Nothing Personal

Levy Abad 

Migrant Perspective, THE DIVERSITY TIMES

January 2017,Vol.6 No.1

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Paskong Pinoy, A trailblazing event. December 17, 2016, what a day at the RBC Convention Centre where the Paskong Pinoy sa Canada event was held! It was spearheaded by the Asian Community magazine led by Bong Roscuata, Producer, and Lourdes Federis, Project Manager, together with 204 Filipino Marketplace, which celebrated its 1^st year anniversary and Christmas Party by giving away prizes to its growing members. Thank you for the warm welcome and, last but not the least, thank you too to Bobit Nepomuceno and Jun Isla of Vocal Arts Centre for inviting me to perform three songs (Dito sa Winnipeg, Paskong Wala ng Digmaan and my Toronto community hit song Na-shock Ako). Special thanks to the leadership of 204 Filipino Marketplace for inviting me to lead the opening prayer.

Bobit Nepomuceno, Artist Par Excellence.  Bobit is the classically trained CEO of Vocal Arts Centre. He organizes concerts and provides great mixing as an audio engineer.  One thing I really appreciate with Bobit is that he makes sure that the artists receive a little appreciation for the gasoline spent and for the time they devote in preparing for their performances. I heard that Bobit is planning to organize an MYMP (Make My Mama Proud) concert here in the Peg next year. Something to watch out for!

Understanding the Philippine Left.  As a member of Migrante Manitoba, activist and a singer songwriter, I used to go around and listen to the opinion of folks regarding Philippine politics.  The frequent commentary I hear is, “Why do activists keep holding rallies even when Rodrigo Duterte is already in power?”  As far as my research can go, activists are trained not to be loyal to personalities but to issues, ideas or ideologies.  Activists focus on programs like the people’s agenda on Nationalist Industrialization and Agrarian Reform. If a president’s leadership indicates a determination to implement these important changes, activists will support such initiative, but if a leader implements policies contrary to the people’s agenda (e.g. release of political prisoners), then you can expect that the activists will be there to criticize and remind the leaders of the people’s priorities .

On Political Prisoners.  I hope that President Rodrigo Duterte will be true to his promise of releasing political prisoners. One of them is a comrade in the social movement in the Philippines, Alexander Arias. I know him personally as a tireless advocate of landless peasants’ (farmers) rights. Alex is an intelligent and compassionate person who, instead of working to get rich, devotes his whole life on peasant liberation from feudal bondage. Release All Political Prisoners Now!

On Democracy. Too often, I encounter people who are into personality cults, meaning, looking at leaders as responsible for the progress of a country as contraposed to leaders who focus on social movements and capacity building. This tendency is so antithetical to the concept of democracy, which etymologically means demos or people and kratien or power, in short, People Power or people’s empowerment. Even the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines states that the “Philippines is a democratic and republican state, sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.” This is one of the provisions I memorized well from Law school and Political Science. I remember the great nationalist historian, Renato Constantino, who emphasized that the essence of democracy is freedom and its forms are varied, one of which is the Philippine democracy that we know. In the Philippine context, you have national democracy, liberal democracy, popular democracy and social democracy. These are ideological tendencies that interact and shape Philippine history. Most people embrace these according to their social situation.

 MPNP blues. The Conservative Party in power in the province of Manitoba is planning to implement an additional $500 fee to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, which supposedly will be “re-invested into the improved service standards and supports for immigrants and refugees.” This idea is being questioned by multicultural leaders like Helal Mohiuddin as comparable to head tax in the olden days. With this contentious issue in our midst, who do you think among the various communities of Winnipeg will be effective in waging opposition to this policy?

Perspectives on Jose Rizal. Last November 19, 2016, the Knights of Rizal-Winnipeg Chapter organized a Night of Poems, Songs and Essays Celebrating “Rizal the Artist.” In the event, different perspectives on Rizal’s ideas were expressed by youth participants like Johsa Manzanilla, Alfie Vera Mella, Cristine Mazur and Jon Malek. Some of the guests expressed the pacifist tendency of Jose Rizal while others expressed that Rizal espoused revolutionary tendencies.  We all know that the result of Rizal’s writings like Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo led to his martyrdom and eventually, his death sparked the revolution of 1896, which ended Spanish colonialism.  Is this a case of “you reap what you sow?”

The Story of the Goat and the Sheep. One summer in a farm, a goat and a sheep had a talk. The Goat known for his ego as big as the farm asked the humble Sheep, “How come you guys don’t follow me?” The sheep replied, “Well, you know, we love you and please don’t get us wrong, but you must always remember that you are a Goat.”