I am reposting this excerpt from this blog post from Viewer Discretion with regard to the recent political music video advertisement of presidential aspirant Noynoy Aquino.

If there is anything stark about how election campaigns are shaping up, it is that there is a general agreement that the current Arroyo administration is so horrible, so corrupt, and indeed so dark (ang “paligid ay madilim”) that there is an urgent need for a way out. But decades of personality politics and the class-biased nature of our democracy and elections have and will still practically forbid the possibility of having any presidentiables from the middle/working class by mere virtue of the huge costs of an election campaign. The song “Hindi Ka Nag-Iisa” reflects this hopelessness””and more strikingly, the passivity of the bourgeoisie (“ang Pilipinas ay naghihintay, kami ay susunod”).

Of course, to deflect focus on this passivity, the song uses images of activism and rallies (“magkapit-bisig tayo”), which is strange because these are the very techniques that many petty/bourgeoisie deem “outdated” and “ineffective.” Apparently, the image of a mass demonstration (most notably used in Boni Ilagan’s historical documentary “Sa Liyab ng Libong Sulo,” definitely a more progressive and highly contextualized use of the sulo imagery, which you can watch online in six parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6) remains acknowledged as the most powerful tool in the collective struggle for social change””and while those in a comfortable social position are wont to avoid it like the plague, they are also quick to use it in pursuit of their own interests.