TO THE APOLITICAL INTELLECTUAL

For three weeks, I was not able to write in my column due to an enormous amount of load in my law office. Deadlines have reached up to my nose and even a little ripple would drown me.

The other reason why I temporarily quit writing is that I had this discussion with my only daughter Batin on the topics I write about. She wanted me to write about anything that would not be linked to politics. For a while, I considered her suggestion. It might be good sometimes to review some good books or write about children or anything about our environment.

However, I remembered the poem tacked on a board in the publication room of the Crusaders in Xavier University in the mid 70’s entitled “To The Apolitical Intellectual”. In those days, about thirty years ago, I have so decided not to become an apolitical intellectual. Such commitment has sunk deep and has subconsciously been with me until now.

The poem was written by a Guatemalan poet and a revolutionary named Otto Rene Castillo which goes:

TO THE APOLITICAL INTELLECTUAL

One day
The apolitical
Intellectuals
Of my country
Will be interrogated
By the simplest
Of our People.
They will be asked
What they did
When their nation died out
Slowly,
Like a sweet fire,
Small and alone.
No one will ask them
-About their dress
Their long siestas after lunch
No one will want to know
About their sterile combats
With "the idea
Of the nothing"
No one will care about
Their higher financial learning.
They won't be questioned
On Greek mythology
Or regarding their self-disgust,
When someone within them
Begins to die
The coward's death.
They'll be asked nothing
About their absurd
justifications
Born in the shadow
Of the total lie.
On that day
The simple men will come.
Those who had no place
In the books and poems
Of the apolitical intellectuals,
But daily delivered
Their bread and milk
Their tortillas and eggs,
Those who mended their clothes,
Those who drove their cars,
Who cared for their dogs
and gardens
And worked for them,
And they'll ask:
“What did you do when the poor
Suffered, when tenderness
And life
Burned out in them?"

In his lifetime, Otto Rene Castillo wrote two volumes of work entitled Poema Tecun Uman and Vamonos Patria a Caminar. A year before his death, he returned to Guatemala and joined the guerrilla struggle with the Rebel Armed Forces (RAF). He was captured by the government forces, interrogated, tortured and finally killed or immolated.

Now, will I write anything apolitical or should I take sides on what I believe is right? Should I condemn corruption and embrace the ideals of good governance? Should I fight to alleviate the plight of the poor instead of praising the wily business stratagems of the rich? Should I continue crucifying the corrupt leaders and seek glory for our country through the emerging genre of young leaders through my pen?

To my daughter Batin, I am so sorry. I can never be an apolitical intellectual. Your banters will always have political color.

OCON’S PERSONA NON GRATA

From wherever Zaldy Ocon took the idea of proposing a resolution to declare Mayor Dongkoy as a “persona non grata” deserves a second look. It is apparently a new concept as a person to be declared as “persona non grata” is not supposed to come from his own place but one who is unacceptable or unwelcome in another country or community, such as a diplomat.

In the case of our mayor, he is part of the community and may not be declared an “unwelcome or an unacceptable” person. For this reason the Laws and Rules Committee of the City Council headed by Cabanlas outrightly struck down the proposed resolution.

However, the logic of Ocon appears different, if not enigmatic. He believes the mayor has betrayed the trust and confidence of his people, ergo, he has become unacceptable or in Latin, “non grata”.

How may that have happened is not at all mind-boggling. In the last two local elections, Dongkoy was accepted and loved by the so-called “masa”. More than a hundred thousand voters brought him to the highest seat of power in the city. He enjoyed the accolades of being the most powerful politician in Cagayan de Oro and even the entire Misamis Oriental. Even the President wooed him. He, in turn, accepted her with open arms saying “ako’y iyong-iyo.” How sweet!

Now, in the eyes of Ocon, Mayor Dongkoy, whom Ocon sees to be indulging in insatiable corruption, has abused his power. Day in and day out, Ocon broadcasts how the city coffers have been drained due to hundreds of million of loans applied to overpriced infrastructures such as the Bulua Market and the roads and bridges in Taguanao and Macasandig. He condemned the mayor for the non-payment of GSIS dues already paid by the lowly city hall employees. He blames the mayor for the reprehensible payment of cross-subsidy by the city hall to UKC Builders for the operation of Cogon Market. He held Dongkoy accountable for violation of human rights against children whom he ordered to march and branded as criminals without due process of law.

In the management of city hall’s internal affairs, Ocon calls the mayor irresponsible as he defies the Constitutional Mandate on transparency and right to information when he ordered not to release any public documents to those interested in securing them. He derided Dongkoy as a “second rate, good for nothing copy-cat” of GMA for issuing a gag order to the Department Heads ordering them not to appear in the inquiry of the City Council.

Ocon has virtually outlined all the strings of Dongkoy’s irregularities, ad infinitum.

But what does Ocon want to achieve in this uphill battle in the council? He knows that the other Kagawads will always kowtow with the mayor in exchange for some favors.

To my mind, what Ocon cannot achieve in the city council, he wants to present in the altar of public opinion. He felt compelled to draw a line through broadcast media between lousy governance as against responsible leadership.

Ocon wishes to deepen the animosities between the wayward ways of Dongkoy and those who desire a more responsible, transparent and accountable local government. He wants us to take sides and calls on us to make a firm stand on matters of principles. Thus, it behooves us to examine carefully and make a fine distinction between getting fame through power as against being conferred with real honor. He is presenting to us the difference between misguided adulation of a person as against sincere respect.

This hard-hitting, lambasting and “no holds barred” announcer who quotes the bible after calling our local leaders with unchristian names has touched a raw nerve even as he naively or erroneously introduced the concept of “persona non grata.” Way to go Zaldy!