Our Mothers

Today, May 10, 2009,- the whole world celebrate and pay tribute to the person who gave birth to us and molded us to become what we are today : our biological mothers. And here in my province, our representative to the Philippine Congress and our governor are both women and therefore civil and political “mothers” to us, their constituents.

The Philippine presidents from Emilio Aguinaldo to Ferdinand Marcos, the governors from Damaso Abeleda (1950) to Pedro Medalla, Jr. (1988) and representatives from Jesus V. Abeleda (1951) to Mario Gene Mendiola (1987) are all men. Those were the times when Occidental Mindoro political scene was dominated by male politicians until such time when these two women came into the picture : Josephine Ramirez-Sato and Ma. Amelita C. Villarosa. Not to mention the most powerful mother of our country, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

I felt hopeful seeing them occupied the two top provincial posts that year. Our province, at least from my own point of view, was in a mess in the hands of men. Our political and civic “fathers” have failed us. Poor road condition and health services, poverty, agricultural problems, etc., are everywhere, specially in the grassroots or upland communities.

I hate to say this but those things are STILL prevalent today in this part of the island with our three “mothers” around. I maybe wrong but this is how I see the present situation. Now, who says that all mothers are good at cleaning up messes?

Mothers (I mean the real ones), like yours and mine,.. are good at messes and the messes they clean up are not their doing and that makes it so exemplary and great. In his article at CaptivaSanibel.com entitled “Why Mothers Would Make Good Politicians”, a certain Rev. James L. Snyder has pointed out: “By her very nature, a mother is always thinking about others. Rarely does she take any time for her own personal pursuits. Other people come before her interest and comfort. Wouldn't that be a wonderful trait in some politician? Instead of always thinking about reelection and what can get him reelected, he begins to think about other people and their needs.” But that is not our case. Was it because our "mothers" are fulltime politicians and only part time housewives or housekeepers?

But let us not only blame our two civil and political “mothers”. As their “sons and daughters” we are partly to blame. We deserve the politicians that we have,- regardless of gender, for we continue to vote for them and their relatives and political family to power. For we vote based on personalities and not on issues. For making our mouth do all the job, consequently making it dirty thus keeping our hands so clean and bright. Let us join hands and make those hands dirty by cleaning the mess,- by doing the household chores up to 2010 and beyond. And hopefully all political "mothers" may become source of inspiration and role models to all of us, their "children"...

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

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(Photo: SSC File. My apologies for posting this picture again..)