Erap is guilty and so am I
While the nation was glued to their TVs waiting for the verdict for Joseph Estrada, I was in the office in a state of oblivion. It was deadline day and crunch time, so no matter if the earth was shaking, I was determined to submit my article on time, as only an OC person would understand, and will brave the rallies if there were or the flooded streets of the metropolis.
As the guilty verdict echoed in the headlines on the net and eventually in mainstream media, I admit I felt a sense of relief knowing that our leaders were doing their very best to correct our decaying judicial system. However, the Erap saga was a telenovela, which I failed to follow due to lack of interest.
And it was precisely this lack of interest that hit me back and made me realize why our system is decaying. I have always been a passive citizen of this country since I never really took interest or act upon any politics such as voting. It is this passivity that makes me guilty for allowing our system to go in whatever direction it takes, which only means I have no right to complain, to bitch and to whine!
With this recent political development, it will be an opportunity for me to slowly get involved through whatever way I can best help in improving the system, perhaps as simply as being an advocate for punctuality or even simply honoring traffic light signals no matter how late at night.
On the day of the guilty verdict, I ended my night with a guiltless celebration at the launch of Town And Country Magazine. It felt like a rally for a cause–the cause of simply being alive and enjoying it because given any situation, Manila is always a city of celebration.
