on marcos, duterte, misogyny, and stuff in between

when i moved to makati city in 5th grade, i was a sheltered kid. i didn't know how to commute so i walked everywhere. i made new friends. but truth be told, my new school shocked me. it taught me words i didn't ever encounter in my old schools run by nuns and priests. it taught me that it's cool to call someone's mother a puta at such a young age. it taught me how boys are brought up to become the sexist pigs they can be. imagine a boy, roughly 11 or 12, telling you he'd like to fuck you and what else he'd like to do to you when you haven't even explored your own body. he tells you this during recess with a lascivious grin on his face. i was harassed without even understanding what harassment felt like. and the year after, another boy talks about his cum while pushing you and holding you against the wall. they say kids at 10 years old are too young to understand what's wrong with our society. but it is as early as 10, if not earlier, when girls learn how boys can be disgusting. chalk it up to immaturity, that boys are boys, but this is how misogynists are made.

it was also in the same school where i started to be passionate about writing. in 6th grade, i was chosen as one of the school's representatives for journalism contests. i got assigned editorial writing. i thank my 6th grade adviser for picking me and inadvertently opening my eyes to the inequalities in our society at such a young age. this is how the opinion page became my favorite section of newspapers. i can't remember now if i ever won any contest. i like writing but i'm not really sure if i'm any good. i just know that if it weren't for this eye-opening experience, i probably would have had a different high school and college life. 

i rarely ever write at length about my political leanings. maybe when vouching for people in college elections, but never with a novel of a facebook post for politics, in general. let me ramble. 2016 has been particularly relentless for all of us. duterte won the elections with his change is coming narrative (so did trump in the states). and for a while there, we all thought we have an alternative leadership: one who is more grounded in the experience of his kababayans and would be more pro-people than the elitistas we so shame. 

forget that during his campaign, he couldn't elaborate his plans on how he will run our country or that he was going around saying he'll honor marcos with a burial at the libingan ng mga bayani or that he constantly objectified women and basically endorsed rape culture or that he thinks the biggest problem of this country is drugs! no, we can forget all of that. just look at his first one hundred days where the bad overshadow the good: that this country is not safe for those who do not have connections of any kind to any government official or police or soldier. This is a time when anyone can be accused of being a druggie just because an "informant" said so. And if you aren't lucky, you'll end up dead in the hands of those who should have been protecting you. we take curfews seriously now.

this is a time when the supreme court ruled that marcos can be buried in the libingan ng mga bayani. this is a time when the dictator, who pillaged and sold the soul of this country to line his and his children's pockets, was actually buried behind the public's back. a time when the triumphant smile on imee marcos' face was, no, IS a bitch slap to all those who suffered during her father's martial law and haven't received any form of apology or reparation. a time when malacanan can be dishonest in handling such a painful affair for its people. this is a time when our president, our commander-in-chief, is the one personally revising the history of this country all because of one family.

welcome to the tail end of 2016 when the misogyny is still alive and kicking: coming from the mouths of both men and women. This is 2016: when women are still being told to wear decent clothing as opposed to men being told to keep their dicks to themselves: the hubadera in me will not take this sitting down. i should be able to wear what i want, whenever i want.  when women are now being bullied virtually for the way they dress and for being sexualized in the way they scream invective after invective against the rapist of this country. women should never be held accountable for the actions and thoughts of men. when a senator of this country can be humiliated by old men on national television because of who she fucked and who she may have loved in her past. when the vice president of this country can be on a stage, in front of a huge audience, and have our so beloved president remark on how distracting her legs are. no woman is safe.

no one is safe.

what a time to be alive. what a time to own our principles and walk out on the streets. we are the last shred of hope for this country. nobody should take this sitting down.

By @PaoloStroodles