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Useless: A Story about Philippine Intellectuals

It is generally accepted that the Martial Law period politicized and corrupted the military. As well,

there was a subversion of civil society leadership at the top of the socioeconomic food chain. The

art of capital cronyism, the repayment of support and favors through preferential treatment in

public-private accommodations, undermined Philippine business. It concentrated assets, via

government mechanisms of transfer and intimidation, in the hands of a few; a carefully selected

and groomed cadre of men and women. Loyalists still maintain their patronage ties to the past.

We still find visible and passionate defenses of that failed regime and its perverse ideas today.

Defenses and gross misstatements go unchallenged in the public sphere.

As well the fourth estate, the social mechanism that is supposed to act as both the peoples voice

and a check and balance to excess and abuse, was subverted. One of the first orders that went out

was to round up journalists who were critical of the Marcos regime. And then jail them.

Newspapers were shut down, writers intimidated and jailed. Editors went into hiding; along with

some well-regarded and high-profile columnists. The intelligentsia was under attack. And in

muzzling their ability to speak, to criticize and explicate, to disclose and detail the indiscretions of

the prevailing power bloc, one of the safeguards of the people was eliminated. When media and

the ability of a countrys intellectuals to speak is controlled, the flow of information, the

engagement of ideas, the forms of education are controlled as well. The best, the most effective

way to rule with an iron fist, is to manage what people learn; what they discover and understand

about themselves. It is part of the reason why an independent art and culture community, a

vibrant one at that, is so important. Without it, sans those divergent and clashing views that exist

in a dynamic society, a people stagnate. That is what happened during Martial Law. Eventually

though, a people find new footing; it rediscovers its soul and voice. Broad response and reprisal

follow soon after.

That is one of the enduring lessons from that period, and any like it in world history. Effective and

stable governance is not found through fear and intimidation, it is not found in the continuing

miseducation of a people. In the short term, keeping a population compliant through intimidation

and ignorance may work in the short term. But over time, eventually, human spirit rebels. As

Edward Said has aptly demonstrated, sometimes the soul of a people is defined in opposition to

repression. Art and literature show the way. That is the reason why so much great literature, so

much important art, is produced during times that try mens souls. But the cultural and social

process that births voices like Tagore or Rizal takes time. It is not instantaneous by any means.

That though is in the case of colonialism from without. What of colonialism from within? What

then when a people are trod under by their own?

The same holds true. However, I truly suspect the process is accelerated in cases of internally

imposed totalitarianism. At least initially. Once those early voices are silenced, and the

mechanisms for public criticism sealed off, I suspect it takes time for new voices to find their

bearing. Control in an authoritarian or imperial environment then does not just derive from

political and economic means, it is reinforced through oversight of the intelligentsia. That is the

untold story of Martial Law: The subversion of the academe and the collaboration of public

writers with the Marcos regime.

There were historians, columnists, social and cultural commentators, filmmakers, and artists who

became part of the ruling elite during the Marcos years. They are still active today; fancying

themselves social sages and purveyors of enlightened wisdom. And, in part, this helps explain why

so much of the excess and abuse remains untold, unexplained in the public sphere. We still lack a

comprehensive and cohesive tale of Martial Law; the reason is the people, the writers and

storytellers, who are in the best public position to create it, collaborated. For every F. Sionil Jose,

Nick Joaquin or Alejandro R Roces, or Pete Lacaba (public writers and social stalwarts all), who

spoke and fought against the defilement of their country, you have even more who joined forces

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under some sort of nationalist claim. In supporting the very regime that denigrated their

countrymen, they made a mockery of the term nationalist. One prominent example is Rio Alma.

A man who fancies himself as a modern day avenging angel of Tagalog-centric nationalism; yet he

was a speech writer for Marcos. A man who set-up a rival writers guild to PEN, under the aegis of

Marcos. He is by no means an exception. Other so-called nationalist social commentators were

working hand in hand with Imelda Marcos during those years. Benefiting from that relationship.Is it any wonder that members of our art and culture community frequently shy away from

pointed criticisms of Martial Law?

It was a storyline that played out yet again during the GMA years. The NCCA and NHI were

brought inline with GMAs interests. A negative artistic word was never allowed. The culture

institutions were controlled and muzzled. The sad part is some people who were anti-Marcos

ended up collaborating with GMA. They committed the same sins decades previously they had

spoken out against. There is a lesson to be found here in the damage that results from allowing

unfettered power and weaknesses in our institutions to continue.

