FPJ and the Filipino Masa

We do not begrudge a 6-month-old infant for not talking, walking or feeding itself.

We do not begrudge a primitive stone-age tribe for not understanding the intricacies of space travel, artificial intelligence and robotic automation or the theories and practice of the systems of governance.

Similarly, we must not begrudge the Filipino masses should they elect FPJ to the highest leadership position of the land. It is the logical manifestation of the greater Filipino society's stunted hopes and ideals.

A large part of the Filipino rural population is a mere one or two generations removed from the slash-and-burn practice of agriculture. Some ethnic tribes may still be hunters and gatherers at the present time. The majority that has evolved and adopted the plow, seed and fertilizer have done so under the tutelage and support of their patriarchal landlord. For the most part these feudal landlords have not encouraged their tenants to squeeze maximum production out of their extensive properties. Even minimal production would suffice for their subsistence and that of their tenant farmers. The idea of overproduction for the purpose of commerce with their neighbors was unheard of. The early wealthy hacenderos were gentlemen farmers who were not traders and merchants. Like the feudal barons of Europe, local royalty does not stoop down to their level. It would have been embarrassing and contemptible behavior for their class to do so. For that reason, Commerce and Industry have not taken root on Filipino soil as they have in neighboring countries.

With the adoption of democratic institutions and basic human rights the tenant farmers exercised their freedom to leave their age-old rural way of life for the cities. They became the civil servants and factory workers. The civil government replaced the feudal landlords as the patriarch of the people. As with the landlord system it replaced the tenant civil servants and factory workers looked to the government for their communal welfare, protection and livelihood.

Without understanding the theories and practice of governance, the masses relied on the benevolence and wise judgment of their new leaders. The old tenant farmers who became the democratic leaders of the new society had no role models or examples to follow other than the feudal barons of the previous society. They remembered the wealth from which the landlords' power flowed and sought it for themselves. The previous landlords who became civil leaders fortified their positions with acquisition of additional wealth and forming incestuous coalitions with their class peers.

The great mass of the Filipino people have not been a part of the Industrial Revolution nor have they been a part of the radical political and religious movements that have swept the old and new worlds as they evolved from the ignorance and evils of the Middle Ages.

The ideology of the Communist Party of the Philippines is nothing but organized banditry and mayhem.

The formation of Filipino political parties is nothing but bands of brigands coming together to strengthen and perpetuate their power.

The idea of a Filipino President to the masa is nothing but a Robin Hood to steal from the rich to give to the poor.

Why should we begrudge the Filipino Masa their choice of FPJ as their leader?