Who betrayed us all these times? The neo-Ilustrados of our generation

Shortly after EDSA UNO, people were smiling, everywhere. The feeling was liberating. As a graduating senior in high school, I remember riding in a jeepney, with every single one inside, smiling and greeting each other. Every Filipino believed strongly about that "peaceful revolt". Everyone had that hope that change will eventually come and benefit every, single one.

Now, nearly thirty years since, and nothing have changed. Fact is, the very families who betrayed the Filipino people and created the excesses of the past that worsened poverty and had resulted in oppression of most Filipinos were back in power. Worse, these elites are piggy backing in the propaganda of a pseudo-reformist government, whose promises of reform and change are slowly eroding because of the government's very commitment to a more liberal economy. The welfare of the people is being sacrificed in exchange for a 7,000 point climb in the stock exchange. The people continue to wallow in extreme suffering due to high costs of living.

The evils that Filipinos in the sixties under an aristocratic society have returned. Worse, those who fought these evils are now part of the very system of corruption, of denial, of apologies and of pretenses.

We pretend that everything has changed but underneath the social strata, are layers upon layers of oppression and poverty being suffered by a people heavily burdened by the inequality caused by the neo-liberal economic policies of this administration.

I accuse the present leaders of this country for this travesty. I accuse the elite of this country for the continued perpetuation of poverty, a result of the elite's continued worship of the Mammon instead of doing something to alleviate the suffering of our people.

We are living in false worship and of false concepts of heroism--we so respect these people in power and their continued promises of spurring change, when they themselves are pursuing policies that perpetuate their kind in power.

The spirit of EDSA lives in the minds and hearts of the people, similar to the ideals of the Katipunan which most Filipinos who genuinely desire for change continue to fuel its burning.

Look at the list of people topping the senatorial survey. These are the names of people who betrayed the Cause of the People. These are people who do not deserve a minute more in public service; but continually deceive the people with their promises.

Many had hoped that Loren Legarda would be a beacon of hope but several years had past and where are the changes that Loren pursued? She pursued a green Philippines but look at the very landscape of the country? Where are the trees? Our mountains are in their worst state since the sixties.

The Ejercitos, the Binays, the Magsaysays, the Legardas, the Escuderos, the Aquinos--these names are most popular yet these names remind us of broken promises of reform. We hear of Honasans, of Trillianes, of Enriles, of Marcoses, of Arroyos, of Singsons, and we remember how they maliciously manipulated the minds of the people into believing that they want change. These people have been eaten up by the system and continually enjoy their stature in society, forgetting that they owe those who supported and voted for them at least a better kind of service than what they have shown so far.

Honasan continues to promise reform but where is it? Trillianes did the same things but came up empty handed. 400 bills and poverty continue on the rise.

I remember how the Ilustrados betrayed the Katipuneros and whenever I hear these names I remember the betrayals, the pretenses, the lies and the broken promises of these people who, every single election, spend their money just to be able to see themselves and their friends in the halls of power.

We are blind. Those who fought in the trenches are now dead. Those who live suffer seeing the very Motherland they fought for, being raped and pillaged repeatedly by the enemies of the Filipino People who now manage this government.

We are being made to believe that democracy is simply like this---a system that accepts both good and bad. Truly, if democracy is like this, then, why do we persist in this system knowing full well that this system does not give us the kind of life most of us aspire for?

Why do we keep on hoping that the system will eventually be changed when the very people who lead us are the same traitors that keep us where we are?

It is our duty to resist and resist we will until the monumental ills we suffer are eradicated from the very land we love.

Are we masochists that we allow our Motherland to be continually raped by these scumbags, traitors of the Cause of the People, jokers masking as serious legislators, and wolves in sheep's clothing?

Are we so desperate that we vote into office those whom we think represents the lesser evil? We deserve better!

We follow the laws, pay humongous taxes but we get scraps from the very tables of the Greedy and the sinners that want us to call them "honorables" and "His Excellencies", when all they do is slacking off and robbing us of our futures?

No.

It is time for us to revolt and revolt we will against these people who use us every single election, and frustrates our voices with theirs.