Genuine nationalists still can’t escape Red-tagging

As far as I can remember, there has never been a TV campaign ad that exposed the social injustice and foreign domination in the country until the “Karaniwang Tao” ad of Teddy Casiño came along. Interestingly, the campaign ad is nothing fanciful or exaggerated, unlike most TV campaign ads with catchy campaign jingles and popular TV personalities as endorsers. Casiño’s ad is but a plain assertion of the candidate’s basic political platforms—genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization.

It is unfortunate that fundamental issues, such as landlessness and economic dependency, don’t seem to interest those who claim to promote voters’ awareness, especially the mass media. Instead, what appears to be dominating senatorial debates and forums are the issues of reproductive health, divorce, corruption, tourism, peace and order, et al. “Criticism within the system is tolerated… criticism of the system itself is not only frowned upon but is strongly proscribed,” as historian Renato Constantino put it.

Nonetheless, despite the seeming “exclusivism” of the mass media,  Casiño is trying hard to raise his cause to the Senate by somewhat engaging in traditional campaign gimmickry, only to find himself criticized for following the ways of the traditional politician; and yet when he stands firm, which he always does, on his opinions, critics readily tag him a communist. For one thing, genuine nationalists like Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tañada could not escape the “Red-tagging,” which is almost inseparable in the battle to advance nationalism. Good thing for the two late great senators, they had the political recourse and machinery to secure their bid for Senate, whereas Casiño has to rely mainly on the support of party-list groups and community-based organizations.

Experience is the best teacher, and I am sure that the national democrats have learned a lot since they aligned themselves with the traditional politicians three years ago. Casiño may not succeed in his run for the Senate but the national democrats will definitely continue to struggle for social reforms, be it in the halls of Congress or on the streets of the metropolis. We owe them one.

—DANIEL ALOC,

tierra.giya@yahoo.com