Necropolitik

I can't believe it's October already. As we near the days of remembrance, it is good to pause and remember those who have passed on and reflect on the transience of life. There's no time for somber rumination in the Philippines though but there's always time for petty politics.

You know, I'm not ignorant of the fact that majority of my recent posts were about Philippine politics. It's a tedious subject, I know. To the cynical, Philippine politics holds few surprises. It's become banal as it is corrupt and degrading. Still, like one would do to a mental patient, we must examine the goings-on of this Republic to try to analyze and (hopefully) find a cure for the people's many psychoses. On that note, it appears we have a problem... 

Mar Roxas recently chose Leni Robredo as his running mate which saddened me. He should have chosen Vice Ganda in my opinion. Those two clowns would go well together in pandering to the masses. Who is Leni Robredo? Who she actually is is irrelevant. What matters is that she's the widow of the late Jesse Robredo, the former Secretary of the DILG who died in a plane crash.

"Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio." lamented Hamlet. Hamlet indeed knew him well as he painfully recalled happier times with the fool. Alas, poor Jesse! I knew him... not so well, reader. Do you? If Mar hadn't chosen Leni, we wouldn't have remembered that Jesse even existed along with the Chinese tourists, "Mamasapano 44" and the other dead people this government would rather have you forget.

Who Jesse was as a person is irrelevant. You can argue about his accomplishments all you like but it won't matter for two reasons: Firstly, Jesse is fucking dead. Secondly, the idea of who Jesse was is infinitely more important to the media and this administration rather than anything factual. Truth is irrelevant but perception is everything. The powers that be would have you believe that Jesse was the model public servant. He was so good and pure and brave and humble and honest etc. ad infinitum. They would canonize him a saint if they could. The man doesn't matter but a corpse has its uses.

Let me commit some copyright infringement and paint to you the picture the media and yellow acolytes are preparing: Jesse Robredo was a saint and perfect human being. Thank God for people like Jesse and thank God he belonged to our party so we can milk his legacy for what its worth. He's in heaven now, bowling with Jesus Christ himself. It was his time to go but don't be sad! His widow (feel sorry for her now) is here to continue the struggle. Like her husband, she is also good and pure and honest. Don't ask about the logic, or lack thereof, of ascribing one person's traits to another without basis. Just know that a vote for Mar is a vote for Leni and a vote for Jesse and Jesse was so great and wonderful. Have a heart for the widow. Vote Mar!

If all this sounds familiar, it is. If the noontime shows haven't rotted your brain completely yet, you may recall that El Presidente himself got elected for office on a wave of sympathy from his dead mom. The corpse was hardly even cold before they began using it for their ambitions. Again, who Cory was is irrelevant. We are never allowed to question who Jesse, Cory and Ninoy were. All we need to know is that they were completely flawless and good (unlike Marcos who was completely evil am I right?). Their deaths are more important than their lives. The benefit of dead heroes is that they never lived long enough to become the villain. Plus, we can't criticize them since they're fucking dead! Philippine politics is more about storytelling than anything. The power of sympathy is not to be underestimated. Filipinos are a very touchy-feely and overemotional bunch of nutcases. They eat this crap up with smiles on their faces.

Speaking of exploiting the dead, Grace Poe is doing it too! She remarked that she must "finish what her father started", her father being the late action movie star, Fernando Poe Jr. I'm confused. Fernando was never elected to office and died shortly after his loss so what exactly are we going to "finish" here? Maybe she wants to continue his work of making bad movies? Hey, knock yourself out Grace.

Hmm, let's see here.... Morbid fascination with the dead? Check. Using the dead for your own selfish purposes? Check. Idolizing the dead to the point of fetishization? Check. Having your way with the dead? Oh, dear. This is not good, you may want to sit down. It appears that Filipinos have a terrible mental illness, a terrible one indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, I have made my diagnosis: we are suffering from... (drum roll) necrophilia! This is a serious and dreadfully unsanitary mental condition. It's time to get locked up in a padded cell and we'll need a hell of a lot of pills to get better.

It's clear from the patient's history. People power was a flower that rose from a corpse after all. Even our religion makes a big deal about a guy dying on a cross. I worry about Binay. If he wants to win this election cycle, he has to pray that someone he loves dies. That way, he can ride a wave of tears to victory.

The worst thing about having your way with a corpse is the awkward silence.