Rebels with a cause

By Renato Tibon

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” – John F. Kennedy, US President    

PEOPLE want change. It’s not like saying change doesn’t occur all the time because whether we engage ourselves, stagnate or become apathetic, nature is hardwired to create and recreate, adjust, break, grow or otherwise evolve into something that is a notch better than the original even straight out metamorphic. Everything including earth, water, wind and in a similar fashion, our physiology and the psychological process that make up the human psyche are in a continuum of constant motion, shifting, and delicate counterbalancing to ensure the propagation of the species.

To paraphrase the philosopher Heraclitus, there is absolutely nothing permanent in this world except change itself. As coactive agents of change, we help create a synergy of innovations and reconstitutions that suit not just our designs but framed relative to others in peaceful co-existence. Yet, as there are creative pursuits, so are grandiose delusions of megalomaniacs like Hitler and Mao Zedong who, in the mistaken belief that they could rule the world with myopic reforms, caused the death of millions of people. History is replete with narratives of change-oriented individuals who trod the path of self-aggrandizement to their own destruction and the society they tried to convert. In this context, whether of nature or human activity, negative or positive, active or passive, change is nonpareil or everything grounds to a halt.

Man and society have co-existed as families and communities collectively form the group that helps shape our understanding of freedom, peace, justice, and equality relative to the world we live in. Thus, with people suited socially, a clear geographic boundary and the emergence of the ideals of nationhood and government, a state is naturally established. Aristotle, an intellectual giant who was the first to catalog knowledge into separate disciplines such as biology, metaphysics, logic, and politics among others, asserted that the state, which exists for the purpose of benefit or the good of the society, “is natural and that man is a political animal”. This expression was used in reference to the fact that human beings, “with innate capacity for reasoned speech”, are best suited for pursuing a life in politics and that we are “born with the desire to congregate together and effect changes in our lives as well as those of others”. While his contention was not conclusive, we can infer from the fact that as his dissertations have attracted quite a number of followers, notable among the ranks was the Roman statesman Cicero, effecting change is a vital part of the natural order of things.

Change, in fact, is the raison d’etre of all revolutions. Revolutions happen when people in a society feel discontent with the present order and agree that change is necessary. When people say “Change is coming”, they don’t mean just small, ineffectual reforms but a total overhaul of a governmental system seen as defective, non-working and benefit only those that wield power, politically and economically, and keeping those changes permanently. Many of those who supported the candidacy of then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, frustrated at the slow pace of reforms and the prevalence of corruption and patronage politics even in his administration, are crying for a Revolutionary Government (RevGov) which would usher Federalism, the be-all and end-all of his rise to the highest position of the land. 

The country had seen revolutionary governments in its history starting initially from the Katipunan in 1892 and in 1897 under Andres Bonifacio and the proclamation of an insurgent Philippine Republic by Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898. Short-lived federal governments ensued such as the Republic of Negros which came under U.S. protection, the Tagalog Republic (Katipunan) of Macario Sacay in 1902, the Republic of Zamboanga in 1899, the Bangsamoro Republic, a breakaway state under Nur Misuari in 2013 and following the fall of the authoritarian government of President Ferdinand Marcos who was ousted in a bloodless revolution called the EDSA People Power revolution of 1986, the revolutionary government under President Corazon C. Aquino with the signing of the Freedom Constitution. The chance was wasted on this document which paved the way for the 1987 Constitution regarded as a weak fundamental law favoring the entry of oligarchs who have since controlled every aspect of the political, social and economic life of Filipinos.

PRRD may have been flip-flopping in his desire to bring change through federalism and a revolutionary government. Generally frustrated at the vehemence of parties including Church officials opposed to his administration, the prevalence of drug-related criminality despite his relentless campaign, the unmitigated corruption even by people he had appointed to government positions and a myriad of political problems at his doorsteps which may not be all addressed until his term expires in 2022, the President may scuttle his plans and leave his supporters in the dark. But righteous rebels, people in government and in private, in the military and leaders waiting in the wings have a cause that won’t be easily quenched by the apparent coldness of the President. 

This clamor for change, whether through legal or extra-legal means is still brewing in the heart of Mindanaonons. Frustrated at Imperial Manila’s hubristic ascendancy over the rest of the country, hindering and slowing the progress of provinces and cities which have limited access to development funds, these rebels, desirous of revolutionary social change, may still win the day. 

(Renato Gica Tibon is a fellow of the Fellowship of the 300, an elite organization under Centrist Democracy Political Institute with focus on political technocracy. He  holds both position as political action officer and program manager of the Institute. He is the former regional chairman for Region 10 and vice president for Mindanao of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines.)