Editor’s Note: As we go to press, we received the following letter from Mr. Wilfredo B. Prilles, coordinator, CPDO and Naga School Board , as a response to our editorial last week entitled, “QUEEN of false hopes”. In the spirit of fairness and intelligent debate, we are accommodating this response on the same page that the issue was first brought out:
WITHOUT batting his eyelash, executive secretary Ermita declared before the Manila press that the growing protest against, and discontent of the people with, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, prompted by the affirmation of Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada, Jr. before the Senate hearing these past few days that there were huge kickbacks not only in the ZTE-NBN project but also in others, like the SouthRail project, are confined in Metro Manila only. Beyond the borders of this area, all is quiet and calm, the people unaffected and uncaring. Or so the Ermita intelligence machinery would seem to report to him.
You are mistaken, Mr. Ermita. You are gravely mistaken.
For in Naga City as in other cities in the country, statements of support for Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, Jr. are being written and issued by non-government associations and educational institutions in a language that is more condemnatory than that in the Lenten circular of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
The CBCP pastoral letter is very tame. The administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finds itself in its element with every circular and pastoral letter from the CBCP. But for the people of Naga, who have learned the basics of people empowerment, the Lenten pastoral letter leaves much to be desired.
For one, the Developmental Institute for Bikolano Artists (DIBA) Foundation, a group whose objective is the preservation and promotion of culture and of visual and performing arts, surprisingly issued this statement:
“We issue this statement of support for the probinsiyanong instik who is a Bikolano --- who has finally found courage in being honest and truthful to confound the corrupt, to put shame those who farm out prevarications and lies, to rout those who seemingly provide security if only to get confused what to do with him --- who in his sincerity has been able to put up a competent and consistent defense against the collegial attacks of his enemies who are luminaries in governance and in the law, which they twist to suit their own interests and to cash in on their political designs.
“As promoters and lovers of the art, who firmly believe that distinctive cultures are products of the enrichment of other cultures, we condemn the slur against Rodolfo Noel ‘Jun” Lozada,Jr. as a probinsiyanong instik, an uncalled for vilification against one of the most ancient of Asian cultures and civilizations, done with arrogance and contempt and with the intent to deride and debase other races and cultures or regions in this country, particularly Bikol.
“We issue this statement of support for Rodolfo Noel “ Jun’” Lozada and other Lozadas in the near and distant future whose only wish is to live a decent life and raise a family within honest means --- not from kickbacks or even from moderate greed.
“We call on all those who believe in the honesty of Lozada to stand up, join communal actions and urge the Fourth Estate and the religious sector to become proactive sanctuaries of concern, champions of the oppressed and confederates in the campaign against ruthlessness, corruption and greed.”
Other groups such as the Naga City People’s Council and the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry have issued their respective statements of exasperation over the callousness of the Palace and its men to the call of the people for reform and resignation.
The activism in Naga City is a world apart from and beyond the unconcern the city once manifested for what was happening in Manila at the wake of the discovery of the Katipunan.
The activism in Naga City against the President and her Cabinet is writing, so to speak, on the walls of Malacanang: Mene, mene, tekel upharsin.
