Jonas Erik L.

Ebora

DM 224
Anti-Government Era

History gave us accounts of ups and downs, rises and falls of events. The Spanish
crusades arrived on our lands. They were thrown away early Filipino tribes. Later on, they have
succeeded conquering our land which lasted for more than three centuries. They were thrown
through the Mock Battle in Manila in the Spanish-American War. Japanese troops then entered
our land during the Second World War which led to the nightmare of Death March wherein both
Americans and Filipinos were involved. Until then, we were finally recognized as independent
on the 4th of July 1946 by the Americans, another event to let us stand.
History, indeed, is our book of accounts where we can find how the rise and fall of events
developed us. The recent events also showed us how this rise and fall contributed in what we are
today. The best example of which are the People Power. These events showed us how the fall of
one gave rise to another. Also, these events showed us how the government was contradicted by
the same people it governs.
According to Evan Berman, in his Journal Article, Dealing with Cynical Citizen1, there
are three conditions why the citizens question their relationship with the government: (1) citizens
believe that local government is using its power against them or otherwise not helping them; (2)
citizens do not feel part of local government, or they feel misunderstood or ignored, and (3)
citizens find local government services and policies to be ineffective.
First, citizens have the mentality that since the government has power over us, it uses
against us. We have seen in the history that this was materialized. During the Marcos regime,
Martial Law, one of the powers of government then, was imposed. The citizens have reacted in a
way that government controls them or goes against them. This triggered the citizens to act
against it by the massive People Power.
Second, on the part of the citizens, there is a feeling of disconnection with the
government. This feeling of disconnection results to apparent apathy which reflects lack of
knowledge about what is happening in the government. The citizens always wanted to be
connected to what the government is doing. Many groups pushes for the passage of FOI
(Freedom of Information) because this is the best way they see to stay connected with the
government.
Third, citizens were mostly fed up by inefficiency and ineffectiveness of what the
government is doing. Without putting any blame, media has mostly fed us up with these things.
We admit that media is so powerful to convince us in such a way that we react in what we just
saw, heard or read.
Anti-Government Era is not a one stop era. It happens to us in different forms. It may
happen through another people power, coup d etat, rebellion, terrorism and that sort of thing.
The blame would not be on the part of the government or citizens alone. The tension between the
two is brought about by lack of cooperation, understanding and trust for each other. Unless we
have these, the tension between the two will continue to evolve and will go against each other.
1

Berman, E. M. (1997). Dealing with Cynical Citizens. Public Administration Review, 57(2). Retrieved from
http://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-19282120/dealing-with-cynical-citizens