The fact is, in so many ways, our intellectual and academic communities in the Philippines have

let the country down. They are supposed to be detectives and storytellers. The men and women

who not only unearth social ills and iniquity, but are challenged to heal those wounds; to show

ways out of the morass in which the country has found itself. Without public writers and artists

digging deeper and creating new perspectives a country, and its people, will never evolve. That is

the situation the Philippines finds itself in today. Our public writers and historians, with a few

notable exceptions, are caught in some sort of cycle of pseudo-intellectualism and perversely

twisted and superficial nationalism. Their changeability and lack of intellectual integrity comes

most to the fore when commenting on political situations. Very few actually write from positions

buttressed by research or even organic philosophies. More than anything, so many writers and

historians are bound by ties of ideology and patronage. Those ties also encompass student-

teacher relationships. One of the key issues in our historical community is the sheer reverence in

which older historians are held. To write an opposing view, or critically of their positions, is

almost forbidden. At the very least, it is frowned upon.

World views that are so bound by personal relationships or ideology result in almost worryingly

limited commentary on all issues. It is the same when it comes to understanding history. It results

in superficial understandings of the self and nation; past, present, and future. There are current

examples of this limitation. For example, the on-going PCSO expose is one. There are many who

glommed onto the pronouncements of Manoling Morato with nary a critical question asked or

evidence-backed substantiation requested; yet remain curiously silent concerning the

Commission on Audit reports detailing the excesses and errors of previous PCSO leadership. Well,except in the case of attacking wayward bishops. Consistency and constancy are in short supply

sometimes.

Even more amusingly, there are those who spoke glowingly and in whole-hearted support for Jose

Rizal and his philosophies; describing in detail how he was their hero, and how his words and

deeds were inspiration. Yet, defend warlordism as not only necessary, but appreciated. Our own

history belies the very idea that concentrating power in the hands of a select few (and allowing

political dynasties to flourish) is worthwhile. This distressing mutability in the basic philosophies

results in almost humorous inconsistencies in positions on issues. And publicly, the act of framing

and contextualizing issues is quite rare. More often than not, analysis, and criticisms there in,

occur almost in a vacuum. Multi-disciplinary thinking remains elusive. And that is a continuingfailure of our education system.

The burden of not only identifying, but offering avenues to repairing, extant social ills falls most

heavily on the art, culture, and intellectual community. The reason is simple: They have the ability

to do so. In accepting the mantle of being a public historian, writer, artist, or journalist they are

dedicating themselves to a higher calling; to national service in a sense. That is the reason why

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arts and culture are usually among the first civil sectors that are silenced in a totalitarian regime.

In driving them underground, the public mechanism for ideas and resistance is abrogated. What

else is art, but subversion?

And that is what concerns me the most, on an intellectual level. It is not just how broken the

system is, or the type of people who inhabit it. It is the fact that the road to redemption for thePhilippines has become muddied by the very people who should be shining a light and creating

paths out of our current situation. Instead of being the backbone of a strong, informed, and

dynamic intellectual community, they have become withdrawn, elitist and even intellectually

incestuous in a way. Their ideas of what it means to be Filipino are stagnant and old-fashioned.

Instead of discovering new perspectives on the country, the same old hackneyed ideas are

repackaged in pretty, albeit superficial, forms.

But, serving the public good does not necessarily mean always being against government. What it

demands is something far more difficult than that; because lets be honest here, the easiest path is

just to always be contrarian, to always try and tear down and criticize. Instead it demands

adherence to a core set of beliefs; ideas and philosophies from which all personal ideas and

positions derive. That means not allowing things like private relationships to influence. It means

focusing on issues of content, and not on personal likes and dislikes. I remember one writer

telling me that he was most proud of the fact that he angered his friends and opponents equally

during his career. If everyone agrees with what you have written, then what you wrote is

meaningless.

That is the challenge for the next generation, our generation, of artists and writers: to break the

shackles of repressive historical and social thought and the strictures of perverse ideology. In

other words, to come up with new meanings on what it means to be Filipino. For me, that starts

historically. But for others, it has to begin where passion is found and where new ideas can

flourish. Else we are failing ourselves and we will continue to stagnate.

In a sense, we are even worse off than when we were colonial subjects. At least then there was fire

and passion and energy to discover and create a new and cohesive nation. Verve that today seems

to be in short supply.

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intellectuals

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