BAGUIO CITY – Many in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) possess this gaiety that when talk turns to politics, they don’t get dead serious diving into the topic and resort to laughter as being the best medicine to a political argument regarding candidates.
During the last election, political jokes became the distinctive genre, products of imagination, typically short stories and imaginative constructs their essence of which are sudden jolts of twists that deflates or inflates expectations.
Sometimes, political jokes bring together apparently incompatible perspectives. But that is the realm of politics.
As Daily Laborer found out, political jokes in Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) arise from ambiguity and uncertainty, fear and hope, frustration of expectation and the expectation of frustration. In short, CAR people reflect politics through jokes as a collective anxiety or coping about public matters.
Even when the situation is bad, CAR people still represent a collective intimacy, a sign that people belong, that they care and consequently that they entertain hope and can cope.
Humor provides a salve in times of political wrangling, a balm in challenging times and can highlight a politicians’ authenticity and shape the public view of them.
Many of Daly Laborer’s friends, particularly lawyers who tested the waters of politics – and won or lost – say with laughter that in CAR society where political joking is usually high, it may be that the time to worry is when the joking stops.
Could it also be that political joking is one among the many reason why politics has never been violent in Baguio City? Your guess is as good as the guess of another voter. For even the existence of political “black” humor signals a method of coping.
The events that you will be reading have been stored by Daily Laborer following numerous insider meetings he had attended over the years with politicians and the humor that went with the meetings. It is only now that that these jokes will be published.
Take the case of an old man in gray T-shirt who sat on a bench at Malcolm Square during the last election season. Another old man arrived and sat down next to him. Apparently, they knew each other. They viewed each other cautiously and the man in gray shirt stood up and said, “Saan mo manen rugiyan ag-istorya politiko nu saan mu kayat nga talawan ka.”
How do you define politics? An inherently political question. It has been joked about in CAR that many politicians approach a problem with an open mouth. Take for example the following case:
Long time ago, after hurling wounding words at each other, two CAR politicians reconciled at the behest of their followers. They shook hands in front of their followers and media.
“I wish you,” said the first, “exactly what you wished me!”
“You see, “the other politician protested, “he’s beginning again!”
Or, read this one. After a long meeting between two CAR politicians, Daily Laborer asked one of them if the meeting was a success. The politician replied by saying, “Wen, Bony, success. He came in with his views and came out with mine.”
CAR politicians who can take a joke – and dish one know the value and power of jokes only too well. Many intelligent CAR politicians realize that jokes are also safety valves.
For example, a CAR politician once said “Beloved voters, we must restore the status quo!”
One voter asked: “What does status quo mean?”
Politician answered, saying, “It’s Latin for the mess we are in.”
Here is another one for safety valves. A Benguet politician came home one day, greeted his wife, lifted her and carried her around their home.
His wife was surprised and asked: “Did our priest preach about being romantic?”
The Benguet politician-husband replied,” Yes, he said we must carry our burdens and sorrows with a smile.”
Unmasking and debunking are the two most piously observed commandments in political joking as the joke hereunder of CAR people tend to show. For example, what is power? How should it be defined? How is it to be identified? What does it look like? Many CAR residents have addressed this question with the following joke.
Lately, a CAR resident (Name withheld) asked an American tourist: “What do you do with thieves in your country?
American tourist: “We treat them humanely, give them good food, warm clothes and assure them of jury trials.”
CAR Resident: Shrugs his shoulders and says, “That is nothing. Here in our country, we give the Presidency to a person who indiscriminately kill people behind the cloak of drug war and curses the International Criminal Court (ICC), at will.
Here in the Cordillera highlands, a good joke is a tonic for appetites jaded by an unending and unsavory diet of politics, corruption, religious and social problems. CAR people have the capacity to laugh at themselves and cultivate genuine sense of humor.
Long ago, when the “wang-wang” of the police cruisers and motorcycles were used to escort politicians, an American delegation was being shown around Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines. After 5 0’clock P.M., hundreds of working people poured out from their offices heading for home.
