Change

It may be that in the end Barack Obama does not get the Democratic nomination as candidate for the U.S. presidency. But the guy had really hit a nerve when he boldly called for change.

The yearning for change was already in the profound depths of the Americans soul. Barack did not create it – but his stirring words, his obvious sincerity and zeal for change had galvanized a lot of people. With a little luck he still could be the next president of the U.S.

Here in our country, there is undoubtedly a yearning for change. Not cosmetic change, mind you. Not a mere re-arranging of the furniture in the sala. What the people yearn for is a turn-about revision of the rapacious mind-set that, alas and alack, characterizes politicians, especially those in the higher levels of power. (Not that rapacity does not exist in lower levels. However, it's a bit harder to practice in the premises).

But this yearning for change was cruelly frustrated. There was a time, when EDSA I was kicking out the reigning tyrant, that a bright haze of hope made us believe that change would be ushered in. Then the hard reality soon showed that “it was business as usual.” Then there was EDSA 2 when the rampaging crowds chased away ERAP who had to board a boat in the Pasig to escape the ire of the people. Again, a flare of hope.

But soon it was evident that there was no real change.

That is the reason, the real reason why it is hard, I would say almost impossible, to call people to march again. To march? And after the march more of the same?

But somehow some of the pent-up emotions of the people can not lay totally hidden. The last election for senators was won by the opposition. Who has heard of Trillianes? Yet, because he symbolized opposition to the regime, he was swept in. This is why, I think, the next election, on the national level bodes well for the opposition.

Change can come suddenly and without warning. Who could have foreseen that the death of Ninoy could ignite a national frenzy?

The law of nature dictates that nothing really lasts. Nations, organizations, individuals have their own life-cycles. When one comes to the end of the cycle – then it's, kaput, baby.

* * *

The rigmarole that is happening right before our eyes is a classic. A ZTE witness (I assume this matter is known to almost everyone) comes home. The Senate Police is waiting for him to serve a senatorial warrant of arrest. But the guy disappears. It turns out that he was literally kidnapped by elements of the Police Force. The guy whose name now is the talk of the town is supposed to testify on the ZTE $329 million contract for the National Broadband Network project awarded to China 's ZTE Corp.

While Lozada was sequestered for awhile by the Police – he managed to find refuge with the nuns and priests of La Salle College where, according to early radio broadcasts, he wailed and cried during a news conference.

Verily Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada, Jr. is in a terrible fix. Threatened by death he has become a mass of trembling nerves. As I write, Jun Lozada is in the custody of the Senate where he probably feels safer.

The travails of Lozada has been aggravated by the fact that the name of the First Gentlemen has been mentioned in connection with ZTE anomaly, together with that of the resigned COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos.

Can it be hard therefore to guess why Malacañang is moving heaven and earth to silence whistle blowers?

Apparently, the ZTE affair refused to die down. It's like a cat with nine lives. Joey de Venecia threatened to come back and sing his tune. Where and when will this end? Will this affair spawn more tragic-comic events like the disappearance and re-appearance of Romulo Neri? Speaker Joe de Venecia has lost his seat, a direct result of this imbroglio. Incidentally, the Speaker's last moments were fraught with sadness – only 34 House members stood by him; where are the hordes to whom he bestowed favors?

In the end, the most precious commodity is one's skin.*

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