The Celdran in a Prison Cell

Ang Celdrang nasa Selda / The Celdran in a Prison Cell

Please consider this post as an inquiry. As my face book status remains, up to this point: Tilde doesn't get it.

Celdran is free, as all of you might already know since it was broadcasted by facebook. And now, what? I have been thinking how to disclose what I have in mind, but by the time I thought I knew how and what to say, he is already free. Either his creative form of protest happened as a mere quick spectacle, OR I am too slow to respond to such novelty, in fear of possibly offending the pro-RH bill block and/or the Catholic Church. OR both: he is too quick and I am too slow, but it is often better late than never, right? (Apologies for the lengthy segue. And impending spontaneity.)

Let me begin by attempting to weigh both sides and (based from by observation adrift the cyberspace) present what both sides claim--though there are, as there would always be, what we call grey areas. Those that somehow lean towards the Church say that Celdran is misleading us. Those that somehow lean towards the RH Bill say that the old Church is being medieval and being an old fvck that wants to drag us back into the dark ages. There are those who stand for the RH Bill AND believe that the way Celdran staged his protest was just plain rude, since he may show dissent in means that would not offend those who run to the Church for their religious needs. And there are those who think Celdran is cool, because using condoms and contraceptives and having a lot of sexual partners is cool—though the RH Bill, once passed would, I think, merely legalize norms of promiscuity which are actually deemed as the norm.

Now, what am I attempting to drive at? Maybe, Celdran is right in echoing the dissent of those who want to remind the Church of its supposed separation with the State. But maybe the Church is right too in having Celdran arrested because that was kind of similar to, I think, trespassing (though the Church is a place of worship for all)—and, of course, the institution, that is, the Church was not the only offended party here. Most city-dwelling people think the Church is obsolete and it does not have any influence anymore, but I personally think otherwise. The neo-colonial semi-feudal society implies and indicates that the Church, especially in rural areas, would still somehow have that tinge of influence they enjoyed during the Spanish era. If we were already an industrialized country, then the Church might have less influence—but we are not, since the industries in our country are often own by foreign companies as national industrialization could not be advanced, thanks to the neoliberal policies that benefit first world countries.

Now, what the hell am I blabbering about, when all we are talking about is Celdran? Both sides have their arguments against the other side, but both could actually co-exist and help one another to resolve what the RH Bill wanted to be resolved: the population. Isn't the population the rationale behind the RH Bill? Now, taking that into consideration would bring us into the age old theory of Malthus that most intellectuals still believe up until now: that the increase in population is exponential, and that of the resources is linear—this same theory justifies wars of aggression, since we are too many for the limited resources, let us go kill each other because that is the law of nature. But of course, Malthussian theory is bullcrap, if not insane. We have been increasing in population, yes, but that does not mean our resources cannot suffice. The solution to the problem the RH Bill raised is not what the most vocal of its advocates ...advocate. :L I believe the solution to the (over)population problem is the proper distribution of wealth—and not primarily population control (though, again, it may help, but not like the long-term solution that distribution of wealth would offer). It might also lead to the question: Is overpopulation really THE primary problem? THE primary contradiction that would overhaul society into another society with better living conditions? And that would be another long story.

Now, what is Celdran and his performance, for me? Though, yes, it stood for something, but as I have mentioned before, it is a spectacle. It misled us into a trivial issue—and our energy could have been channelled to other issues bigger than that of contraceptives and religion and science and chastity. Because in the end, these matters are still under the powers of the class that dictates how these should be used. Remember that though the Inquisition plagued humanity in the name of God, God himself did not create nuclear weapons with his godly powers. Point: Religion can be used to rule over the people, but so can the Sciences—and even education. The only problem is, the latter would not be too obvious since Religion, especially to the liberals, are a target to direct their enlightened dissent, rather than focus the attack on what and who the real enemy is, rather than concentrate on the bigger picture. How to solve the population problem? You might not like this, but, we would have to go back to the streets for land reform, minimum wage increase and higher state subsidy for education among others. If not, there are means that would not be non-violent. Your contraceptives might stop producing babies who would just starve and die upon birth and latter development because of poverty, but it cannot stop bullets from killing those babies who are now grown human beings, struggling for the sake of humanity.

I do not want to sound preachy, so to make things clear, I'd urge you to please take these as sincere statements of curiosity and inquiry: Why the high five, salute, kudos, whatsoever to Celdran who was simply jailed because of rudeness ( or radical sacrifice for thioe who treat him as their modern Jose Rizal) for the sake of the RH Bill's cause? And no say at all about people who devoted their lives in asserting for human rights that the Constitution guaranteed? Nothing for Morong 43 who served as health workers and got arrested, nothing for the Hacienda Luisita / Hacienda Yulo farmers who struggle for genuine land reform for decades, nothing for more than 10 victims of political killings under this regime and thousands during the previous hell ride of a government—emphasis: these are not mere detention, again, killings—of activists? Like novelty noontime shows, I think Celdran's performance is just like wowowee (sorry, I haven't been watching television, what are the brand new titles of the same old shows?) for the liberal intellectuals who have access to new media.

Just like the date [1002 2010] that happens to be an anagram by the way, Celdran reshuffled, deliberate or otherwise, the supposed prioritization of social issues according to significance. I think it was Andy Warhol who said that time will come when people would be famous for 15 minutes. Celdran’s fifteen minutes is over, now can we move on to pertinent matters? Can we have the same manifestation of social awareness during Celdran’s performance, but this time, re-channelled to bigger causes, for the larger chunk of the born population? Or are we to return to our routine of posting status messages about what we eat or how our day was, 99% of the time?

Also note that the mainstream media lean towards Noynoy. Remember the hotdog. I have also read somewhere that the excommunication threat against Noynoy was a hoax, or rather, an exaggeration. I initially thought that Celdran is a diversion, since Noynoy’s 100 days are almost up but I cannot immediately translate into words what the thought, and how it should be delivered without offending anyone, though that would be impossible. Anyway, Celdran's show is, apparently, stirring sympathy from the liberals. That is what this hysteria against the Church is all about, as it seems to me: Liberals championing Noynoy and urging him to stand for "Reason." Or is it? I sincerely want to know what you think. Would post the link to this post on facebook, and would tag more people later. And you know how late later is for the blogspot feed. Anyway:

Everything in this blog entry remains a question. No conclusions, no impositions, mere questions. Consider this post as an inquiry. As my face book status remains, up to this point: Tilde doesn't get it. This is what I think: Noynoy probably smiles at this commotion. The Church is news, and his failures are, seemingly, forgotten. But still, his 100 days are almost over.

[read the poem here]