“Who are those people?” asked the head of the American delegation.
The politician tasked to accompany the delegation proudly said: “They are the common people of Baguio, rulers of this highland city.”
A few minutes later, came a group of cars rounded the bend, escorted by the police on motorcycles. “And who are these?” asked the Americans.
“These are,” replied the politician with the same pride, “the servants of the people.”
After the recent elections, a group of persons in Benguet filed for disqualification of congressman-elect Eric Yap. But in the petitions, it was discovered that persons who were dead long time ago have their names in the petitions – even their signatures.
Such a mystery became a butt of the joke when one day, a woman was seen crying on the veranda of her house. A neighbor stopped to console her.
“What is the matter?” the neighbor asked.
Between sobs, the woman replied: “Ni lakay ko, saan na ay-ayaten siak.”
The neighbor retorted,” Of course, he does. What makes you say such a thing?”
The woman replied,” Ngamin, namin addo nga nagpirma isuna idiay petition kontra ken Yap nanipod idi natay ngem saan pulos nga inmay nga nang kita kenyak.”
(Note: As of this writing, three petitions against Congressman Yap filed before the COMELEC were dismissed.)
Studies conducted by many Filipino researchers suggest political jokes are considered to be a folk and popular genre common in many cultures in the country. These are easy to understand for people who belong to the respective sociocultural community.
Read this joke. It happened in CAR, many years ago, only Daily Laborer’s just can’t remember the exact year.
A politician, also a lawyer, was cross-examining a sex worker during a court trial. Cross-examining her, he asked, “How is it that you were not at your place of business that night?”
“I practice my profession during the daytime,” the sex worker replied tartly.
“How can that be? Don’t your patrons seek you at hours’ usual in the profession?” the lawyer and politician pressed the defendant.
“Oh, no, Sir,” she replied coquettishly. “Only drunks, jerks, wackos, indolent and other lowly types visit brothels at night. Respectable gentlemen like yourself come in the daytime.”
Other political observers in CAR also hold the view that humor’s main function, when it comes to politics, is to render truth, or to shed light on something uncomfortable or challenging by wrapping in laughter to make its consumption easier.
As, in this joke presented: One time, according to CAR jokesters, a CAR politician had the misfortune of locking himself out of his vehicle, his keys inside the vehicle. After trying other ways to get inside to no avail, he decided to employ the crook’s way of inserting a wire into the key hole.
This politician said to himself, “If car thieves can open them that way, why not he?”
Unfortunately, a roving barangay tanod came up, saw him and accosted him. “Whose car are you trying to steal, eh?” one of the police officers asked?
“It’s my car,” the politician answered, taken aback. The barangay tanod ordered the politician to come with him to their barangay office. Enraged, the politician showed to the tanod the label on the windscreen which proclaimed his name and his I.D. which showed his imminence in public life.
It was the turn of the tanod to apologize and make amends, saying, “Sorry, apo, please forgive me. You must be the only politician who does not know how to break open a lock.”
CAR political observers also happily note that politics can transcend political boundaries as well as a means to nurture friendship among politicians.
Just like in this humor shared by the CAR political observers. One day, a CAR politician happened to be travelling with two politicians from the USA and India on an international flight. The USA politician and the politician from India exchanged notes on the efficiency of their local police forces.
The USA politician claimed that that their police submit a report on crime within the day. The politician from India went a step ahead and boasted their police submit a report on crime within half a day.
The Filipino politician listened to the claims of the politicians from the US and India with rapt attention and gave a mysterious smile. When asked about the efficiency of police work in the Philippines, he said, “Our police, in fact, know when a crime will be committed within a day and can arrest the perpetrators within half of the day.”
Political observers, with tongue-in-cheek, say that political jokes are king of minor arts (folksongs, cartoons, comics, music, etc.). Minor, no doubt, they are, but equally indubitably, they are art.
If at all, political observers say that political humor seems to be an inherent part of the human condition that persists throughout Philippine politics, from the national down to local levels.
