Senator Richard Gordon wants our Muslim ancestors honored for fighting for Philippine independence. I’ve been told that this has been an advocacy of the senator since 2003. Well and good. That shows that this is probably not just a ploy to get himself noticed.
But, pardon me for being a little too suspicious of the timing. The senator is, after all, a politician who has already made it clear that he will be gunning for the presidency. As most of us already know, presidential aspirations can make a person do crazy things.
So, is the senator courting controversy? It’s possible. He is, after all, proposing to give our Muslim ancestors recognition by way of a modification to the Philippine flag. Gordon’s proposal is to have a ninth ray added to the sun in the Philippine flag. This, he says, would symbolize the Muslims who fought against foreign invasion of the Philippines.
In fairness to Mr. Gordon, the idea of getting Muslims who fought off foreign invaders honored is commendable. But, with just months away from the elections, Mr. Gordon’s proposal may just make him look like he is trying to attract attention. If there’s any lesson that can be learned from Martin Nievera and all the other singers who made the Philippine National Anthem their own it is that any and all attempts to tinker with this country’s national symbols is a sure-fire way of eliciting indignation from just about anyone who claims to be the protector of this country’s cultural heritage. And, where there’s indignation there is noise.
But, then again, if getting talked about is indeed the objective, Mr. Gordon couldn’t have picked a worse time to stir controversy. Doesn’t he know his proposal may just go unnoticed since everybody and his uncle is still very much entranced by the scandal (which I am trying hard not to talk about)?
Perhaps, I’m just reading too much into the senator’s move. For all I know, he came out with this proposal with the sincerest of motives. But, then again, Mr. Gordon is a politician and, as with all politicians, his actions are all open to malicious interpretations.
In any case, I would prefer that Mr. Gordon get himself noticed through his handling of senate committee hearings, which is way better than how one of his colleagues is heading the senate probe on the scandal.
You’ll really flip out when you hear about the idea for adding a 10th ray for the people of the Cordilleras.
But really, who cares?
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lpgd Reply:
May 30th, 2009 at 4:26 am
yeah who cares nga naman.
but this isn’t really about gordon’s proposal, which i think will easily get the support of other lawmakers who will want to make themselves look good in the eyes of the muslim community. siempre nga naman eleksyon na eh.
in any case, this is about the timing.
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Timing nga. Dapat he should’ve thought that a long time ago. Sana hindi nya sinasadya na i-timing nya ang proposal nya sa 2010 Elections.
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lpgd Reply:
May 30th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
apparently he timed it to coincide with national flag day. but, it would have been better if he worked on its approval prior and had the new flag with the additional ray unveiled on flag day. just my opinion.
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actually, that additional ray in honor of our muslim brothers has been their project since he was in studying law in UP. he just mentioned it to stress his point that we have to respect our fellow filipinos (muslims) like what he has been doing since time immemorial.
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