THE AGE OF RAGE AND ANGER IS UPON US, AND IT IS NOT COLORED YELLOW

WE are a people whose social media universe is now consumed by anger to a point that even what could positively distinguish us, our enormous sense of resilience, appears to be on the target range of rage.

Before this, we had been described as a people capable of withstanding the worst of storms, be it natural or political, and still able to wear a ready smile. We have survived the dictatorship of Marcos and the weaknesses of the Aquinos. We have survived political turmoil, from the ouster of Marcos to the ouster of Erap. We endured and exceeded the lazy presidency of Noynoy Aquino. And we took hits from Ondoy, Yolanda and the seasonal

that wrought havoc on our lives. Yet, we were able to cling to our sense of community, what I once referred to as our silent monarchy, to pick up the pieces, recover our bearings, and celebrate life in the midst of death and destruction.

But years of being taken for a ride, of being misled, and of decades of corrupt and exclusionary leadership led to pent- up emotions that could not just be bottled up forever. The promise of Edsa was hijacked by the exclusionary and elitist politics which Cory Aquino enabled and reestablished. What made the anger more explosive was the hypocrisy which the post- Edsa political elites harbored as they rode on the mirage of a democracy, which for all intents and purposes was just a political deodorant to hide the stench of a resurrected preMartial Law system of exclusions and inequalities.

was with Erap Estrada. His ouster, however, became another episode which drove the silent rage that was now piling up in the consciousness