Marvin Isidore "Sid" Macatol Weblog

When Filipinos of my age were the "millennials" of the country we whined and rallied on issues that were happening almost in real time and under real threat from an army ready to pounce ... Although Marcos lifted Martial law 5 years earlier, a lot of political detainees were still in prison and the New People's Army was at their peak! Ninoy Aquino was assassinated 3 years earlier and caused an uproar that were fresh to us like yesterday Marcos called for a Snap Election months earlier Election fraud was exposed by the media days earlier Protests were happening in the news while we studied our lessons in the dormitory Everyone was nervous. Everyone was wondering what was going to happen. Then all of a sudden Enrile and Ramos defected to Cory and Cardinal Sin called on radio for everyone "to protect" these freedom fighters The millennials, along with the rest of the concerned citizens of that generation, filled EDSA to the brim under some real threat of a

I grew up in Mindanao. Now I live in Metro Manila. I cannot help but see the cultural divide between these two areas of the country. The sooner we recognize AND appreciate our cultural differences, the closer we are to authentic national unity. What I have found since I enrolled as a freshman in UP Diliman are these: 1. When in a huddle, home-grown Manilenos tend to speak to each other in low voice, almost like making sure the guy next to him wouldn't hear a sound. When we huddle in Mindanao, it's a party! We express excitement! We speak to be heard by the whole world! We laugh even louder so it would be heard by Mars! My elder brother demonstrated that by letting me observe how people huddle in the dormitory lobby. Oh, how right he was (and is). I didn't find it very difficult to identify which people spoke Cebuano (the lingua franca in both Visayas and Mindanao).

[I initially published this in my Fatherhood Blog , but heck, this article rightfully belongs here]. The May 9, 2016 national elections in the Philippines that saw the rise of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to power drew the active participation of the electorate in the intense debates, thanks in large measure to social media.  Presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte Photo taken from the video by  Matt Wilkie Exchanges were so passionate at all levels that relationships were strained even among families and friends. When Duterte was vocal to his displeasure to statements from foreign observers, some fear the country's relationship with other countries would be strained as well. But first, who is Duterte and why is he popular?

Let me share this story once and only once. I risked my ass for Cory when I was 17. We were at 'PTV 4' then, which ABS-CBN was able to recover when Cory took power. Fast forward today, I ask, Did Marcos really kill Ninoy? Why was I there? Two years earlier in Cagayan de Oro City, I debated with my high school teacher -- a Jesuit scholastic who taught us about "constitutional dictatorship" of Marcos. I felt very strongly that, given his arguments about how the government effectively became a machinery that was anti-people, the military itself would fight Marcos soon, very soon. My argument was simple: many military officers themselves came from poor families AND ... Filipinos were very family-oriented. How did I know that? My brother was one of them! My young and naive mind could not imagine a Filipino military that could sustain what we were seeing back then. At some point, or so I believed, these soldiers would throw up and say, "Enough!"