Faeldon's fight goes on

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
9/30/2006



On the website identified with Faeldon is featured the statement on the Four Principles (Apat na Prinsipyo) that guides the movement behind the reformist young officers. The first of the principles is “sacrifice”, followed by courage, action and leadership by example. Faeldon, like all the Bagong Katipuneros of Oakwood fame, has shown his practice of all the four principles. His arrest is no moment at this time, the gains from his escape and campaign to fan civil disobedience against the corrupt Arroyo regime has ignited a spreading prairie fire.

A million visitors to Faeldon’s website is only one measure of Faeldon’s sway on the population. Independent initiatives kicking off Faeldon’s propaganda paraphernalia has been sprouting all over and even before our group could start mass production we have already seen t-shirts and stickers sprouting around from unnamed groups. Gloria’s PR machine has countered with the Pacquiao extravaganza that has been playing for several days down in the streets and on TV, but as soon as people start asking where the money for it is coming from the hysteria will again turn again Gloria.

I was at the barber shop Saturday where I saw the TV extravaganza with celebrities in mini skirts romped on stage and singer belted paeans to Pacquiao as pride of the nation. I am, I am proud to say, among those like Fr. Faraon who do not extol boxing as a spectator sport though my sympathies are with the poor like Pacquiao who must demean their humanity just to get a moment in the sun. The system that encourages this is decayed in the head and the soul, and one does not see this is the more progressive and socially-oriented governance of societies like Cuba or China where Neros have no place.

Back to the barber shop: someone wondered where the money for the extravaganza for Pacquiao was coming from. The question stumped the barbers and manicure girls gaping at the TV set, and looking upset one of the girls stopped what she was doing and wondered – “Sa atin galing din iyan, ano?” (That money there is from us too, isn’t it?) The gladiator-sports-as-distraction in a suffering society works only on the principle of “all of the people are fooled some of the time”, the trouble is they also wake up sooner or later. Gloria gets a few days' reprieve, then the hail of censure resumes.

Our campaign to support Faeldon’s call for civil disobedience will take its cue from its website which says: “…the fight does not end here. When he started this, he swore never to give up fighting for a credible government.” The fact that Faeldon immediately stepped up his crusade through the Internet and took the risk to go around the country and visit military camps showed that he was determined in his mission to fight the corrupt regime. He did not stop talking to comrades active in the service, and maybe that was a risk too much and too early.

Getting caught at this time is not a set back, it is in fact an advantage. While sympathy for Faeldon will increase while he is back in detention, the other four Bagong Katipuneros who have also escaped are there to resume the active underground propaganda and organizational campaign. Fortunately, 1st Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan has been introduced to the millions of Filipinos by his underground TV interviews and struck a reverberating chord. He is described to be very sincere and intelligent, eliciting both trust and confidence amongst those who watched his interviews.

While General Senga and the AFP’s black propaganda machine has started character assassination of Faeldon, the young officers supporting Faeldon has condemned the “gossip” Senga and his black props are using. In an attempt to diminish Faeldon and female Capt. Candelaria Rivas who was caught with Faeldon, the official government press release describes Capt. Rivas as a girlfriend. The www.pilipino.org.ph has published a statement denying this and accusing the AFP of stooping to “gossip”. Inq7 and Philippine Star carried the AFP’s official “gossip” as headline.

The emergence of more names of active young officer like Capt. Rivas is the other element in the episode that confirms the truth of the rumors of a vast more number of young officers involved in the push for popular-military action against the corrupt regime. It has long been said that only 5% of the active young officers with reform in their mind was taken into custody at the Oakwood incident, the others are still dormant until the final call is made. Faeldon was clearly moving around activating other dormant cells, and some others must have certainly taken up the slack by this time.

Our production of “Half-mast Faeldon” posters was all set to run but we’ve stopped the press to reword the slogan: The Fight Goes On: Civil Disobedience Na!” There are stickers that we could not revise, which we hope we can release very soon. I am very happy to say, too, that the continuation and escalation of the spirit for the fight is confirmed by the enthusiasm of my political-economy students to join the next mass action in support of Faeldon, something which had not happened before. Faeldon’s re-arrest is generating greater support for his cause that ever before.

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