Dear Jun,

Can you surf the Net where you are? If not, someone must have told you by now that you, Romy Neri, Ben Abalos, Mike Arroyo and the ZTE-NBN scandal are all over YouTube these days. That’s 30 videos and counting.

Scored by the Star Wars theme, this is how one begins: “Long, long time ago, wansapanataym pala, there was a probinsyanong Insik named Jhun Lozada, let’s just call him Jelo. He is a good man, nice sense of humor, very articulate, very passionate about his work, good father, good husband, ander siguro like me. But most of all, he loves his country, ang Inang Bayan, Philippines. His father told him never to go to the Dark Side so he became a Jhedi to protect all the karapatan ng mamayang Pilipino.

“This is his story and it should be told to all. Let us support him and pray for him for 40 days of Lent. That the truth shall set him free, and not only that, he is a modern day hero for all Pinoys, especially in the States. We need guys like him so he can set an example to all of us and to the next generations of Pinoy Americans…” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjpIRaaoDwc

Psychologists would probably agree with historians and political scientists that imagination on fire can turn breaking news into mythology with the power to make new history, Jun. Wherever this is going, the range of points of view in these videos and the comments they’ve attracted have turned three whole YouTube pages into the Pinoy equivalent of an American town hall meeting, grassroots democracy in action on cyberspace.

Like a proper civic gathering, Lupang Hinirang is played alongside teach-ins like this and this. But you know how we are, Jun. No crime is too major, no crisis too grave to resist turning to laughter when things get too mind-boggling. MTVs like this take us right back to the parliament of the streets and the riotous Los Enemigos joking and leading the way to toppling a famous dictatorship in the ‘80s.

Part of the unfolding is puzzled disillusionment at how old street parliamentarians like Joker Arroyo seem to have forgotten so much. Here’s another sign of approaching fulfillment that poor Joker is missing out on – a harbinger of a new generation of ringtones directly descended from Hello, Garci. Do you suppose these might help him and his ilk remember their previous incarnation?

But let’s step back from YouTube now to remember more of the older tradition these videos belong to. There’s another wicked bit of satire on your second day of blue ribbon testimony, with Lito Atienza, Mike Defensor and the police generals. This is the kind of bulls’ eye that goes places, traveling from Manila to New York to New Jersey at the speed of light before it was beamed back to Manila and landed in my Inbox. It seems to have gotten a fact wrong here and there in deadline-heat recreation of your “abduction/ kidnapping in the dictionary sense,” but on the whole, you might agree with the sender – it’s “brilliant.” The Los Enemigos spirit is alive and well!

Are you laughing your head off yet, Jun? Laughter clears the sinuses, I hear – good for both the heart and history. I’m sure you remember how wit has been the precious leaven of people power and its equal parts of prayer and blood sacrifice, analysis and strategy, patience, courage and divine grace. Twice it opened the door to new history; twice it plunged our hopes to new lows.

Making new history got stuck, sinking us deeper and deeper into ruts old and new post-EDSA I and II: belief in power from the barrel of a gun leading only to more violence and/or grandstanding Left, Right and Center; the law as protection only for the rich and well-connected horse-trader; elected office as booty to be stolen; appointive office devalued by more horse-trading; our national life, opposition rallies included, reduced to money, lies and media play. For this we defeated Ferdinand Marcos and slapped down Joseph Estrada/Jose Pidal?

Perhaps your tears of contrition and regret can indeed turn back into the laughter gurgling pure from the genius of our race, Jun. It cannot be an accident that you, a new Filipino icon, are neither a temporizing priest nor a glib lawyer but an IT engineer trained to make intricate new systems work. Even better, you’re a rarity – an engineer who has also absorbed José Rizal’s prescient advice on birthing a sovereign nation into your marrow. What you told Korina Sanchez in your one-on-one on ANC reopened a powerful stream back to EDSA I.

Off the top of your head, you spoke of history from a systems point-of-view. Rizal gave three conditions for revolution then, you said. First, that there is no other recourse. Second, that there must be grave cause. And third, the most important: Should it succeed, not a shred of the old order should be allowed to exist in a new order, where it would only regain power and come roaring back to life as a monster. That, you said sadly, is exactly what happened in 1986.

Twenty-two years later, that monster is devouring our life substance at home and abroad. Heaven knows how hard some of us have tried, and continue trying, to drive a stake through the heart of the corrupt dynastic politics still ruling our home roost, fueled by four generations of old money and three generations of horse-trading with new money.

Injustice decades old – and all the victims of direct or collateral damage - are why a Pinoy American meeting you only on the airwaves is compelled uphold “Jhun, the Jhedi” to show the way out. I cringe at that those decorative H’s, but it warms my heart how everyone agrees beyond spelling: You are a hero who stands taller because you tried so hard to avoid becoming one, Jun. Your humility shines with the light of wisdom. So Pinoy, many agree. Now, with video as a laser sword and the Internet as a global screen, who can say what fresh chapter your tearful act of honesty on ZTE-NBN has opened for our global nation?

We’re back to 1986, Jun, but this time, that global screen has been opened not by foreign correspondents and international TV news crews but by Filipinos exuberantly at home on the information superhighway. Here is clear proof that in spite of everything, past all obstacles, the Filipino people are evolving with the times both at home and in exile. Could this mean an EDSA III on a global scale creeping up on us?

We shall see. Many hope that all these jolts are deepening wisdom and strengthening the national will. For all the discomfiting moments, the prospects of tougher slogging ahead and many hardened egos to either break or prod to the light, our scattered parts and dispersed patriots are beginning to reconnect again, thanks to a probinsyanong Intsik who turned a crucial corner and emerged the Jedi that everyone can be.

It wasn’t easy, but your decision to tell all became an invitation to a homecoming for many ideals muted and mislaid by years of disillusionment. With them is the indelible memory of brief shining moments as real as the muck the Arroyo government has chosen to drown in. Friday, Feb. 15, 2008 in Makati was an opening salvo. Now we have a systems engineer in the sacred ring of fire. We could just get it right this time.

Respond to: slmayuga@yahoo.com

More Viewpoints columns

Previous columns:
A New Close-up on Power – 2/10/08
Full Circle – 2/03/08
An Evolving America – 1/27/08
SPELLING C-H-A-N-G-E – 1/20/08