A little more than a week ago, on Saturday 29 November 2008, Dilaab launched Pwede Pala Pinoy! in Cebu. It was an experience of the liberating and transforming spirit of Pinoy People Power.
I was not in the Philippines during the first Pinoy People Power in 1986. I received news of it through television and a first-hand account from my brother, who was a law student then and was in the frontlines of the said event. It was impossible to contain one’s emotions.
Many events have happened since those momentous days in February 1986. Is Pinoy People Power still alive? Archbishop Ramon Arguelles of Lipa, who was also in the frontlines of People Power 1 as rector of San Carlos seminary in Makati, said during the launch in Cebu that since EDSA 1 or People Power is a spirit, it will never die. Judging from the experience of the launch, I would concur with the good bishop.
I am no optimist. If mere optimism was the fuel for planning Pwede Pala Pinoy!, I would have given up right from the start. As people more experienced in organizing similar events had pointed out, we were starting out with too little, too late. A month before the launch funds were still negligible. While we were dreaming big in terms of participants and promotions, there were still too many loose ends. The launch could have easily unraveled even before it began. And we would have easily fallen flat on our faces.
Pwede Pala Pinoy! is the telling, sharing, and retelling of largely untold, inspiring stories of faith-impelled work promoting the common good. These stories are about unlikely collaborations with a twist, going beyond well-defined boundaries that often stifle the spirit of unity. One effect of corruption has been a nation characterized by mutual suspicions between individuals and sectors. Such fragmentation can be bridged if people and sectors learn to exchange places. After all, didn’t God start this whole dynamics of exchanging places by sending us his only Son?
While not an optimist neither am I a pessimist. I do not see a half full or a half empty glass. For me, a half full (or empty) glass is really a glass that is waiting to be filled to the brim. This hope of mine is a gift from God. By God’s grace my hope is incorrigible.
This gift of hope is undeserved. It springs eternal because its source is eternal. The process leading to the launch – as well as the launch itself – was really an exercise in and a blossoming of hope. It all started out with a desire to communicate a simple message: a good Christian is also a good citizen and a good leader. What better way to communicate this message than asking people who embody these realities to give their testimonies before people, especially the youth?
But it was not that simple after all. Our initial core of volunteers soon realized that for the message to be communicated well, we had to adjust to contemporary mindsets. We had to be participant and youth friendly. We had, to use today’s jargon, to do marketing even while making room for God to touch hearts and minds.
The motif of the launch is the analogy of the Philippines and a 90-million piece jigsaw puzzle. Each Filipino holds a piece of this puzzle, and we can only see the beautiful big picture if we go out in faith and see how the pieces fit. Sometimes, we see pieces falling into place as if by an unseen Hand, showing us that we are instruments of what God is doing in the life of our nation. It is a continuing journey and each piece is indispensable.
The puzzle motif actually described the growing core of volunteers of the launch who stepped out in faith. An invitations team went school and company hopping. A creative team emerged, complemented by other teams. Soon Thursday evenings stretched out beyond midnight to accommodate the artistic spirit. A serious documentation process was made on the different stories that qualified to be featured during the launch. This became the basis for scripts used for the audio-visual presentations. Meanwhile, rehearsals were conducted. An MTV project was coming to life.
A few days before the launch several banners appeared in public: “Can Anything Good Come out of the PNP?” – “Can One Man and One Family Make a Difference?” – “Can We Go Beyond Traditional Politics?” – “Is People Power Still Alive?” – and “Is There Still Hope for the Country?”
The puzzle was starting to be filled up. Volunteers discovered the spirit of the launch to the extent that they gave generously of themselves. As one volunteer puts it: “Things do not turn out like magic when one responds to the Lord. Yet, there are magical moments.” Another expressed excitement at what awaits her boy who will reach adolescent age in a few years. Another one, who had worked as a volunteer abroad, said that instead of rediscovering the Philippines, it is actually the islands reclaiming him. Others shared their conversion experiences that resulted from their getting more involved with the project.
Around 3000 people representing nearly 60 different groups came for the launch at the Sacred Heart School Jesuits at Gen. Maxilom from 4 to 9 pm, starting with Mass, then listening to storytellers and interacting with them and with one another. Participants outside Cebu came, including some high government officials, and an 8-person group from the Diocese of Cabanatuan. As one of them later wrote: “We brought with us the tongues of fire to the people of Nueva Ecija. We will keep it burning as you did in Cebu.” Actually it was mutual sharing of fire as they shared with us, the night before the launch, of a school-based course for elected officials offered by a Catholic school.
The festive occasion also witnessed the sharing of talents as rock bands, drama guilds, a rondalla, a mini youth orchestra, and other artists made themselves available to entertain with a message. By highlighting inspiring stories in an informal and even festive setting, and giving people, particularly students, church groups, government, people’s organizations, and the private sector a chance to interact personally with the individuals concerned, spaces of hope for ordinary citizens were ignited.
Many young people sat down and participated for more than four hours. A group of PNP trainees stood for about the same length of time. They listened to stories and they cheered, inspired by the booming voice a Dilaab volunteer: “Pwede Pa? - Pwede Pala Pinoy!” As one participant later on said: “We felt united with one another and we shouted despite feeling hungry.” They gave their ears to Among Ed Panlilio of Pampanga as he shared his efforts at moral and transparent governance. They shared laughter with him as he recounted his awkward moments as a public official.
They listened intently as Archbishop Ramon Arguelles recounted his experiences during People Power 1 and how he viewed People Power not as an action against someone as it was an event bringing Filipinos together in faith, preventing our disintegration as a nation.
The participants showed keen interest at the humble testimonies of three police officers, Ret. PNP CSupt. Samson R. Tucay, PSSupt. Cesar H. Binag, and PSupt. Romy Palgue, who recounted various personal experiences and how their Christian faith enabled them to wear their badge as a badge of blessing for others.
They were struck by what they heard from Raddy Diola on what a single family can do to help a public elementary school and how this is having a ripple effect on the local community.
As each storyteller finished his story, a symbolic gesture was made in terms of signing a puzzle piece in front of the crowd and making the Pwede Pala Pinoy gesture: clenched right fist over the left chest signifying love for God and country.
While all these were happening, a queue was forming as people registered their puzzle piece (which came together with the invitation card). With each registration a name appeared on the big screen together with an emerging shape of a puzzle. The pieces called “you” were coming together.
After the storytelling, there was a “Meet and Greet” moment for people to get up and close to the storytellers. Quite unexpectedly, a swirl of humanity came to life as young people enthusiastically sought to have their pictures taken with the storytellers. Some even milled around Cesar Binag inquiring about the significance of some medals he had on his chest. The energetic smiles on the youth revealed the release of positive energies. They had found their heroes.
Fittingly, the whole event ended with the mass singing of Nasud Ko (“My Nation”) accompanied by an MTV of the song while the remaining participants raised and waved their hands in unrehearsed unison. As one blogger, who came to the event after reading about it the newspaper, later commented: “Pwede Pala Pinoy! brings that swelling in your heart. The fact that you are gathered together with people who say there is hope makes you hopeful too. You start grabbing on to optimism. And you don’t want to let go.”
That night patriotism impelled by Christian faith was hip.
Sincerely,
FR. CARMELO O. DIOLA
