Remembering the "Green Revolution"

Behind-- the gigantic poster of the former First Lady's Green Revolution program



The regime desperately tried to convince the world that Filipinos were experiencing positive change. I remember catchy mottos, all emphasizing "change." But our youthful skepticism often resulted in humorous reinterpretations. One example was Imelda's "Metro Manila - City of Man," which, after a bad monsoon that flooded the streets, became "Metro Manila - City of Manholes" in our eyes.
My experience mirrored this disconnect. My brother, attending public elementary school, came home one day enthusiastically brandishing vegetable seeds, declaring, "We have to plant vegetables!" He transformed our backyard into a radish patch, the only successful crop. Tragically, our dog destroyed the beautiful cabbages before we could harvest them. After a radish dinner, the digestive consequences filled the air, leading to my own gas pains and a desperate need for relief. My brother, disillusioned, even suggested switching the program to poultry so we could have birthday fried chicken instead of this "bombardment" of vegetables.
The "green revolution" felt more like a red alert, with the constant presence of police patrol cars flashing their red lights. They conducted raids ("ronda" and "sona") in their vehicles ("sakbayan"). One afternoon, they detained teenagers with long hair, prompting someone to yell, "Here comes the PC, arresting long hair!" Weeks later, the PC returned to find many kids sporting bald heads and wielding sticks, imitating Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" or mimicking David Carradine's Kung Fu by beating banana trees in their yards.
Where was the green? It wasn't the green of Federico Garcia Lorca's poetry or the green of fresh lettuce. It was a time of greyness, a period of obscurity that eluded youthful understanding, a color that somehow remained forever out of reach.



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