Dati ko na siyang napapanood, nung una sa Teleradyo, “Usapang de Campanilla” yata yon, taking calls, giving legal advice. Now on YouTube her “Batas with Atty. Claire Castro” vlog has been one of my regular stops. She’s always worth checking out because she focuses on an issue at a time, making himay himay from the perspective of a lawyer, and always citing her sources, no matter how time- or tech-consuming.
She never struck me as pro-BBM, and she says she didn’t vote for him. But she supports the government daw, and when asked to help fight the stream of fake news from the DDS as election campaigns heat up, she said yes. Of course antiBBM vloggers and pfundits wonder if Atty. Claire is ready to lie for the Marcoses if push comes to shove, I suppose. She’s quick to assure that she will decide on the basis of hard evidence. As in, where’s the evidence that the prez had anything to do with the Tallano-gold story. Nasaan ang resibo?
Or where’s the evidence that the prez has downgraded EDSA Day, it’s still a “special” working holiday and people are “encouraged to join any event to commemorate” the special event. To this no one followed up with, pero ma’am, paano yung mga may trabaho? Although Christian Esguerra, for one, did push back, and Atty. Claire did not disappoint.
Esguerra. Anong sagot niyo roon sa sinasabing under BBM lalong nalilibing ang spirit of EDSA? https://www.youtube.com/
Atty. Claire. You are encouraged to join any event … walang paghahadlang. … Mahirap sabihin that the president is trying to erase the memory of EDSA People Power…sa utak ng mga Pilipino. Otherwise, baka pinagbawal yan… wala siyang idnidiktang ganoon….
Siguro we should not put the blame on the president if ever ma-e-erase ang memory ng EDSA. Tayong taga- media, if we really want to instill (EDSA) in the minds of the people, the youth, dapat nagpapalabas tayo ng mga movies, programs sa mainstream TV, ng mga kuwento, para hindi nakakalimutan. Hindi puro teleserye.
Itong (past) 37 (39 actually) years, ang nangyayari lang, walang pasok. After walang pasok, paano ba i-co-commemorate ng mga tao. Hindi natin napapanood kung among nangyari sa EDSA revolution. Wala kang napapanoood. So the media should do that. … And they should not blame that to the current administration. Dapat panahon pa ni PNoy merong ganyan every year.
Na totoo naman. While on the one hand the Marcoses worked hard to diss and dismiss EDSA via social media, on the other, the mainstream media, academe, and government, and the oligarchs behind these institutions, have never cared to really talk the truths about EDSA — how it happened, why it happened — because it would mean revealing EDSA as a template for Change, Nonviolent Change; it would mean talking about the civil disobedience and the crony boycott that preceded and continued into EDSA, and how the economy was reeling, and the people were so engaged and ready to take to the streets.
Radio and TV talkshows and programs and docus about the 10 days of boycotts and barricades, based on indisputable sources would mean empowering the people to do as we did in 1986, and, I imagine, to do EDSA even better next time by shooting (so to speak) not just to oust a Marcos but for systemic, deep-seated, changes in the economic and social and political order. All anathema, of course, to the ruling elite.
PAHABOL
Mga resibo, mainit-init pa: “Bongbong evades, lies about EDSA.” Miguel Reyes of the Third World Studies Center and Vera Files tracks BBM’s comments on EDSA through the years, since 1989, mostly dismissive. “Nothing to celebrate …. Bigo ang EDSA 1 …” at kung ano-ano pa. Kung maniniwala ka sa kanya, e di wow, kalibing-libing nga.