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Tabi Tabi, Apo In our history, this phrase takes on a different weight, for the name “Apo” recalls not only the mystical ones but also the man who cast a nation in shadow, silence, and fear. September 23, 1972. A day like no other. No voices from the radios. No newspapers waiting outside the door. The silence from the usual breaking news on the television ended at 7:15 pm, when a man with a glowing blue wrinkly face appeared on the television. It was the president. His voice was steady. There was no sign of culpability for what he had placed the country in. Beyond that glass screen where he spoke of order, discipline, and of saving the Republic, the country held its breath, sensing the danger in his every word. Apo ended that television air with a promise: “...to almost all of you whose primary concern is merely to be left alone to pursue your lawful activities, this is the guarantee of the freedom that you seek.” A promise that never quite came true. After the screens went dark, boots thundered against the pavement. Curfews turned the once busy streets into ghostly corridors. It became the territory of the military. A base where countrymen are shot dead. Curtains of every household were closed shut. Whispers of warnings to not speak were masked in every corner. Elsewhere, for the least fortunate whose names were scribbled in the list of enemies, doors were kicked open, and the radiance of the morning star would never grace their eyes again. If only the countrymen could utter the words: “Tabi tabi, Apo” to erase both the fear for their lives and the power of the dictator. It could’ve been the escape that they needed. Yet no escape was given, for the dictator stood as a false god who denied deliverance. In the present, that same face cannot be seen again, for he is long gone. But his soul is reflected by another. Someone with not the same face, not the same body, but the same hunger for rule that is etched within both their souls. This invocation is a plea for those who share the same hunger in their souls一for them to step aside. A reminder to remain watchful since though we have deposed Apo from his power, his shadow lingers, carried forward in the figure of his blood一in the little Macoy that is now in power.