“In our village, we have organized a group supporting Noynoy and we meet regularly and have joined the Makati Friday marches. Ours is a small village, (mostly) middle class and even some (may be regarded as) lower middle class. But the ladies in the group have had T-shirts and sun visors and have posted tarps for Noynoy all over. One lady who has several garments factories in the village took care of the shirts and sold them to us at less than cost, 50 pesos each, with a silk-screened slogan: Pasig para kay Noynoy at Mar. I wanted to let you know about this because this candidacy of Noynoy has inspired volunteerism in many.”
Thus wrote a lady reader who prefers to remain anonymous. She is among tens of thousands of volunteers who might as well be called the Yellow Army or the Yellow Force. When the full story of the 2010 presidential election is written, it will contain many such stories of faith in the future of the country anchored upon belief in the integrity of a candidate who embodies the legacy of two iconic Filipino leaders.
My esteemed columnist-friend Conrad de Quiros attributes the frontrunner status of Noynoy Aquino to the Great Remembering, or how a grateful nation woke up from seeming lethargy and turned out anew in millions to grieve the death of their most beloved leader, former President Corazon Aquino.
However, he laments that there has also been a Great Forgetting, as the spirit of the EDSA People Power Revolution that evoked the Great Remembering seems to have been drowned or lost in the din of heated debates and in the intensity of the propaganda battle being waged by the leading protagonists.
Last week, I joined a meeting of Yellow Force volunteers from all over the country and I became convinced that, indeed, the spirit of EDSA is vibrant and alive --- and it throbs in every corner of our blighted homeland. They came from Tabuk (in Kalinga Apayao) to Tawi-Tawi, representing thousands of fellow volunteers who have been campaigning and rooting for Noynoy Aquino from the quiet stillness of their humble homes to the rock fest-like rallies that have greeted the candidate everywhere he has set foot.
From the outset, the mismatch was all too clear. Sen. Manny Villar had been preparing for this battle royale from the time he became House Speaker in 1998. Sen. Loren Legarda (now his running mate) criticized him in early 2009 for his remark that anyone with less than a billion pesos should not even think of running for President. In June 2009, Mr. Villar led in the polls with a 33 per cent rating, but those who were undecided ranked a close second at 29 per cent. (Noynoy Aquino declared his candidacy only in September 2009, 40 days after his mother’s death.)
By the end of March 2010, with barely a month before the elections, Mr. Villar’s support base had shrank, despite media monitoring reports that show he has spent more than a billion for advertising alone. This was a sharp drop of ten per cent from his rating in early February when he was barely two per cent behind Mr. Aquino.
I recall hearing Noynoy Aquino read a prepared statement before a press conference at the Senate last February 3. He said that he was not bothered by the closeness of the race as he affirmed his faith in the dedication and enthusiasm of thousands of volunteers who were campaigning for him. This was even before the formal start of the campaign on February 9. He recalled that when he first ran for congressman in Tarlac, he was also leading by a wide margin at the start, but that his opponents managed to bridge the gap when they ganged up on him and hurled assorted criticisms. However, when the smoke cleared, he still won by a large margin as the people eventually saw through the lies and opted to vote for him.
Such is the serenity and composure of the man who landed recently on the cover of Time magazine in what could be an auspicious augury for “the next (President) Aquino”.
What makes people want to volunteer to campaign for Noynoy Aquino? They see in him the same endearing virtues of simplicity, humility and integrity for which his mother was loved and respected. In Reader’s Digest poll, he emerged as one of the five most trusted Filipinos and was rated way ahead of other politicians, including Mr. Villar (who ranked only 60th) in terms of trustworthiness.
Lacking in funds for posters and streamers, the Aquino campaign has spawned a new phenomenon: people buying their own shirts, caps, fans, wrist bands (ballers) and car stickers. By wearing yellow shirts and wrist bands, they become walking ads and talking heads for their candidate. I remember what Kristie Hefner, daughter of the founder of the Playboy empire once pointed out in a conference on executive education: “When people like somebody or something, they want to cherish their experience by buying and keeping souvenirs.”
Only a people’s campaign driven by volunteer power could have enabled Noynoy Aquino to become the odds-on favorite to win the presidency. Only the tremendous energy and enthusiasm of many ordinary citizens stepping up to assert their claim to a better future could have beaten back the mighty triad of money, machinery and media disinformation. This is the spirit of People Power manifesting itself in a different form: not yet in mass protest actions but in small and quiet acts of individual choice, such as wearing a yellow wrist band or displaying a yellow ribbon sticker on one’s car windshield.
The massive dissatisfaction with the Arroyo regime as reflected in the minus 53 rating of the incumbent also forebodes what could be a torrential protest vote in favor of Noynoy Aquino. After the tumult from the campaign settles down, each Filipino voter will reflect on the importance of the ballot he will cast. For those that are still undecided, the key questions might be: Am I better or worse off now compared to my situation before the GMA administration assumed power? Who among the candidates represents a clear-cut alternative to the corruption and greed of the current regime?
There is only one aspect in which I beg to differ from my lady friend. She wrote, “When Noynoy becomes President (as we all hope he will be), this group of ladies and many more all over the country will fade away happy, as they said in our first meeting, that our mission has been accomplished.”
The members of the Yellow Force are committing that, this time, they will not allow the gains of People Power (such as those achieved immediately after the EDSA revolt in 1986) to dissipate or fade. What’s more important is a commitment to work beyond the elections to ensure that the new government will keep faith with the people’s trust, that it will govern honestly, and that it will truly be a catalyst for meaningful social change.
As Noynoy Aquino himself told Time, “We are only instruments for the expression of God’s will.” I believe that, against all odds, we will soon see the triumph of God’s will. But we still need to work and pray hard because, as I learned in grade school, God helps those who help themselves.
Readers are invited to visit sonnycoloma.blogspot.com or send comments to sonnycoloma@gmail.com
