Mother Mary and son
By Noralyn Mustafa
Inquirer

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IN KEEPING WITH THE HOLIDAY SEASON, I earlier decided to write, for this edition, about something heartening--like how GMA-7 has redeemed local television with its wonderfully magical "fantaseryes," starting with the mystical "Mulawin," followed by the enchanting "Encantadia," and now the absolutely fantastic "Etheria." All of these I faithfully followed and watched from their first episodes, missing only those that were shut out by power blackouts. At one time, I even had to settle for the replay of the tribute to John Lennon on Starworld just to watch the second to the last episode of "Encantadia." Imagine that.

Yes, I am an "encantadik" because I am especially grateful to the Kapuso channel for bringing the wonder of magic and fantasy to this island, where children cannot even fantasize about such magical places like Enchanted Kingdom, and babies are put to sleep with the drones of spy planes and sounds of gunfire as lullabies; while their parents struggle to survive as subjects of the evil Kaharian ng Pidal, where the only magic is of the blackest kind.

When a couple of college students texted me asking for a comprehensible explanation of what "magical realism" is, I simply asked them to watch "Encantadia" and they understood perfectly.

Sadly, for a very compelling reason, that piece will have to wait. That is so because I get a crack at this space only every third week of the month, and urgency is usually the rule I go by in deciding on the topic I write about. In this utterly dismal and desolate kingdom that is our world under the Arroyo regime, we have been stripped of the joy of anticipation of what is known as the happiest season of all.

With incredible ruthlessness, the developments come one after the other. A bemedalled military officer, who had bolted
unjust detention and openly declared his defiance of this fraudulent administration, is tagged as an "enemy of the state." A venerable man, who for the most part of his existence risked life and limb in the service of his country, is dragged off to jail under the pretense of an "invitation," when in reality he was being arrested by very ill-mannered policemen. And then the revolting photo of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro (fittingly seated side by side, with identical smiles that painfully reminded you of cats who had just demolished a plateful of fried danggit) receiving from the so-called constitutional commission a carte blanche for interminable reign, thus satisfying their hearts' ultimate desire-a reign the legitimacy of which is "constitutionalized"! You cannot imagine a more fantastic Christmas gift, not even in Encantadia.

But the reason I decided to write on another topic for this week's edition was the story (this one moved me like no other) -- thankfully well covered by media -- of deposed President Joseph "Erap" Estrada mercifully "allowed" by the Sandiganbayan to attend his brother's funeral Mass, though he was not allowed to accompany him to his sibling's final resting place; of how before going to the wake he defied the schedule set by his guards and insisted on first seeing his frail and ailing mother, who is probably only miraculously being kept alive by the thought that she must be there when her beloved son can finally come home. More importantly, she wants to know why he is in jail.

You see, that is how and why God created mothers. The whole world may condemn the son for the most heinous crimes imaginable: murder, arson, rape, plunder, even receiving jueteng payola; but, for her, he will always be her innocent little boy.

And in our culture, Asian and Filipino especially, the greatest crime, unforgivable before the laws of God and man, is disrespect for one's mother.

In this season, when the whole Christian world awaits what is traditionally the birth of Christ, Erap's mother (take note, she is named Mary) can only see her son in staggered 24-hour "furloughs" permitted by the henchmen of Ms Arroyo.
Much has already been said about how Ms Arroyo has damaged our institutions and contaminated them all with her character. Not much has been made of the greater damage she has inflicted on our socio-psychological state-our value system, the traditions that give meaning to our lives as mothers and sons, as families; that bond us as communities; that make us all, of whatever race, color or creed, part of the universal chain of humanity.

In the first place, this whole mess, stripped of its legal bull, is really nothing more than Ms Arroyo's terrible fear of President Erap who refused her offer of freedom abroad. The offer was relayed by a top honcho of hers, the "2-million-dollar man," then Justice Secretary Nani Perez. But Erap opted to face instead the consequences of his refusal like a man, the way his mother Mary brought him up, no doubt.

Adding insult to injury, Mother Mary sees her son under heavy guard, as if he were a convict on death row, every breath wanting to escape from lethal injection. But the guards are with him under the pretext that they are to provide him "security." But President Erap is one who can get down from the presidential car at a busy intersection to untangle heavily tied-up traffic, as he did once, with no thought of anybody harming him. On the other hand, his jailer has to protect (in effect imprison) herself with shipping containers because of her paranoidal fear of the people of whom she claims to be the President.

In the name of all that is decent and human, release President Erap and let him go home to his mother so he can fulfill his filial obligation of taking care of her in the few remaining days of her life. Merry Christmas, Madame President.

Comments to rubaiyat19@yahoo.com

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