol sa mga isyung panlipunan. May biruan pa, may collegiality. These were the years of the Arroyo presidency, before Facebook and Twitter took over the internet — and a chunk of our intellectual culture.

But of course there were many other reasons for the death of blogging and critical-political thought. There was the fact that many of the critical bloggers during GMA’s time were absorbed into PNoy’s three-headed communications team. I remember two years into PNoy’s leadership, being told by one of those writers who had ended up in Malacañang: kayo na lang ng nanay mo ang hindi pa namin nakukuha, ang hindi pa bilib sa’min.” Or something to that effect.

Natawa ako, na nadismaya: ‘yun pala ang ginagawa ng gobyerno, “kinukuha” “pinapabilib” ang mga kritiko-intelektuwal, isang paraan ng pagpapatahimik.

Puwede rin naman na ang mga kritikong ito ang unang nakakaiisip na ang susunod na hakbang matapos maging kritikal ay ang pumasok sa gobyerno at baguhin ito mula sa loob. But how naïve.

There is no being critical of government while you are within it: the powers that be dictate where you go, what you do, what you say. And if there’s anything I find important in the task even just of thinking and being critical, then and now, it’s important that you are never trapped in what others say, and how they expect you to engage.

Besides there is no changing from within especially with a president like Duterte who, on all fronts, has proven incompetent and violent, to say the least. Ultimately though, his goal has been his political survival — it is his end-all and be-all — and it’s something he’s been able to do, I think now, through a pretty brilliant messaging and propaganda plan. In the early years, we thought: what the hell, they have no idea what they’re doing! But almost three years in, and we realize: they know exactly what they’re doing.

Madalas akong matanong in private, ng mga kamag-anak who are otherwise apathetic, to artists and cultural workers who are disgusted, to strangers who follow me on my social media accounts: ano bang gagawin natin? How is it, that despite the killings and murders, the chauvinism and misogyny, the wholesale of our lands and resources, how is it that we haven’t been able to come together and oust this man?

I said early into Duterte’s presidency: we’ve kicked out presidents for much less. Three years in, and we’re still here. Stuck. Unmoving. Half the time unnerved, the other half just paralyzed. Probably just exhausted.

The truth is Duterte’s propaganda team has been doing its job well: they’ve got a united front of propagandists and influencers, who operate a mob. They’ve got them on social media, where a majority of us are. Sure, we’re still talking issues, but we’re also easy to scare, quick to “save each other” from the violent trolls. It’s a superficial layer for sure, but it’s one that keeps too many of us busy. If you’re on the side of the Liberals, it’s even a badge of honor to be so attacked. Some of them are proclaimed as heroes.

But that’s a layer that shouldn’t even matter. It’s a layer that we should be able to ignore. Yet often enough it’s this first layer that keeps us from even maintaining critical, fact-based, issue-focused discourse. There is little in that layer that is even about conversation, and the past two years or so, too many have gotten embroiled in that quicksand of nothingness.

The real layer we should be looking at is how this propaganda machine’s been working. And right now, three years in, it’s clear that the task is for this machine to churn out every controversial, noisemaker from all fronts: Gloria’s House of Representatives, Malacañang executive orders, Duterte’s mouth. Throw in militarization and police violence, China and cronyism, heavy traffic and high taxes, a mainstream media out to earn their millions, and you’ve got a populace, backs breaking under the weight, angrily frothing at the mouth, but with barely any energy to raise a fist.

This is how they keep us preoccupied. This is why we can barely keep our heads above water. Someone called it firefighting, this state of affairs where government throws so many terrible things our way, that we can’t quite figure out what to do, what to focus on first, who to even target. But the target is staring us in the face, patting himself on the back for having divided us further, effectively paralyzing us.

Meanwhile, Duterte’s spanking new propaganda machine is becoming better-oiled by the day. And we can barely talk unities and sameness — despite having in common the enemy that is Duterte. We can barely even agree that education is a basic right, or that the displacement of the Lumad is unjust, or that excessive taxation is the burden we all have in common, or that the killing of activists and peace consultants is unacceptable. We cannot even decide that Neri Colmenares is truly the only opposition candidate running for the Senate — because in what world is Mar Roxas opposition?

The egos are huge, and certainly it comes from all fronts. As someone who operates from “the outside” of these organizations, who gets a sense of where people’s minds are at any given point, the non-Left, but also the non-Liberal, it is clear to me that there is just too much baggage, an excess of it, and this is one of many reasons why the first steps towards ousting Duterte just have not happened. The collectives are aplenty, Left, Liberal, everywhere in between; but none of them are talking to each other. Certainly compromise is key, and yes there is a bigger picture we should be looking towards, one where our differences are rendered secondary, if not downright petty. After all, it is what keeps the current leadership in power.

I’m called naïve, often enough, for remaining hopeful. But I think we do what we can while we wait for this moment in history to unravel.

For example, In the past 10 years that I’ve been writing, I’ve refused events like this one, insisting that whatever I have to say, I have already said in writing. But since Duterte, it’s become more and more difficult to say no to conversations like this, which demand of us to talk about writing and critical thought directly in relation to Duterte. These small acts of engaging in conversations about nation keep me hopeful. It sounds naïve, sure, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from my engagements with activism, it is that it’s an act of hope.

I’d like to end with something my Nanay, Angela, wrote for Teo, to congratulate him for his book’s publication.

“malugod na kongrats sa iyo, Teo. :)

“Bilang Teo kita “nakilala,” salamat sa blog mong Kapirasong Kritika, kung saan pag type mo ang post ko ay nagpo-provide ka ng link for your readers, at pag talagang type na type na type mo ay napapa-comment ka sa blog ko mismo.  i loved it that you agreed with me more often than not, and when not, that you would gamely share your thoughts and make me think, and realize, oo nga rin.

“visited your blog not too long ago and found that your final post, dated dec 17, 2017, is LELOY McCARTHY.  nakakaloka kasi pet peeve ko rin si leloy.  pero ikaw, galit sa kanya dahil napaka-anti-communist niya at nang-a-agit siya;  ako, galit sa kanya kasi pinapalabas niya na komunista si ninoy, e hindi naman.  so, bottomline, hindi lang siya galit sa komunista, galit din siya kay ninoy.  kakaibang pagkaka-kabit-kabit, hindi ba?

“so here’s to an image of leloy waking up and transforming into a pro-people advocate, for a change.  and here’s to an image of teo marasigan blogging again.  mabuhay ang kapirasong kritika!”

Ang major takeaway ko from this ay ito: if my Nanay can have such a glimmer of hope for Leloy, then it’s certainly worthwhile to keep a glimmer of hope for ousting Duterte. :) ***