Kris-Crossing Mindanao
Reinventing Lozada
By Antonio J. Montalvan II
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:34:00 03/31/2008
MANILA, Philippines - Jun Lozada. The name is certainly reverberating a ring of hope all throughout the country. That was, however, a few weeks ago. All that seems to be going passé now.
At the rate Lozada’s truth advocacy is fizzling out, he had better start reinventing himself and fast. How? Here are some ways he might wish to seriously mull over.
To recoup his popularity, Lozada might consider becoming a product endorser, somewhat along the lines of what Manny Pacquiao has been doing. Product endorsers are never questioned for their morality. Why, they even become role models for the young. This is a media genre where second families are never brought into question. Of course, the advertising gloss is a tempting fringe benefit. Think of the tremendous recall the populace will have from the Lozada face on giant billboards across the archipelago, unless of course these do not get toppled during the typhoon season.
If he is already at it, a parallel field would be television and movie stardom. He will be tailor- fit for a lachrymal role in a telenovela. That will even jack up the network wars between Kapuso and Kapamilya. It goes without saying, of course, that the economic returns will be a bonanza for him. And the public recall will be instantaneous.
Otherwise, he might as well consider joining politics. He can then be in the same league as everyone there who thinks a little corruption is permissible corruption. The phrase that he himself coined certainly sounds familiar. And we had all thought he would come like a breeze in a sea of grafters. At the rate he has been defending his dalliances with corruption in the Philippine Forest Corporation, he certainly sounds like a politician already. I can already hear greetings of “Welcome to the club!”
Lozada, of course, will be at home in the field of transactional politics. He had proven himself quite adept at it in those times when he went forum shopping, meeting clandestinely with Ping Lacson and Jamby Madrigal (even while he was also courting the support of Malacañang), and then coming out into the open with the packaging of a so-called whistle-blower, as he himself narrated to us. That was indeed quite an impressive feat.
Or he may seriously consider becoming a full-time Catholic Church basher. He certainly has the talent to spout fast words against his target, as he did when he called Ricardo Cardinal Vidal as the archbishop of the “Archdiocese of Malacañang.” Of course, he did not bother to check the truth. Like many of us, he just relied on good old perceptions for an advocacy that is bent on forging the truth. And oh yes, he and his handlers have probably forgotten that the Cardinal has this public perception of being a good friend of deposed President Joseph Estrada. My, how fast Lozada loses friends in his kitchen politics of subtraction. He must have watched a lot of Hillary Clinton lately.
On second thought, Catholic Church-bashing may be anachronistic for him when he is in the company of his religious nun handlers. But that can be another opportunity for Lozada. He can, for instance, consider becoming a third order member of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco or the Benedictine Sisters, who seem to be the only ones who have yet to know the truth. It must be difficult for these nuns clutching at ropes for survival in their advocacy. A moral crusade is made of sterner stuff. I thought those nuns knew that.
Lozada can always drop his guns and go back to government where many of his ilk are exactly like him—hesitant to admit their errant ways and proclaim their mea culpas. Till now, I still have yet to see Lozada’s remorse, only which can absolve him of his own misdeeds in government. Again, I can already hear the greetings: “Welcome to the club!”
Perhaps the most tempting of them all is for Lozada to contemplate becoming a Filipino hero. After all, Cory Aquino has already canonized him as the Second Ninoy. Wow! Forgive the seeming callousness at Cory at this time of her greatest tribulation. We all know the Big C is absolutely no joke. But calling Lozada the Second Ninoy was probably Cory’s greatest faux pas. Ninoy belongs to the people now, not only to the Aquino family.
Why am I doing this to Lozada? Because the need for government reform, especially if it is in the magnitude of a moral crusade, has never been more acute in our nation’s history than it is now.
And Lozada is not measuring up to it. Please take a back seat, Jun Lozada, for letting us down.
Thanks for trying. It is the substance, more than the packaging.
It is the truth, more than popularity.
* * *
Comments to monta@cu-cdo.edu.ph
|
