BY ROMMEL YNION
JUXTAPOSED together, “am” and “vision” equate to “ambition”. Quite tricky, isn’t it? Actually, it is just what it is. Words are like atoms and molecules, each a building block that buttresses any thought, image, and even a spark of inspiration springing from the soul of humanity.
The word “am” is a linking verb that serves as a conduit between man and reality. It is, therefore, not just an ordinary word but a key to the substance of the person who uses it, pertaining to who he really is, and what stuff he is made of especially in the eyes of the world.
Loosely bandied about, “am” becomes a hostage-taker, capable of locking you up in a calaboose forever, weighing you down with a label from which it is difficult to extricate yourself , clinging on to you like a leech from an African jungle, sucking the marrow of your life as long as you live.
“I am Iloilo” is, therefore, not a bandwagon to which Ilonggos are enticed to hitch their lives but a bullet train that has lost its brakes, inexorably hurtling across deserts and mountain ranges and into the abyss of God knows where.
For “Iloilo”, in that sentence, is worse than a dangling modifier that has lost its bearing like a puppy groping with its sense of direction after straying into the woods, its object clear, but its substance still a matter of conjecture.
If every Ilonggo must embody Iloilo, what does it mean then to be the embodiment of Iloilo? Have we even paused to weigh this matter carefully? Being Iloilo means being branded as Iloilo. Question: Is it a brand that each Ilonggo can be proud of?
Since nobody has spoon-fed us the meaning of Iloilo, let us, therefore, define it based on what we have witnessed around us. What then does Iloilo mean? With the mosaic of images that assault our eyes day in and day out, we can pretty much lay down a semblance of a definition of it.
Does Iloilo then mean the boot-licking of our representatives in Congress who seem to be fighting not for the interests of their constituents but for their sycophantic relationship with Malacañang which can deprive them of funds from their Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) once they fight for principle?
Does Iloilo mean the recently identified DAP-funded projects worth at least P650 million that Malacañang poured on Iloilo City, inducing an artificial economic bubble that will burst as soon as these “controversial” funds dry up, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that has deemed it unconstitutional?
Does Iloilo mean the grossly overpriced Iloilo City Hall that has cost taxpayers money over P800 million when civil engineers worth their salt estimated its cost at only P350 million?
Does Iloilo mean the release of P450 million in DAP funds to the Jalaur Mega Dam Project at least two years before the contract was awarded to any contractor? Now, two years after, the construction site is still eerily a picture of inactivity and inertia. Question: Where did the money go?
Does Iloilo mean the harassment of media just because members of the Fourth Estate refuse to bow to the Evil Empire that has lorded it over Iloilo City and plunged its citizenry into the longest period of decadence that not even the misdeeds of the Roman Empire could eclipse?
Having rattled off these facts, let us ask ourselves: Are we really serious in labeling each one of us as “Iloilo”? Can we allow that label to stick to us, defining who we are forever, and relegating our sense of individuality to promote man’s baser instincts?
Just look at that Ilonggo congressman who even filed a bill just to strip the Supreme Court of it judicial fund in an attempt to bully it into submission. If this is what “Iloilo” means, must we be proud of it? Or, shall we just cringe at the mere thought of it before we weep?
Today, being “Iloilo” means being like Thomas Cromwell who served as the sycophantic architect of King Henry VIII’s malevolent rule of England in the early 16th century, paving the road to the Tudor King’s perdition, securing his niche in the pantheon of the cruelest beasts in history.
Tragic but unfortunately true./PN
