Of Mali, Erap, and Paul McCartney

Lately, there is something in the news that caught my attention and reminded me of what Albert Einstein once said:  there are two things that are infinite---the universe and human stupidity.

 

It is something quite unsettling, if not, behaviorally demented.  It is about the response of the City of Manila regarding the move to transfer its lone and sickly elephant Mali to a sanctuary in Thailand.

 

The newly elected mayor of Manila, Joseph “Erap” Estrada is rejecting the petition of celebrities like Paul McCartney because for him the move to transfer Mali imposes a humiliation for the country that cannot take care of one animal. 

 

I would like to ask the good mayor about humiliation and patriotism.  What is humiliating about putting an end to the neglect of Mali?  How does it assault one’s sense of love of country when all you do is show a concern for the physical as well as psychological well being of Mali? Besides Mali does not care about your version of humiliation or patriotism.  Mali is old, injured, and neglected.  The best thing you can do is to help her relocate to a sanctuary where she will be taken cared of.   

 

Sill, the lack of good sense seems unstoppable.  And now I hear talks of bringing two more elephants from Sri Lanka and turning Manila Zoo into a world-class facility.  Rather than dealing with this issue with a sense of urgency, why come up with a new proposal?

 

I am stupefied!  I don’t know what the mayor is talking about.  And it doesn’t make sense to me for now to talk about this plan when you have right in front of you an ill and suffering old elephant needing a sanctuary to spend the rest of her days. 

 

I am amazed by the mayor’s proposal.  The problem is, if ever the world class Manila Zoo is built, if at all, even roughly sketched, most probably, Mali shall have been expired.  Right? 

 

Now I am curious.  Perhaps for some it is better to dilly-dally because if Mali dies in Manila Zoo, the issue shall have become moot and academic once and for all.

 

I hope not.

And talking about humiliation and patriotism, here’s my take.  If the good mayor is really sincere in his feeling of humiliation and sense of patriotism, I suggest to him and other like-minded politicians an advocacy that they can truly talk about humiliation or even guilt---the failure to provide employment and the sending of our people to other countries as OFWs to find their own “sanctuaries,” so to speak.

 

How about that Mayor Erap?

 

Okay lang ba sa ‘yo to encourage our people to leave the country but not for Mali?

 

Why do we behave this way?  Why the double standard?  Where does this cognitive dissonance come from?

 

First, I think it comes from Mayor “Erap” Estrada’s preoccupation with reactive politics.  Just like many other politicians who rely on their political “street smarts,” he would rather respond in a knee-jerk than in a deep and reflective fashion.  And I guess for that, I don’t have much hope.  I don’t expect him to be more proactive and sensitive on issues related to the cruel treatment of animals.

 

Second, politicians like Mayor “Erap” Estrada display a sense of naïveté in the ethical treatment of animals while simultaneously perpetuating a claim of patriotic bravado because they are so conditioned to think that an elephant like Mali is first and foremost in the zoo for our consumption and not because of some idealized political construction of care and patriotism?

 

After all, who is Mali?  What is an elephant in overall scheme of things?  Why not just coop this animal up in a zoo?  After all, it is not just an elephant but also a commodity for our entertainment? 

 

This is more lamentable for me because it shows the tendency of politicians to pander with the vulgar and mundane side of politics rather than its ethical and reflective side.  I would even dare say that politics and ethics are regarded in the Philippines as two separate entities.
 

Are they?

 

I guess, what I am saying is that I am open to the possibility that there is some good sense left from our politicians that I can appeal to.  I would like to believe that I can still ask Mayor “Erap” Estrada to support the move and help facilitate the transfer of Mali to spend the remainder of her days in a Thai sanctuary, without delay.  I am even willing to settle for Vice-President Binay doing another “papogi point”---the clemency-like appeal to Erap to spare Mali from more neglect or sudden death.

 

I am that desperate.