Three questions have been burning in my mind ever since Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr first appeared in the Senate hearing on February 12, 2008 to talk about the anomalous national broadband network (NBN) contract [1]. Here are my three lines of inquiry:
1) How come there are people who are not disturbed by Lozada’s testimony in the ongoing Senate hearing about the ZTE-NBN scandal?[2]
2) Why were there so many high-profile people who tried to stop Lozada from testifying in the Senate?
3) Where do we go from here?

Strangely enough, I found my answers in studies made on battered women.[3]

Battered women

Battered women are wives and girlfriends who are abused by their partners. The abuse can come in many different forms: physical, verbal, emotional, psychological, sexual, or financial. There are other names for the abuses that battered women experience: wife-beating, spousal abuse, domestic violence, etc, but they all mean one thing: women who are trapped in hurtful and dysfunctional relationships.

I know that many of us have had our own personal experiences on domestic violence, whether in our own families or in our own relationships. And now you may be asking, “So what do battered women have to do with our country’s situation?” Everything! We can learn a lot from the real-life accounts of battered women with regard to how they cope with an abusive and domineering partner. And as we look into their response patterns, we can find answers to the three questions I raised earlier.

Question 1: How come there are people who are not disturbed by Lozada’s testimony in the ongoing Senate hearing about the NBN scandal?

More than 3,000 protesters marched in the anti-Arroyo rally in Makati on Friday, Feb 15, one week after Lozada’s testimony. [4] And today, about 5,000 people joined the mass for Lozada in La Salle Green Hills.[5] Five thousand people out of the 11 million people in Metro Manila. Where are the others? How come they are not (yet) showing their support to the anti-Arroyo administration movement by attending the mass protest actions and the prayer rallies?

To help answer this question, let’s have an imaginary scenario. Let’s say you’re in a relationship with a smart and handsome partner named Gloom. You began your relationship with him immediately after ending a rough relationship with your previous partner who was also abusive. After being with Gloom for four years, you found out that he cheated on you. He had an affair with someone named Grace. You were shocked and you wanted to get out of the relationship. But then Gloom said sorry and because you’re a good Christian, you forgave him. He promised he would change and be a better partner and you believed his promise. After seven years, nothing has changed. In fact, it has gotten worse. You hear of more and more affairs and scandals [6] and you receive more and more abuses from Gloom. And how do you, as the battered wife, respond?

The battered wife would do everything she can to get out of the relationship, right? Wrong! It turns out that instead of wanting to get out of the relationship, abused women use a coping mechanism to help them stay in the relationship. They put up with the abuse by using a mutated form of denial - numbness.

Namamanhid na sa sila sa sakit. (The abuse becomes so hard to bear that they end up becoming numb to the pain.) This reaction is not surprising as it is happens to people who undergo a traumatic experience. Numbness is a very common symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Why does this happen? Well, there is an overload of stressful stimuli that the brain can no longer respond with feelings and emotions about the situation. It has to shut itself off from the painful impulses. Battered wives go numb. They have to do this so that they can function normally in the other areas of their lives. But when they do this, they are like zombies or robots. There is no life in them. They have surrendered to the situation and feel powerless over it.

Now back to our country’s situation: After ten reported corruption scandals [7], could it be that many of us are already numb to the abuses of power of the Arroyo administration. Like a battered wife who feels that she can’t do anything about the situation, we switch ourselves off and we become numb to the pain. We see politics in the Philippines as a hopeless case. Add to this the fact that the two presidents who were forced to stepped down through People Power were never punished for their corruption.

Can we really blame our countrymen who are numb and apathetic to what’s happening in our country? They don’t see any value anymore in joining rallies and mass protest actions. Manhid na sila!

Question # 2 - Why were there so many high-profile people who tried to stop Lozada from testifying in the Senate?

There are so many high-profile personalities who have reportedly been involved in trying to discourage and/or hinder Lozada from testifying in the Senate? They are not directly involved in the anomalous NBN contract, but somehow they are worried about Lozada’s testimony. And they have risked their names and reputations just to try and prevent Lozada from appearing in the Senate inquiry. To name a few, we have Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Sec Lito Atienza, Deputy executive secretary Manuel Gaite, former Pres chief of staff Mike Defensor, Sen Joker Arroyo’s wife - human rights lawyer Felicitas Aquino, national police chief Avelino Razon and Angel Atutubo of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Sen Ramon Revilla Jr has also called for an end to the Senate inquiry saying it is not the Senate’s job to look into this matter.[8]

How come these people, who are not involved in the contract, are so desperate to put an end to this inquiry? If the Arroyo adminstration has nothing to hide, why do these pro-administration personalities have to go out of their way to stop the proceedings? Why are they protecting this abusive government?

