Whenever F. Sionil Jose makes a public statement about something, it is always worth listening to or reading. You may or may not agree with what he says, but regardless, you will know that you read something that was eye-opening and thought-provoking.
In May 2010, the famous novelist was true to form as he penned an “open letter” to the incoming President of the Philippines, Noynoy Aquino. The honest and heartfelt letter called on Noynoy to implement and stand by the reforms and policies that would be needed to deal with the continuing challenges the Philippines faces in the 21st century.
Below is my 2010 piece on the letter. The letter itself can be found at http://www.diegomaranan.com/?p=8
Sionil Jose Tells Aquino: ‘Be ready to betray your class’ (Dateline, July 2, 2010, Philippine News)
Jose’s counsel for Noynoy could not have been framed more strongly than it was in the letter. What’s more, the letter’s subtext is the introduction to the making of a president, a president who is poised to become a monumental figure for change in the Philippines if he so wishes to be. And for change to happen in the Philippines, it must minister to the needs of the poor and not overwhelmingly to the interests of the rich. Jose’s portrait of change includes as its primary source material, as he puts it to Noynoy, “the poor--some of them in your [Luisita] hacienda.” Jose adds that Noynoy’s administration should be all about the poor since they will be his “ultimate judge.”
Jose elaborates that Noynoy should not make the same mistakes that were attributed to his mother, Corazon Aquino, when she was president after the first EDSA revolt. One of Cory’s greatest oversights as president was not to take advantage of the general atmosphere of the time and employ major land reform. Instead, as Jose reminds Noynoy, his mother “did not leave a shining legacy for her presidency was a disaster…She promised land reform but did not do it.”
What was truly regrettable in Jose’s opinion was that Cory at a gut level, could not find it in herself to carry out land reform because it would have meant undermining the very socioeconomic class she belonged to. In effect, her failure to do what was required “transformed the Edsa I revolution into a restoration of the oligarchy.”
Jose assumes a lecturing tone towards Noynoy when he chides him over his upper class background. For the novelist and Philippine National Artist for Literature, Noynoy is currently out of touch with the Filipino people and nation: “From your comfortable and privileged cocoon, you know so little of our country and people.” However, this should not stop Noynoy from being “the revolutionary your father wanted to be.”
Jose offers Noynoy two other parts of his recipe for change that are as fundamental and essential as they are unsentimental and aggressive. He appeals to Noynoy to be ready to “betray his class” without looking back. The oligarchy are the people who have robbed the Filipino masses blind and now it is time “that they bring back the billions they stashed abroad.” Jose recommends that if Noynoy “cannot smash the oligarchy, at least strive to have their wealth develop this country.”
Finally, Jose tells Noynoy to imagine that he could be the Philippines’ “long awaited messiah” providing that he is “brave enough and wise enough to redeem [his] father’s aborted promise.” I know Filipinos have heard all this before so their skepticism is understandable. But as they say, there is always light at the crack of dawn. The question is how long can the second President Aquino keep the sun from fading back below the horizon?
ALLEN GABORRO
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