A fable for our times

By

DISCLAIMER. Bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan huwag magagalit!. The characters and events in the following account are fictitious. Any apparent resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is not intended and is either a coincidence, or the product of your own troubled imagination, or should be plainly apparent to the characters described and those who know them, especially if the author has leaked their real names or idemsonance. All events described here do actually happen in our villages (although the author has taken liberty with names and chronology because that is his right as a resident who does not want to be stoned by neighbors).

* * * This is a fairy tale happening in a far-away land.

The village Tarry Awhile elects prominent men and women to serve without compensation as village aldermen (and alderwomen). Those elected serve their terms in the village council, and they would choose from among themselves the Village Chief and other Officials with specific responsibilities. It is so written in the village by-laws since time in memorial; (A recent amendment states that those elected would serve for a period of two years.)

The villagers voted for 11 aldermen and alderwomen of provenance on whom everyone reposed great confidence to continue the happy story of Tarry Awhile – principally ensuring the uninterrupted flow of water, the safety of the village, and the other amenities enjoyed by the residents.

The elected aldermen (and the alderwomen) proceeded to elect unanimously Julius Caesar as the primus-inter-pares Village Chief and the other Officers were given specific turfs (for Waterworks, Construction, Environment, Finance, Legal, Sports, Security and Social).

Hail Caesar! The new Village Chief exhibited great enthusiasm and energy and even reserved one day of the week to focus on oversight of the office and attending to minutiae of the village. He husbanded the pennies and was prominently visible in the engaging the staff and showed interest in village affairs, reassuring all and sundry that Tarry Awhile is up and humming.

But nobody’s perfect. Some among the aldermen would express concern that while Village Chief Caesar took care of the pennies, he was not always judicious with the pounds, that some of the checks and balances were not always judiciously observed, and that some decisions were made over the heads of committees.

Several regularly scheduled meetings were postponed if the Village Chief was not available. Was the Village Chief Caesar making too much a career out of the vocation? But because of the national habit of delicadeza, no one wanted to confront Village Chief Caesar directly or to create offense because of a misspoken word on petty or large matters.

This continuing situation gave Brutus, one of the aldermen, the brutish idea for a reorganization of the village council, even if it meant replacing Caesar as Village Chief. A village council meeting was called at its ordained first week of the month. The first item on the agenda called for reorganization.

This item was challenged by Village Chief Caesar; to no avail.

So it came to pass that the Village Chief Caesar was out-foxed by Brutus.

Before the vote could be taken, the piqued Julius Caesar resigned his office as Village Chief and as alderman. Following this motion, Tarry Awhile proceeded to elect Todos los Santos as the new Village Chief. When the Vice Village Chief also resigned, he was replaced by Brutus.

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Feeling that he was wronged by this usurpation of authority, Julius Caesar called a town hall meeting to take his case to the populace. The Village Council decided against participating and in their absence, Julius Caesar was able to crowd source a number in the Town Hall meeting and to bend their ear about what he said was injustice done to him.

The Town Hall meeting ended with a crescendo supporting the Caesar who must have replayed as the object of assassination by (Senators?) of the Village Council. An open letter from an NGO for ”Transparency and Modernization” called on the present village council (which the NGO declares as “pretenders”) to reply within seven days from receipt of notice to seven-point questions.

The village council says it will keep its powder dry and will reply to the issues raised. One alderman expressed surprise that there was a videotape of the Village Council, which stirred the rancor of the Town meeting. He said that an official voice recording of the proceedings can confirm the complete proceedings. A lawyer opined that the subrosa video taping of the village council meeting and showing of a excerpted portion is illegal, with the person(s) responsible liable to six months or six years in penitentiary.

There hangs the tale. Who erred? The village council in reorganizing or in performing an illegal coup d’detat? Or the out-foxed Village Chief for subrosa videotaping and the showing excerpted portion?.

Meanwhile Tarry Awhile children will be swarming all over the village for

Halloween trick or treat this weekend. But the village will wake up next week to settle the ghoulish quarrel of residents. We wait with bated breath how this morality play will resolve, hopefully remembering that while all politics is rabid, (and the most rabid is local politics), all villagers must remember to be neighbors to each other.

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