In shooting position

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

Battle lines have been drawn with the resignation of VP Jojo Binay from his cabinet post last week. It also starts the re-alignment of party members who will think first of the financial support one gets from Binay’s political party.

Also, with his resignation, Binay has freed himself from silence and can now talk freely against the administration that reared him from an unknown vagabond in Makati to become a hush-hush millionaire in government.

He started shooting right after he announced his resignation from the Palace, calling PNoy’s government as “callous and a failure”, something he has not said so in the last five years that he was in Malacanang.

In shooting position last week, he accused the President’s men as candidates who will have to cheat in order to win; and will lie to the people, waste government money and go on violating laws – things that are still in his imagination and have not happened yet. How long will daydreaming be and when will kings wake up?

***

Kings and vagabonds. Just like President Noynoy’s “boss” in his famous 2011 speech “Ikawang boss ko” that he has almost forgotten, vagabonds should be free to advise kings on what to do with the affairs of a nation.

The word “king” is defined as a man or a leader who rules. It can also be the best or greatest about anything that you can imagine. It is a star or superstar, the term used to describe screen actors or actresses; or people who may be better than other people such as king of magic, king of rock and roll, king of pain, Lion King, etcetera. Or someone who thinks he is perfect and cannot accept criticism – a tyrant. 

The other person is the “vagabond”, commonly known as “drifter” or a wandering person, mistakenly and simply thought of as a tramp, beggar or hobo. The term has been used to describe famous people such as Australian journalist - author Julian Thomas. There was also the Vagabond film starring Charlie Chaplin.

The Vagabond is the name of a travel magazine, and there are Vagabond sandals and shoes. “The Vagabonds” was then the name of a popular local band in Baguio and Benguet with guitarist-composer Tito Mina and former La Trinidad councilor Tommy Chamos as band members. 

But the vagabonds I know learned hard lessons in life so that they accumulated the best ideas and solutions to problems that the best kings cannot ponder on. They remind me stories of the common man that I wish our kings and leaders could listen to.

***

My friend Felix, a musician and businessman, has an international driver license that he uses in the United States and when visiting here. Seeing no road signs, he entered Session Road from the old post office on his motorcycle. He was apologetic when stopped by a rookie cop but at the same time questioned the traffic ordinance.

“Why are motorcycles and manual bikes prevented from plying Session Road when these means of transportation do not cause traffic and are not pollutants as compared to diesel fuel motor vehicles?” The rookie cop just smiled and nodded in agreement to the observation of Felix, but until the Baguio City Council and the kings in the police station change the law, he has to do his job. He confiscated the license.

When my aunt retired as a public school teacher, she authored a complete volume of teaching modules for grades one to six teachers. The books that she thoroughly edited were offered to the DepEd. Sadly and for reasons that mingle in the criminal minds of some DepEd kings at that time, my aunt did not agree to the arrangement.

Now the K to 12 or Kindergarten that a student is required to finish, plus Grades 1-12 which is six years of elementary, four years of junior high school and two years of senior high, is being questioned. Aside from discovering that K-12 books were not delivered because of wrong printing, the books had several mistakes such as errors in spelling and grammar. Ordinary classroom teachers have no way of communicating their plight to their department secretary and can only go as far as chatting about their problems with co-teachers during recess.

Fortunately, there are petitioners who questioned the K-12 program. They said that government should first address the real problem bothering the education sector like the lack of teachers, classrooms, books, toilets, and low salary of teachers. In addition, the petitioners said that around 85,000 teachers and non-academic personnel of higher education institutions are at risk of losing their jobs in the K-12 program.

The department king did not listen to them when told that in the K-12 program, education workers faced the risk from constructive dismissal to forced retirement, early separation, diminution of salaries and benefits so they approached the Supreme Court. If the vagabonds will lost in court, certainly this will reflect on the administration’s presidential bet.