(Ret.) Brigadier General Danilo Lim on the Ronald Llamas-DVD Issue
I RENDER my opinion on the ongoing issue involving Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas over his alleged procurement of a couple of bootlegged DVDS. It is unfortunate that Ronald Llamas is being reduced to a government official caught “breaking the rules.” Truth is, he was caught in a candid moment doing what many of us do— finding joy in cheap bargains amid our meager salaries and unmitigated poverty. This is the same thing many of our people do as they rummage through piles of ukay- ukay clothes or brave the congested and muddy streets of Divisoria to bargain for a good deal. That is life to many of us. Amid the daily adversity we are subjected to, we find joy and happiness in simple things, we bargain for a good deal, even for a better life.
Ronald’s detractors call the trivial DVD issue unacceptable; I call it a reaffirmation of Ronald’s unbroken association with the masses. It is a confirmation that Ronald, a renowned progressive leader of the mass movement catapulted to the highest echelons of the government remains an ordinary person with the wisdom, culture and instinct of the ordinary people.
Thus, apart from the isolated Arroyo camp, it is not surprising that those who noisily call for his resignation are from the upper strata of society, a social group that includes in its roster of membership no less than the impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona who described the masses of the Edsa 3 revolt as “walang mga ngipin”— “walang salawal” and “mababaho.” While to some degree the incident can be viewed as an issue of impropriety, it is also by a large extent a class issue. This is the first time that a man of humble working class origins has the ears of the President. This is also the first time that an avowed and unrepentant activist is the political adviser of the highest leader of the land. That in itself is what the elite find unacceptable and inappropriate, that is what they are fervently opposed to not the petty issue of buying bootlegged DVDS.
Some pundits claim he is no longer an ordinary man the minute he accepted the post as presidential adviser. I agree. But to a certain point. If no longer being an ordinary man means betraying his class by forgetting his past and roots from the masses, if no longer being an ordinary man means he should