Ribbons Galore!

RIBBONS GALORE!

by Antonio C. Antonio

July 18, 2014

Early this week, President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III went on television to defend the DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program) after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.  Towards the end of his speech, he asked his followers to again wear yellow ribbons as a sign of support for his DAP.  However, Typhoon Glenda seemed to have doused cold rain on the President’s call.  Power outages, in the aftermath of Glenda, did more harm to the President’s call as netizens could not immediately react.  But as Glenda left and electricity was steadily being restored, yellow ribbons began to rain down on social media.  On Facebook alone, it was quite noticeable that yellow ribbons started to become good substitutes for individual profile pictures.

The President’s call for the wearing of yellow ribbons was met with equally passionate calls by other sectors in the political spectrum to wear ribbons of different colors.  Supreme Court employees (still loyal to former Chief Justice Renato Corona) were encouraging people to wear black ribbons.  The militant street marchers of today were calling on everyone to wear peach ribbons to support their impeachment move against the President.  While others, like the Marcos loyalist, wanted blue or red ribbons in their bid for a presidential comeback in 2016.  The political opposition also wanted peach ribbons.  Hardcore environmentalists would even frown at the sight of other ribbon colors and would rather wear green as it symbolizes life and a healthy environment.  It was a confusing call for too many ribbons that the actual symbolism of their colors seems to have been lost.  As a result, a great majority of Filipinos simply decided to refrain from joining this ribbon craze.

Curiously, there are also ribbon-wearing proponents who are encouraging the use of red-white-blue-and-yellow ribbons which are the true colors of the Philippine flag.  They were recommending this ribbon because they are pro-Philippines, period!  They don”t want to be identified with any political movement as they simply want to profess love for our country… nothing more, nothing less.

I’ve always regarded the yellow ribbon as something sacred.  After Senator Ninoy Aquino was assassinated in 1983, when it was not fashionable and even dangerous to wear a yellow ribbon, I wore it with nationalistic pride and defiance to the oppressive Marcos regime.  Back then, the yellow ribbon had a deeper meaning… it symbolized a struggle for the return of our basic freedoms.  I should mention that my late mother was the Provincial Chairperson of the Cory’s Crusaders in 1986 and I was a street parliamentarian affiliated with the August Twenty One Movement (ATOM)… but I cannot, in conscience, wear the yellow ribbon now to show support to an executive branch that is bent on disregarding a co-equal branch of government (the judiciary).  There are those of us who still believe in the democratic principles, however imperfect, by which we have survived as a nation so far.  I believe that the venerable yellow ribbon should be used for a deeper cause than a tool in a popularity contest.

The wearing of ribbons (whatever color we may choose) will not change the DAP issue.  If the Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional, so be it.  A lot of Filipinos still believe that the DAP was a good-faith measure and, more importantly, still believe in “daang matuwid”.  The more ideal thing to do is simply be honest… how much was dispensed under the DAP?… where did the money go?... and, let these government agencies account for the use of the funds.  People are restless simply because they are not well informed.  Let’s forget this utterly selfish, self-serving and meaningless ribbon strategy.  Our nation’s ills will never be solved by ribbons galore.

Just my little thoughts…

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