For the answers, we look into studies made on kidnap victims and battered women who have gotten attached to their victimizers?[9] The victims will be loyal to their abusers even when reason is against it. This is referred to as Traumatic bonding or in the case of kidnap victims, it is called the “Stockholm Syndrome”. Even though their relationship is abusive and dysfunctional, the victims still get something out of it. They believe that what they are getting from the relationship, outweighs its bad effects. And so they become attached and loyal to their victimizers to the point that they would choose to keep quiet about the abuses. This is not unlike the subordinates of Pres Arroyo who choose to be silent about the wrongdoings of this administration.[10] They would even go as far as silencing whistleblowers like Lozada.

Question 3 - Where do we go from here?

In answering the first two questions, it’s fairly obvious that people who are pro-Arroyo and those who are apathetic and numb to what’s going on are victims in the abuses of power of this government. In fact, we are all victims because we are all trapped in a situation where the government is brazen enough to do whatever it pleases to do. From the election fraud in 2004 to the presidential pardon of deposed president Estrada to the “$8000 protection money” they want to impose on direct-hire OFWs to the anomalies of the NBN deal, we are all victims of the abuses made by the Arroyo administration to our battered nation.

And just like battered women who have successfully left their abusive husbands, so too must we say goodbye to the Arroyo administration. We must move away from our delusion that things will get better if we give them another chance. It’s time we come to the realization that this administration has put our nation in danger. We must say to ourselves, “We deserve better!”

We must force ourselves to take rational action and show our government that abuse of power is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it any longer. We have to show our support for Jun Lozada so that other witnesses can come out and tell their stories about the ills of the Arroyo administration. Manuel L Quezon III has made the call for all Filipinos to join the Join the Black and White Movement![11].

We have to make a stand, to raise our clenched People Power fists once again and unite in saying, Enough is enough! Tama na, Sobra na, Palitan na! [12]

Kahit ilang People Power pa ang kailangan,
buong-puso nating ipaglaban ang ating Inang Bayan!

Picture taken on Jan 20 2001, People Power 2, Mendiola gate, Malacanang — I am proud to have been part of EDSA 2, not for Pres Arroyo, but for myself. I am proud because I made a stand and I fought for good governance! And I’m more than willing to join the mass protest actions once again! (author in front row of protesters, fourth from left, wearing a white shirt between two protesters wearing black)[13]

Notes:
[1] Lozada links First Gentleman, Abalos to NBN deal, Veronica Uy, Inquirer.net, Feb 8 2008
[2] ZTE hearing (Part 1): I cannot tell a lie - Lozada, by Mark Meruenas, GMANews.TV, Feb 8, 2008
[3] Emotions, Reflexivity, and Action: an Interactionist Analysis. Trudy Mills and Sherryl Kleinman. Journal Title: Social Forces, Volume 66, Issue, 1988.
[4] Protesters rally against President Arroyo, Agence France-Presse, ABS-CBN News Online, Feb 15 2008
[5] People at La Salle Mass give overwhelming support to Lozada, GMANews.tv, Feb 17 2008
[6] Val G. Abelgas in his article, Privilege vs. accountability lists down the following scandals that are worth looking into: the NBN deal, the Hello Garci scandal, the P762-million fertilizer scam, the Jose Pidal case, the Venable contract, the $470-million IMPSA contract, the P50-million telecommunications bribery scandal, the jueteng payoff scandal, the P1.3-billion election computerization deal, the alleged P532.9-million overpricing of the P1.1-billion, 5.1-kilometer President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, and the $503-million North Rail project.
[7] GMA’s $164.7 million “loot” no match to Marcos’s $10 billion, Newsbreak, Dec 13 2007.
[8] Senator Arroyo: Lozada credible witness but documents needed, Veronic Uy, Inquirer.Net, Feb 12, 2008.
[9] Why Kidnap Victims and Battered Women May Be too Slow to Escape. Katherine Van Wormer. USA Today, Volume 136, Issue 2746, July 2007.
[10] This reminds me of a story about Nikita Khrushchev, a strong ally of Stalin and one of his leaders. When he spoke to the Russian congress in 1956, he denounced Stalin and talked about Stalin’s atrocities. As Kruschev was talking about Stalin’s despotism and war crimes, a voice in the audience mocked him and called out: “And what did you do then, Comrade Khrushchev?” Khrushchev stopped, stared at the delegates and in an intimidating voice, Kruschev shouted, “WHO SAID THAT?” The hall was silent, very silent. Kruschev glared at each and every one in the audience. Everyone was too afraid to do or say anything. After about a minute of deafening silence, he said, “Comrade, that’s what I did.”
[11] What to do?, Manuel Quezon III, Feb 15 2008, www.quezon.ph
[12] Raised fists, ‘Bayan Ko’ at end of mass for Lozada, Joel Guinto, Inquirer.Net, Feb 17 2008
[13] Image credit: Edsa 2: A Nation in Revolt: A Photographic Journal with text by Shiela Coronel, Anvil Publishing

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