Repeating history

The six-year term granted elected presidents of the Philippines, is truly short for a good one, but very long for a bad one. That a Philippine president cannot be reelected is truly sad for a good one, and necessary for a bad one. All this came to mind with the reelection of Donald Trump as president of the United States of America; it should not really bother us except that it seems to be history repeating itself.

A recent incident of repeating history was when a Cadillac SUV, sporting a “7” plate ignored a legitimate traffic stop for using the exclusive Edsa bus lane. Thanks to social media, people want accountability. The buck stops with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) that should be obliged to issue a statement regarding the use and abuse of protocol plates. LTO should come clean and publicly state how many of these plates they have issued and to whom.

I presume only one set of protocol plates are issued to one vehicle used by a high government official. Its use should not be transferable, if the high official is not on board, and on official business, the vehicle should take them off and use its regular plates. LTO should let the public know if government officials issued more than one set of protocol plates for their many vehicles, the ones used by immediate family, relatives, and friends who are not entitled to them. Sen. Raffy Tulfo’s move to look into this, in aid of legislation, should clear the streets of entitled government officials and their minions who forget they are servants of the people.

To deter private trips on government vehicles, these used to be clearly marked with the name of the government agency and the words “For Official Use Only.” When people saw these on the road on weekends and outside office hours, they would snicker, “For Official Use Also.” Government vehicles used to be issued plate numbers in red, with a sequence of letters that began with “S” but then some government agencies or officials did not want to be marked by these government plates, leading to the issuance of “security plates.” These looked like ordinary plates but police and LTO could identify them as being government vehicles. Traffic is so bad that some people use detachable markings that make their vehicles out to be police cars or even ambulances. On this point again, the buck stops with LTO.

The abuse of protocol plates is not new, it goes all the way back to Oct. 1, 1934 when The Philippines Herald published a statement from Sen. Jose Clarin explaining his use of the No. 2 plate issued to Senate President Manuel Luis Quezon:

“With regard to the Paredes-Zulueta incident it has been cited as a precedent that I, as president pro tempore of the Senate, has been using plate No. 2 even when the president of the Senate, Mr. Quezon, was in the Philippine Islands.

“Just to correct a misinformation, I wish to state that this is not true. I have only used said number when I am acting president of the Senate and even then I do not use No. 2, as I have the right as acting president, but only No. 2-C.”

This bit of news I found in a scrapbook of clippings compiled by Joseph Ralston Hayden (1887-1945) who served as vice governor to Frank Murphy and secretary of Public Instruction from 1933 to 1935 and later as adviser on the Philippines to Douglas MacArthur during World War II. Hayden was a pack rat who compiled a lot of Philippine material, both official and personal, that are now preserved in the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. His scrapbooks show the challenges and concerns that came to his attention, much of it we still have today. A clipping from the Bulletin dated June 26, 1935, was on the opinion of Justice Secretary Jose Yulo that the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office was “the only legalized gambling in the Philippines.” Other lotteries competed with the sweepstakes were tolerated because these were allegedly engaged for charitable causes like hospitals and civic clubs. Didn’t the Philippine offshore gaming operator problem stem from the fact that we were not clear about legalized gambling in the country? There were clippings on various land disputes, including a Baclaran property claimed by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Manila. There were clippings on a proposal for the fingerprinting of all inhabitants of the Philippines during the census with the data centralized in Manila, not with the police or military. Reading this reminded me of the national ID I have been expecting for years. There were many clippings on “colorums” that we understand as illegal transport today but in the 1930s referred to various uprisings led by or influenced by folk religious sects. Colorum comes from the Latin prayers with the phrase, “In saecula saeculorum” (For ever, and ever).

When asked why I do history, I reply that historians are essential so that the present will stop reading like the past. History does not repeat itself, it has no power, no will of its own. It is people that repeat history because they don’t learn from it.

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Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu