Pera-pera

After the so-called Genuine Opposition senatorial team won over the so-called Team Unity in the 2007 elections, the Senate would have been composed of ten members aligned with the administration, namely, Senators Angara, Arroyo, Pia Cayetano, Defensor, Enrile, Gordon, Honasan, Lapid, Revilla and Zubiri. The so-called opposition counted 12, namely, Aquino, Biazon, Alan Cayetano, Escudero, Estrada, Lacson, Legarda, Madrigal, Pimentel, Roxas, Trillanes, and Villar. Pangilinan ran as an independent and won, but he was aligned with Manny Villar, and was a member of the Liberal Party likewise, so that with him, the opposition counted on 13 members. That magic number was enough to clinch the leadership of the chamber. But since Trillanes was (and still is), in prison, getting Pia Cayetano who ran as Lakas to switch sides would clinch it.

In terms of seniority as oppositionist, and to “level the playing field” in the words of Mar Roxas, the first caucus proposed to support Nene Pimentel for the presidency of the Senate. But early on, it was clear that Nene was not too keen on the post, and that Alan, Kiko and Chiz were for Manny Villar. But without a by-your leave from his oppositionist colleagues, Villar had quietly sewn up the support of the other side. He dealt with the administration’s ten, and with himself, Alan, Chiz and Kiko, he had the magic number – 14. Realizing that electing Pimentel was a losing proposition, and even if they were resentful of Villar’s quick transaction with the other side, Lacson, Legarda, Madrigal and Roxas protested, and asked former President Estrada to mediate, so as to preserve so-called “opposition” unity. They asked him to prevail on Villar to consolidate the opposition with him as Senate President, and leave the administration bloc where they ought to be, in the minority, minus Pia who is Alan’s elder sister.

But Estrada could not get Villar to reconsider his earlier-closed deals. Instead, he proposed to have Jinggoy, Erap’s son, as his pro-tempore, upping his numbers to 15, and leaving Pimentel, Lacson, Legarda, Madrigal, Roxas, Biazon, Aquino and Trillanes in the cold. By getting the younger Estrada, he got the father’s blessing. Villar’s skin-shedding from administration Lakas to administration Lammp, to administration Nacionalista allied with GMA, and then as part of the “opposition” was now completed --- certified by Erap, mismo. When would he next shed skin?

Lacson, together with this writer and another, journeyed in the middle of one summer night to Erap’s sprawling villa in Tanay, and over dinner, the atypical Lacson, who naively thought there ought to be some honour among politicians, told the elder Estrada that the public, and media would not look kindly at how Villar transacted with the other side. Estrada’s reply flustered Lacson. “Sabi ni Manny, media play lang ‘yan”.

And Villar was politically right. His “media play” succeeded in short shrift to picture the other “presidential moist-eyed” --- Roxas, Lacson, Legarda, the “villains”. And his sleeping with the enemy was deemed acceptable. When after C-5 and double insertion discoveries, Villar lost the Senate presidency last November, losing the same administration allies he earlier transacted with, the same guys who judged it perfectly okay for Villar to bed with the administration senators, now protested the “break-up” and the “marginalization” of the opposition. “Media play lang ‘yan” --- that famous Erap quote of Villar, rankled in my mind.

You hardly see Villar in the Senate session hall these days. He is busy moving around, doing his pre-campaign, something his handlers chorused as the “liberating” effect of his losing the Senate presidency. He forgets he is senator yet. He already feels like “president”. Meanwhile, he has spent a sizeable fortune on advertising in tri-media, particularly television. Very obviously, he has so much money. Let’s discuss the provenance some other time. Fact is, for all to see, he has so very, very much money.

In a Reuters interview that broke into print last week, he was quoted as saying that “there is one golden rule --- he who has the gold rules”. He would parlay his “entrepreneurial acumen and experience as a politician…as vital assets in leading the nation”, the report stated. The same report puts his family’s assets at a billion dollars.

“The next president of this country…should on day one know how to manage this country --- day one”, harrumphed Villar according to Reuters. But of course, 7107 islands is one huge chunk of real estate put together.

And the real estate magnate indeed had multiplied his wealth several times over at about the same time he was a congressman for nine years (two and a half of which as Speaker of the House), thence passed on to his better half of the dynasty, now completing another round of nine years. He has also been senator for eight years, on four or so of which he was the Senate President and four as powerful Chair of the Finance Committee, during which the money kept multiplying. Maybe it is entrepreneurial acumen.

“I believe that while a lot of us will be announcing our candidacies, in the end there will be just a few who will remain”, Villar told Reuters. Why so?

“If you can’t even raise one billion pesos, why even run?”, Villar declared.. And the right honourable Manuel Villar has billions. Oh yes.

The Reuters story said that Villar “wants to use lessons gained while running his business and reviving it from near total failure during the (1997) Asian crisis to boost the local economy and uplift the poor”.

It may be sheer coincidence that reviving his fortunes, and more, in the aftermath of the Asian crisis, came handily after he got Erap to crown him Speaker of the House in 1998, and thence, as senator from 2001 with GMA’s benediction, immediately becoming the chair of the committee that has power over the nation’s budget.

He consolidated those assets in a conglomerate called Vista Land, and sold shares in the stock market, the initial public offering of which, his acolyte Alan Cayetano boasted on the floor of the Senate, raised him billions upon billions. With the new crisis upon us, this time American-made, I wonder how much those who bought such shares have lost. I no longer watch the stock market.

But, undoubtedly he has billions, not just a billion. And he thinks anyone who does not have as much need not run, need not even dream of serving the Filipino people as their president.

Pera-pera lang ‘yan.

Like advertising all over, pera-pera lang ‘yan. Like buying the loyalties of local candidates all over, pera-pera lang ‘yan. Just like media play lang ‘yan. Pera-pera din ba?

“How sad”, rival Loren Legarda observed.

“Ibig ba n’yang sabihin, kung wala kang pera ay huwag ka ng mangarap na makapaglingkod bilang pangulo ng ating bansa? Nakalulungkot pong isipin na paliliitin natin ang usapin ng paglilingkod sa bayan sa isyu ng pera. Pera-pera na lang ba ang eleksyon? Talaga bang ang tingin nya sa taong bayan ay mukhang pera? Pwera na ba ang pagmamahal sa bayan? Pwera na ba yung uri ng leadership na ibibigay mo? Pwera na ba yung vision para sa kinabukasan ng ating bansa? Basta may pera, pwera na ba ang lahat?”, the lady senator asks.

Well, dear Loren, and you too, Ping, Mar or whoever; never mind Chiz who probably has the San Miguel billions and the port monopoly billions, and whoever else’s behind him --- that’s exactly how Manny Villar defines the politics of this nation.

A friend of mine, who will perhaps run for senator, or congressman, or whatever else under Villar’s banner recently boasted --- “yung iba naghahanap pa ng pera, pero kami sa Nacionalista, sobra-sobra, andyan na”.

Pera-pera lang ‘yan. That is the politics of Manny Villar, declared with pride and absolute candor.

And we dare dream of change after the 2010 elections?

The upright ensign

Marlowe Camello, who resides in the US, sent me this very poignant prayer from Fr. James Reuter, S.J. It is both prayer and story, about a young naval ensign who mysteriously died on board a Navy ship in 1995. Today I yield my space to Fr. Reuter:

“Phillip Andrew A. Pestaño graduated from the Ateneo de Manila High School in 1989, entered the Philippine Military Academy, and became an Ensign in the Philippine Navy in 1993. He was assigned as cargo master, on a Navy ship.

“He discovered that the cargo being loaded onto his vessel included logs that were cut down illegally, were carried to the ship illegally, and were destined to be sold, illegally. Then there were 50 sacks of flour, which were not flour, but shabu - worth billions. Literally, billions. And there were military weapons which were destined for sale to the Abu Sayyaf.

“He felt that he could not approve this cargo. Superior officers came to him and said: "Please! Be reasonable! This is big business. It involves many important people. Approve this cargo." But Phillip could not, in conscience, sign approval.

“Then his parents received two phone calls, saying: "Get your son off that ship! He is going to be killed!" When Phillip was given leave at home, his family begged him not to go back. Their efforts at persuasion continued until his last night at home, when Phillip was already in bed.

“His father came to him and said: "Please, son, resign your commission. Give up your military career. Don't go back. We want you alive.. If you go back to that ship, it will be the end of you!" But Phillip said to his father: "Kawawa ang bayan!" And he went back to the ship.

“The scheduled trip was very brief - from Cavite to Roxas Boulevard - it usually took only 45 minutes. But on September 27, 1995 , it took one hour and a half. When the ship arrived at Roxas Boulevard , Ensign Pestaño was dead.

“The body was in his stateroom, with a pistol, and a letter saying that he was committing suicide. The family realized at once that the letter was forged. They tried desperately for justice, carrying the case right up to the Senate.

“The Senatorial Investigation Committee examined all the evidence, carefully. Then they issued an official statement, saying among other things: Ensign Phillip Pestaño did not commit suicide. He was murdered. He was shot through the head, somewhere outside of his stateroom, and the body was carried to his room and placed in the bed.

“The crime was committed by more than one person. In spite of these findings by the Senate (that investigation was led by Senator Marcelo B. Fernan, former Chief Justice of the Philippines, later elected Senate President until his death in 1999), the family could not get justice. The case is still recorded, by the Navy, as suicide. For 12 years they have been knocking at the doors of those in power, to no avail. Now they realize that they should knock on the door of HIM who said: "Knock, and it shall be opened to you. Ask and you shall receive. Seek, and you shall find."

“So they are asking all of the friends of Phillip from the Ateneo, from the PMA, friends of the family - including the girl he was engaged to marry - to say this prayer:

"LORD, we know that Phillip is safe with YOU, and will be safe forever, because he gave up his life, as YOU gave up YOUR life - for justice. If it is YOUR will, please let the truth be known of his heroic courage and strength and love of country. Let justice be rendered here on earth. But if it is not YOUR will that justice be rendered here, give each of us the grace to live and die as he did - following in YOUR footsteps. And at the last judgment, LORD, when all that is hidden will be known, let Phillip be seen as he really is - a brave young man who gave his life for honesty, truth, and justice."

“Phillip Pestaño died at the age of 24. He was scheduled to be married in January of 1996, four months after he was murdered.

“He was a martyr. A martyr is one who dies for the faith or for a Christian virtue. Phillip died for a Christian virtue - justice. It is not likely that he will ever be canonized, but he takes his place among the Unknown Saints.

“Some military men are killed in battle. They are given a hero's burial. But Phillip died for a much deeper cause - he was trying to preserve the integrity of our Armed Forces. He died out of loyalty to the Philippines , in an effort to keep the oath that he made when he graduated from the Military Academy .

“Graft and corruption are the curse of this nation. But when they take root in the heart of our Armed Forces, they threaten our existence as an independent, democratic country.

“The family of Phillip Pestaño is doing the right thing. They are turning to GOD. They are praying that justice will be administered here, in our country, in our day. But if this is not GOD's will, then let us at least try to preserve the ideal of integrity in every mind and heart and soul.”

* * *

An Unhappy Postscript: The officers implicated in the nefarious act of using vessels of the Philippine Navy in smuggling contraband of all sorts live on. They are embedded in the Armed Forces of the Philippines, charged by the Constitution with solemn duty as “protector of the people and the State”. (Sec.3, Article II, Declaration of Principles and State Policies)
Some of them have retired, with stars upon their shoulders, supposedly honourable men given accolades most undeserved. Some of them are alleged to have been used in 2004, where the military establishment was conscripted into the enterprise of cheating that has made a mockery of democracy.

It is unconscionable that Ensign Philip Pestano’s killing still cries to the highest heavens for God’s ultimate justice. It is equally unconscionable that some of the perpetrators have been rewarded for acts nine years later, that would presage the death of Philippine democracy, and cause the destruction of our electoral system.

Asians believe in the laws of karma. When shall karmic justice come upon those who bloodied their hands in the killing of this noble ensign nine years before they willingly participated in the killing of our democratic freedom of choice? Because truth is unearthed, and human justice is unavailable in this benighted land, the impunity goes on, and injustice has taken firm root.

What a country!

An essay on age

Joker Arroyo seemed livid with disgust at colleagues who voted for the right to reply bill of Nene Pimentel when it was presented for third reading July of last year, only to announce that they were withdrawing their signatures when media of late took notice.

In the first place, the rules of Congress do not allow someone who votes for proposed legislation to withdraw his signature after the chamber had voted for it on third reading. And certainly not on the basis of a press statement or media interview.

The senators who made noises in media about “changing their mind” ought to know that. Just as all of them ought to have read the fine print in Pimentel’s bill before they went along with his magnum opus. Those who wish to withdraw their approval after having been chastised by media should have manifested their change of mind and change of heart on the floor of the Senate in plenary session, not through some radio broadcast, not through some press release written by staff. And thereby make a double fool of themselves before their peers, all of whom foolishly approved a bill without looking at its impracticality, never mind its pregnant possibilities as bludgeon upon freedom of speech.

Truth is, while the Senate has passed its version, the House yet has to approve its own counterpart bill. Now that media has raised a ruckus, and rightly so, the House version will likely be different from the Senate version. Assuming the House acts approvingly, this time not with the unanimity an unthinking Senate did earlier, then there is a bicameral conference committee to thresh out the differences. That is where the now “enlightened” senators should act to rectify their mistakes. Not through press release.

But Philippine politics is theatre of the absurd, with unthinking (or paid if thinking) media often the purveyor of absurdities. And Joker Arroyo merely stresses this long held realization of the thinking class. “They are all just buttering to the media”, he observed.

Arroyo was particularly miffed at young Francis Escudero, about half his age, young enough to be a grandson had Joker married in his late teens, and had his offspring married early likewise. Escudero after all was one of the authors of the right to reply bill. And his announced withdrawal was useless because the Senate had already passed the measure. Escudero knows that. As senator for a year and a half and a congressman for nine years, three of which as minority floor leader, surely Escudero knows the rules. Ten and a half years is as long as the number of years in grade school and high school combined, with three years as president of the class to boot. At age 39, Escudero ought to be well-schooled enough, at the very least.

But then, Arroyo digresses: “So that’s what will happen if one wants to be president or you’re a president (this time referring to Gloria Arroyo, who announced that she would in any case veto the bill, again stated without reading). If media complain, he or she runs for cover. It’s like running for cover at the first drop of rain”.

At his young age, Escudero shouldn’t be afraid of the rain. Older men like Joker and Nene ought take immediate cover from rain, as they are more susceptible to the sniffles. But clearly they do not, as Joker and Nene hold their ground. And clearly, Joker’s fellow “oragon”, Francis Escudero, two generations younger at that, isn’t “oragon” enough. (Did I spell that right? Joker’s friend and Escudero’s fellow Sorsogueno, former PCSO GM Ric Golpeo could not give me a distinct Bikolano translation for kababayan. Kahimanwa sounds like the Ilonggo kasimanwa, so oragon, though not quite literal, conveys Joker’s metaphor of the rain better).

But that is precisely what Joker Arroyo likely tries to convey --- his distaste for fair-weather “friends”, for “urong-sulong”, for what we Tagalogs in elegant language call “walang paninindigan” and inelegantly, “wa-bols”. “Friends” who vote without reading (but Escudero is co-author to Nene, right?), but when upbraided by the “powerful” media, run for cover by pompous announcements of withdrawal, even if withdrawal is no longer possible.

“Buttering up to the media” is a hallmark of most politicians’ character (rather, lack of it), but what if you also fool the media, and the public, by claiming something that you know you cannot do, simply to butter-up, to pander to the call of the moment? How do you call such a character? “Trapo”? And what therfore is older and wiser Joker saying? So young, so brilliant, so trapo? Then again, Joker Arroyo is not likely to paraphrase Manila’s best mayor, Arsenio H. Lacson, who sixty years ago said something similar of a good-smelling Manila councilor.

Yet Escudero is unfazed --- “That’s the difference between the young and the old. The young still know how to listen, understand and learn”.

Ouch! Ano ang ibig sabihin nitong si Escudero? Walang pinagkatandaan si Arroyo? At si Nene? At si Juan Ponce Enrile? And every other senator who, caught in a vise of instant public opinion, would not just so easily withdraw what they know they can no longer withdraw, even if indeed, a mistake may have been made, mistake which in its own time and under the right procedures, or rules, can yet be rectified?

Escudero runs on the singular platform of age. As if youth is its own reward for being. He likens himself to America’s Obama, and like Gloria Arroyo, hoped to have a picture taken with the new and young American Caesar.

In a recent forum at the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) of the University of the Philippines which schooled Francis Escudero from grade school to law school, Prof. Prospero de Vera said that he had come across focused group discussions (FGD’s) where young discussants chose “Chiz” as their would-be president, but could advance no reason, other than age, to reason out their choice. They do not know their favourite “Chiz” for having sponsored vital legislation, or championing genuine advocacies, or taking firm positions, according to Professor Popoy. Just “kilig to the bones” --- so young, so cute, so cuddly.

Obama would bristle at the parallelism. When he admitted that he had made a mistake at nominating Tom Daschle without his staff vetting the latter’s tax records, the public forgave him easily, and Daschle promptly withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Health. (So unlike Gloria Arroyo, who keeps appointing and re-appointing misfits, and to hell with the Commission on Appointments). But that is not how the Senate, in the Philippines or in the United States works, when it comes to passing legislation. You can say you are sorry, you can say you made a mistake, but you cannot just withdraw your signature after the measure has been passed.

Tagalogs have a metaphor describing ambitious men who trifle with their written or spoken word, and who parlay glib verbosity as competence, and call such men in a hurry as “hinog sa pilit”. Those of us who know our mangoes well can spot what the Bisaya call “gui-karburo” at first taste.

But young Escudero, I am certain, can in glibness riposte that there also are older and supposed-to-be wiser men, like Joker Arroyo, who are like “burong mangga”, fermented in youth to preserve their sourness.

Still and all, burong mangga is perfect side dish for fried and grilled food, whether meat or fish, but “hinog sa pilit”, whether as dessert or siding, simply does not please.

It’s not a matter of age. It’s competence. And above all, it is character that matters.

Impeaching Mercy

Yesterday, the venerable elder statesman who despite great odds pushed for the removal of American military facilities in the land, as head of the Philippine Senate which rejected extension of the bases treaty, Jovito R. Salonga, along with others, filed an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives against Merceditas Navarro Gutierrez, Ombudsman of the Republic.

Salonga et al charged Ombudsman Gutierrez for betrayal of public trust and commission of acts constituting culpable violation of the Constitution.

The first ground for impeachment was added by the Constitutional Commission “to cover all manner of offenses unbecoming of a public functionary which are not punishable by the criminal statutes”. As such, “inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of authority, breach of official duty by malfeasance or misfeasance, cronyism, favoritism, (and) obstruction of justice”, would constitute betrayal of the public trust.

The first instance of such betrayal of public trust, according to the complaint, is Gutierrez’s deliberate disregard of the Supreme Court’s findings and directive on the botched Comelec deal with a corporation called Mega-Pacific to computerize the 2004 elections. In the Supreme Court’s decision on said case, the 1.3 billion peso equipment purchase was declared null and void, and the Ombudsman was directed to file the appropriate charges against erring officials, headed by the disgraced (on another case, this time involving the 329 million dollar ZTE-NBN deal) Benjamin Abalos, and seek recovery from Mega-Pacific of the monies already paid by Abalos’ Comelec.

The other act cited as betrayal of public trust is Merceditas’ “inordinate inaction on the collusion scheme” entered into by the bidders, government officials and public figures on World-Bank funded road projects, recently the subject of investigation by the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs headed by Miriam Defensor-Santiago, since remanded by her peers to the Blue Ribbon Committee after Miriam unjustifiably refused to continue the investigation because she could not force World Bank officials to testify in her committee.

It has now been established that contrary to the testimony of Merceditas Gutierrez that she only received a nine-page referral report as early as May of 2007, or a year and a half before the issue broke to public attention, and that she was proscribed from action because of the confidentiality condition “imposed” by the World Bank, she simply sat on the report, petrified into inaction by we-know-what or we-know-who.

Gutierrez, the Salonga complaint states, is bound by her constitutional duty “to investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act of omission of any public official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient”. And she failed to do so. Moreover, it would seem, based on the Santiago committee hearing where she testified, that she obfuscated the truth about the status of the WB report as forwarded to her (unread and un-opened, according to “Postmaster-General”, rather, DOF Secretary Gary Teves).

The impeachment complaint likewise damns the Ombudsman for a “deliberate intent to cause the dismissal” of the criminal cases filed against former Department of Justice Secretary Hernando B. Perez (Gutierrez was his undersecretary, and allegedly, a former student at the Ateneo Law School) for “extortion activities” as charged by former Representative Mark Jimenez. At the very least, “her act constitutes gross ignorance of the law and overly manifest incompetence as Ombudsman, any or all of which constitutes betrayal of public trust”.

Ang sakit! And Salonga pushes the dagger deeper into the heart of the overly though selectively merciful Ombudsman by recalling that she was appointed despite public avowal of favoritism, due to her being the classmate of First Gentleman Jose Miguel T. Arroyo at the same Ateneo Law School where Nani Perez taught. Worse, Salonga invited attention to the realization, also in their complaint, that both she and the fabulous esposo “failed the Bar” in their first attempt to become certified lawyers of the land.

The complaint also cites the “gross inexcusable inaction on the graft and corruption cases on the more than 1 billion peso fertilizer fund scam to perpetrate massive fraud in the 2004 presidential elections involving former undersecretary of agriculture Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante which was separately filed before her office by the Senate of the Philippines, Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, and murdered journalist Marlene Esperat”.

It also cites her “complete failure to promptly resolve the graft and corruption case involving the Euro-Generals despite overwhelming evidence”. This, according to the complaint, constitutes “grave dereliction of her constitutional and statutory duties and /or unlawful and culpable neglect, both of which constitute betrayal of public trust”.

But while she has been extremely merciful to Jocjoc and Nani, and extremely protective of the First Gentleman’s reputation while glossing over the unexplained circumstances of the euro-generals’ massive funds, Gutierrez, according to Salonga et al, had been unjustly and arbitrarily merciless against local officials such as Governor Neil Tupas of Iloilo and Governor Enrique Garcia of her native Bataan, upon whom she has filed cases and ordered their suspension. While she has been negligent and inactive on previous charges, here she is now charged with “grave abuse of discretion in the exercise of her functions, amounting to betrayal of public trust”.

Because of her “inordinate delay in the disposition of the graft and corruption cases filed before her office, namely those of former DA Undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante’s fertilizer fund scam, the euro-generals scam, and former DOJ Secretary Hernando B. Perez’ extortion case, Salonga et al also charged her before the House of Representatives for “culpable violation of the Constitution, which constitutes ground for her impeachment.

In their prayer, the complainants quoted one of the most important provisons of the Constitution, Section 1, Article XI, which reads: “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives”.

The Salonga complaint avers that this is “not a mere routinary provision, but a necessity, to perpetuate the nature of the mandate reposed in ALL (emphasis mine) public officers who are expected to be first and foremost PROTECTOR OF THE PEOPLE (again I emphasize) against abusive and corrupt public officials”. (This “protector” description, nay, mandate, is likewise used by the Constitution in describing the duty and responsibility of the Armed Forces. Was this a conscious recognition of the primacy of people power, without which the 1987 Constitution could not have been written?)

“In sum”, it concludes, “all the facts and points raised under betrayal of public trust (as we enumerated)... establish clear violations of the Ombudsman’s constitutional mandate.”

Finally, the impeachment complaint stated that “the pattern of Ombudsman Gutierrez’s deplorable acts is highly dangerous. It all points to her lack of respect for the basic requirements of due process and utter disregard of her constitutional mandate which clearly constitute betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution”.

Aside from former Senate President Jovito R. Salonga, the complaint wase signed by (there may have been more at the time of this writing), Up law professor and former Dean Raul C. Pangalangan, Florin Hilbay and Emilio C. Capulong Jr., all of Bantay Katarungan; Former DILG and DOT Secretary Rafael M. Alunan III, former PCGG Commisssioner Quintin S. Doromal and Emigdio P. Dakanay, trustees of Kilosbayan; Bishop Antonio R. Tobias, DD of Novaliches, and other former senior government officials, civil society leaders and other citizens of the Republic, signing in their individual capacities, namely former Senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, former Civil Service Commissioner Karina Constantino-David former cabinet secretaries Teresita Quintos-Deles, Ernest Leung, and Corazon-Juliano Soliman, former presidential advisers Veronica Villavicencio and Jose Z. Molano Jr., former DOT Undersecretary Sostenes Campillo Jr., former DBP Chairman Vitaliano Nanagas, former NAIA general manager Guillermo G. Cunanan, UP sociology professor Randy David, former St. Scholastica College president Sister Mary John Mananzan, and civil society activists Leah Lopez Navarro, Crispino T. Aguelo, Milagros Regalado-Capistrano, Marry Anne Terrenal, Yasmin Busrah-Lao, Remy Rikken, Elizabeth Yang, Leon G. Flores III, Ramil V. Cinco, Marilou Borje, and Raul Socrates Banzuela.

While listening yesterday to the broadcast report that Salonga et al were in the House of Representatives filing their impeachment complaint, a listener texted in a reaction: “Wala rin namang mangyayari diyan (impeachment). Sa dami ng mga corrupt, palulusutin din iyan” (referring to the Ombudsman).

How sad. Immediately there is an air of resignation, a surrender to despair over the seemingly impossible dream of a nation where “right is kept right, and wrong is made right”. “Wala ring mangyayari diyan”.

Because there is no trust whatsoever in the representatives whose elections they bought from the people, and who constituting the Chamber of the Bought, merely ask for more and more from Malacanang and other officials, to make sure they stay bought, many think the impeachment complaint will go to naught. Clearly in the public mind, their representatives in Congress cannot be called upon to “protect the people”.

Maybe this constitutional edict, this constitutional duty as “protector of the people” is now reposed in the public mind only on the soldiers of the Filipino people. But are they listening?

Unhappy postscript: But what if Merceditas Navarro-Gutierrez resigns as a result of the pressure of civil society? Then Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will appoint another as Ombudsman, perhaps to reign and protect her beyond and beyond.

Woe unto the benighted land and its desperate people? Again I ask --- who will be the protectors of the people?

Pinapatalsik si Aling Mercy

Kahapon ay dumulog sina dating Pangulo ng Senado, Jovito R. Salonga, kasama ang ilan pang mga dating matataas na opisyal ng pamahalaan at mga kilalang lider sa lipunan, maging sa Simbahan, upang magsampa ng reklamo para mapatalsik sa pwesto si Ombudsman Merecditas Navarro-Gutierrez.

Batay sa kanilang reklamo, si Ginang Gutierrez ay lumabag sa Saligang Batas at ipinagkanulo ang tiwala ng sambayanan, dahil sa kanyang hindi pagtupad sa tagubilin ng Korte Suprema na sampahan ng demanda ang Comelec at Mega-Pacific sa iskandalo ng naunsyaming computerization ng 2004. Gayundin sa pagkakapatalo sa kaso ni dating Kalihim ng Katarungan, Nani Perez. Maging sa pagbabale-wala sa mga kaso laban kay Jocjoc Bolante, dala ng fertilizer fund scam. At sa pag-upo at pagsasalanag bahala sa report ng World Bank ukol sa mga katiwalian sa pangungontrata ng DPWH.

At bagama’t ang mga kasong ito ay inupuan o binale-wala ni Aling Mercy, ayon kina Salonga, walang habas naman nitong pinag-sususpindi sina Gov. Niel Tupas ng Iloilo at Enrique Garcia na kalalawigan niya sa Bataan. Kilabot at walang-awa diumano sa ilan, nguni’t taga-ayos at taga-asikaso ng mga kaso ng mga kaalyado o pinuprotektahan ng pamahalaang Arroyo. Malinaw, ayon sa kasong isinampa nina Salonga, na paglabag sa Saligang Batas.

Kanya lang, aasenso ba ang kasong ito? Hindi kaya ang mangyari ay katulad rin ng nangyari sa apat na impeachment complaints na isinampa laban kay Donya Gloria, mula noong 2005 at hanggang noong nakaraang taon? Hindi kay itatapon lang ito ng mga kinatawan, dahil tagubilin ito ng kanilang Donya, o di kaya’y pagkakataon na naman upang maka=parte ng mas malaki sa 1.4 trilyong badyet na kanilang ipinasa? Hindi kaya, bibilhin lang ang mga kinatawan na sanay naman sa bilihan --- ang mamili ng boto, at magpabili sa Malakanyang?

Kaawa-awang bayan. Ayon sa isinampang kaso laban kay Aling Marcy, lahat ng mga naninilbihan sa bayan ay dapat maging “tagapagatanggol ng sambayanan”. Nakatitik ito sa ating Saligang Batas. Nguni’t tiwali si Gutierrez sa atas na ito ng ating Saligang Batas.

E paano kaya kung magbitiw si Gutierrez, kung halimbawang ayawin na niya ang dinaranas na pag-pressure ng Malakanyang, tulad ng ginawa ng kanyang hinalinhang si Simeon Marcelo?

Aba, e di magnunombra na naman ang Donya Gloria ng bagong Ombudsman. At tiyak namang sunud-sunuran din iyan sa kanya. Kung babae, muchacha niya. Kung lalaki, muchacho ng Donya.

Kaya’t balik na naman tayo sa katanungan --- sino pa nga ba ang pwedeng maging “tagapagtanggol” ng sambayanang Pilipino?

Ayon sa Saligang Batas, ini-atas din ang responsibilidad na ito sa hukbong sandatahan. Kanya nga lamang, nakikinig pa ba sila?

Fidel’s lament

Fidel Valdez Ramos, who together with Juan Ponce Enrile and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, led the breakaway from the government of Ferdinand Marcos that culminated in what history now calls the “EDSA people power revolt”, has reason to be miffed. The woman he helped install into office, first by endorsing her along with Jose de Venecia as his party’s standard bearers in 1998, then once more in 2001, when his political nemesis and successor Joseph Estrada was on trial after his impeachment by the House, deigned it beneath her to attend the commemoration of the event that brought the forms of democracy back to life. She preferred to be across the street, visiting briefly one of those umpteenth job fairs organized by DOLE and its POEA to make the jobless scramble for the little mercies of available opportunities beyond these benighted shores.

For Gloria the POEA affair was another photo opportunity, to show to whoever still cares, that “GMA cares”. She preferred a fleeting photo-op for a commemoration of one of the two most important political events of two generations. Almost a generation before, the most important event was the declaration of martial law, which snuffed out the same forms of democracy.

“Hindi ko maintindihan kung bakit wala dito ang pangulo. Sana lahat ay sumama sa pagdiriwang at magbigay ng respeto”, the former President rued.

It is noteworthy that GMA chose to commemorate EDSA two days earlier, at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. She chose the spot perhaps to subconsciously “bury” the memory of that popular expression of democracy, afraid that she may one day be at the receiving end of public rage, as the dictator Marcos experienced. And she could not control herself. She said there that “the world would not forgive another people power”. She has become spokesperson for the universe, hah! Just because she has travelled to various parts 58 times in the 97 months that she has been in Malacanang gives her no right to speak for the world. But then, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is sui generis. No other Filipino leader ever displayed as much gall, and as little shame.

FVR and Jose de Venecia saved the little girl they inflicted upon the nation once more on July 8, 2005. On June 6, GMA’s spokesman and press secretary Ignacio “Toting” Bunye exposed to the nation his tale of two tapes. Hello Garci exploded, and continues to haunt the nation, with no closure yet in sight. Ten of her cabinet officials resigned, and Cory Aquino called for Dona Gloria’s resignation. Even her then Chief of Staff, Efren Abu, gave out a very tentative statement of support, as if waiting for opportunity from popular sentiment. The nation teetered, and the government of the illegitimate Gloria was on the brink of collapse. Only the timidity of Noli de Castro (the complete opposite of Gloria who conspired to remove the duly elected Estrada five years before) and the clarion call of FVR and his JDV for the trapos of their Lakas to circle their beleaguered creation, saved the day for her.

Now, his Gloria does not even deign the EDSA he started worthy of her presence. Fidel Valdez Ramos feels understandably bad.

But the bigger disappointment ought to be not just the absence of a failed and illegitimate leader, whose government’s corruption stinks and is smelled all over the world, but the failure of the same EDSA to bring about the flowering of genuine democracy, a democracy not only in form, but in substance. That substance, which is the full freedom of every man and woman regardless of the circumstances of birth, to fulfil his aspirations in a society of equal opportunities, amply protected by a polity where peace and order reign and good governance guarantees basic services, with justice for all and towards all, has been denied the same people whose combined power defeated a tyranny. Look at all the shattered institutions of what we call democracy, and weep.

There is a legislature whose independence is compromised, because most of the traditional politicians that populate both of its houses transact with the executive branch they are sworn to check and balance. The art of political compromise, which means the balancing of competing public interests in the service of the greater good, has been corrupted into the sacrifice of greater good and public interest in favour of selfish and immoderate greed.

There reigns an executive whose be-all and end-all is power in all its forms, political as well as economic, and for such ends, will transact with everyone in the military, the judiciary, the legislature, the civil service, the media, the business community, even low-life engaged in illegal money-making, to pursue the same --- at all cost. No leader, not even Ferdinand Marcos, has ever been as amoral.

There is a judiciary which but for a few brave and conscience-struck souls, are as transactional as can ever be. And there is a “Department Store of Justice”, as my friend Frank Chavez aptly describes it, presiding over a prosecution system where those who have less in life are persecuted, while those who can either buy or pressure are protected. And a police force that is more interested in jueteng intelihensya than real intelligence work and the discipline to fight crime and protect hapless citizens.

There is a military establishment where those who cannot stand corruption and the destruction of ideals instilled upon them in the Academy languish in jails, while generals who transacted with the illegitimate commander-in-chief grow fat with perks and are given juicy positions in the soldiers’ after-life.

There is a civil service whose career system has been destroyed by a multitude of unqualified political appointees, never been as pronounced or as pervasive as in the last eight years of the president FVR supports.

Tell you what, Mr. President, sir: it is best that the president you helped enthrone did not attend our EDSA. To begin with, she was never there when you were holed in Crame, ready to die if love of country demanded. She never participated in the fight against tyranny, and she never joined in the outcry that followed the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino. She was given by Cory that little office called the GTEB (which turned out to be such a juicy thing) only out of deference to her old man who after all brought Ninoy Aquino into the Liberal Party.

But also because, Mr. President Ramos, sir --- she has done more than any single individual, past or present, to destroy the values that EDSA sought to enshrine, values that even the Filipino public seem to have forgotten as they struggle every day of their miserable lives for the next meal.

You and I, and all of us, Mr. President Ramos, by sins of omission and commission and bad judgment, have at one point in our lives contributed to the rot the nation festers through these days. But we privately and sometimes publicly acknowledge our human errors. And in our time, irrespective of roles significant or insignificant, we were motivated by what we believed at the time to be in the greater national interest.

But your creation never says “I am sorry” and means it. And she discards old allies as quickly as she changes her scarves for her peripatetic traipses. Rather, she is now busy transacting both politics and business with the very same cronies that Marcos used to substitute for the oligarchies he disliked. She has politically decapitated your Joe de Venecia. She has co-opted all your other once faithful kabaleyan in Pangasinan. She has hollowed-out your own Lakas from you and transformed most all of them as toadies she would transact with her new political and business allies.

And in the wake of her governance most bad, she will leave, if at all or if we cannot help it, an economy once more in the hands of oligarchs, and a nation where moral values are irredeemably foreclosed by civilian institutions without a shred of credibility or sense of duty, and worse, a soldiery castrated of its courage and sworn obligations to country and people.

No, Mr. President Ramos, sir, there is no reason for you to rue her absence in your annual celebration of courage. She does not deserve to commemorate an EDSA spirit she has never, never at all, cherished.

Edsa 3 ?

Sa anibersaryo ng Edsa 1, na biglang na-alaala ni Donya Gloria, at nagpatanghal ng isang programa sa Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sa Kampo Bonifacio, imbes na sa mismong lugar kung saan nangyari ang makasaysayang rebolusyon, sinabi ng namumuno sa bansang kaawa-awa:

“Pinuri ng daigdig ang Edsa 1. Pinagbigyan ang Edsa 2. Nguni’t tiyak na ikukondena ang isang Edsa 3, at mahuhusgahan tayo ng buong daigdig na bansang lugmok sa gulo at kawalan ng istabilidad”. (Dagliang salin mula sa salitang ingles).

Alam ba ni Donya Gloria ang kanyang pinagsasasabi? Itinanghal at hinangaan sa buong daigdig ang nangyaring pag-aklas ng sambayanan, sa pangunguna ng mga kawal na sumunod sa pagkalas ni Juan Ponce Enrile at Fidel V. Ramos laban sa kanilang amo na si Ferdinand Marcos. Dahil dito ay napatalsik si Marcos at humalili si Cory, ang pangulong lantarang dinaya noong “snap elections” ilang linggo bago mag-Edsa 1.

Totoong hindi naisa-diwa ang kahalagahan ng Edsa 1. Nagsipagbalikan ang mga pulitikong sakim, at nagpasasa sila noong dalawang dekadang singkad mula ng hangaan tayo ng buong daigdig. Kaya’t ngayon ay balik tayo sa pagkakapariwara. Ipinagkanulo ang sambayanan ng mga pulitikong nagpasasa matapos mapatalsik ang diktadurya ni Marcos.

Dahil sa mga isyu ng korapsyon, ang ilang sektor ay nag-alsang muli laban sa halal na pangulo noong Edsa-2. Iniwanan si Pangulong Estrada ng kanyang hinirang na hepe ng hukbong sandatahan, si Angelo Reyes, matapos na magkagulo sa impeachment trial sa Senado na inumpisahan ng kanyang piniling Speaker, si Manuel Villar. Nagtagumpay ang mga sector na ito nang lisanin na nga ni Reyes at kanyang mga heneral ang kanilang commander-in-chief, at iniluklok si Bise-Presidente GMA bilang pangulo.

Matapos ang ilang buwan, ipinakulong ng rehimeng Arroyo si Erap, sa paraang nakapagpasiklab ng damdamin ng masang Pilipino na hindi naman sadyang narinig sa Edsa 2. Nguni’t si Donya Gloria ay mas matibay ang dibdib kaysa kay Ka Erap. Samantalang ang huli ay hindi nakipaglaban, at linisan ang Malakanyang, ang Donya ay inutusan ang hukbong kitilin ang buhay ng masang sumugod sa Malakanyang.

Hayaan na muna nating kasaysayan ang maghusga sa dalawang lider na ito, si Ka Erap at si Donya Gloria.

Anhin mo pa, sumunod ang walong taon at higit isang buwang rehimen na sa madaling salita ay batbat sa pangungurakot, sa masamang pamamahala, at sa lantarang pagsisinungaling at pagkubli ng katotohanan. At pandaraya ng kalaban sa halalan ng 2004, kaya’t nabanasagang ilehitimong lider si Donya Gloria.

Ngayon, sa naiiwang isang taon at limang buwan ng kanyang pamamalagi sa Malakanyang, buong pagmamalaking binigkas ni Gloria ang ganitong pananalita --- na hindi patatawarin ng sandaigdigan ang isang muling pag-alsa, kung saan siya ang puntiryang patalsikin.

Sa totoo lang, wala nang pakialam ang daigdig at ibanng bansa sa mangyayari o hindi mangyayari sa Pilipinas. Dahil lubha tayong napariwara, wala nang pakialam sila sa atin. Una, wala naman silang simpatiya kay Gloria. Biyahe ng biyahe maski na pinahahalataan na ng mga ibang lider ng kawalan ng respeto at pagkakasuklam. At pangalawa, nasa krisis ang lahat halos ng bansa, para intindihin pa ang mangyayari sa isang maliit na bansang lugmok sa korapsyon.

Sa aking konting pananaw, matutuwa pa ang mga lider ng ibang bansa, lalo na ang Asean, kung mapapatalsik si Donya Gloria. Napakagulo kasi ng pamamahala niya, at maging sila ay nababahala ng ilang taon na.

Tunghayan natin ang mga pananalita ni Juan Ponce Enrile, pangulo ng Senado, na nagpasimuno ng pag-aklas na tinaguriang Edsa 1. Sa panayam noong Linggo, kung saan siya’y tinanong kung possible ba ang isa pang Edsa, at kung siya’y sasama sakali, ang sagot ni JPE:

“Naniniwala ako na Diyos ang siyang makapagsasabi. Siya ang direktor ng mga gawain ng sambayanan. Kung nanaisin ng Panginoong Diyos, maaring magkaroong muli ng Edsa---ngayon, bukas, o maging isang dekada mula ngayon. Laging nangyayari ang ganito sa kasaysayan ng daigdig.”

At walang magagawa ang ibang bansa kung siyang nanaisin ng sambayanan, at nanaisin ng Panginoon, ano man ang sabihin ng ilehitimong namumuno.

How come no one believes her?

As the politicians look eagerly towards 2010, walang kamatayan cha-cha still hounds the nation. The FSGO and even Church leaders continue to warn against the political legerdemain a supposedly lame duck Gloria would yet spin. Nograles and Villafuerte just can’t lay cha-cha in the coffin, they have to keep it warm, these political necrophiliacs. And the congressmen could always be joined by a few actors and absentees in the Senate, to produce the magic number 197, three-fourths of Congress combined, and then throw the issue to a Supreme Court which by May will have been packed by more of the Glorianic majority, minus Puno, Carpio, Morales, Ynares-Santiago, and perhaps Quisumbing. Ten versus five, the cha-cha conspirators keep making tabs.
But palace apologists keep making assurances that political life in Malacanang would cease for their boss woman after June 30, 2010. Her new press secretary, Cerge Remonde said recently that speculations about Mrs. Arroyo extending her term “were the handiwork of destabilizers to fuel anger against the President and her administration”.
“We are appealing for an end to the intrigues and call on all sectors to work with the government in moving the nation forward,” he added. How come no one believes him? Even explanations by palace insiders that “Gloria just does not want to be a lame duck in the last year of her presidency, that’s why there are these deft political maneuvers”, fail to convince.
The Senate sounds smug, and its president Juan Ponce Enrile, says the Senate already considered the cha-cha initiative a “non-issue”, because they would certainly thumb it down. He said it would be a waste of time to push for cha-cha even only for amending its economic provisions. He observed that “just now everyone is already scattered all over the Philippines,” referring to politicians preparing for the 2010 elections.
But Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz remains unconvinced despite the assurances. According to the good bishop, Malacañang is committed to cha-cha regardless of the consequences. And he points out to the palace capture of the Congress of the Bought, plus the “collegial” alliance of the high tribunal, as reasons for his scepticism.
“Charter change is not a mere option for the national leadership. It has long since become an urgent imperative,” Cruz said.
How indeed can anyone believe the assurances coming from the camp of someone who before the monument of Rizal pledged in 2002 not to run any longer, “in order to end the divisiveness of the nation”, only to divide it insufferably after cheating her way to election in 2004? What word from Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can anyone reasonably trust?
When she learned that Chief Justice Reynato Puno would lead civil society and religious leaders in launching a “moral force” on March 27, and rally the people behind a crusade against the venal corruption that has metastasized all over her government, she tried to steal the thunder by issuing an administrative order directing all agency heads to launch “moral” renewal. But everybody ignored her gall. Many in media did not even bother to print the obvious lie she was peddling.
Because no one believes her spoken word, on top of the abysmally aberrant manner she has misgoverned the nation, there have been several attempts to throw her off her throne. Only the “reliability” of her bought generals has kept her there, and the patience of a timid population who do not seem to care about country, preferring instead the silence of resigned hopelessness.
A friend remarked in a round-table discussion early 2008, that there will never be an end to the “destabilization” Gloria keeps mouthing as threat to her regime. “Maski pa malapit na ang 2010 , the possibility of her being removed from power via non-electoral means will still exist”, he stressed against our then opinion that “pag-pasok ng 2009, election fever takes over”.
It seems to me now that he was prescient. First, in early 2008, one did not expect the financial crisis to be this severe. Joblessness and misery will haunt the land in 2009 till 2010. Second, Gloria and her ilk cannot seem to just let go. It’s not only the power and the pelf, it’s also a fear of judicial retribution. Look at the long line of cabinet and sub-cabinet allies who now want to run as senators or congressmen, even Genuino of Pagcor. The name of their game is protection through the “immunity” provided by electoral mandate. Third, more and more are convinced that elections the way we have it, will not produce the kind of alternative leader that the nation needs, that the system still sucks no matter who the players are, and in any case, the system will not allow even a good player to succeed.
And now comes another proof that the woman, already eight years, one month and two days in power, still feels insecure that she might not get to finish the one year, four months, and four days remaining in her stolen term. For why stand at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whilst commemorating the first Edsa, and say that “the world will not forgive an Edsa III, but it will instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable”? Is there a nagging fear that as she pushes her political envelope in the months to come, whilst her touted economic gains are washed away by joblessness and heightened poverty, her people might suddenly erupt in rage against her cheating, lying and stealing mis-governance?
She has gumption, this boss woman of crooks, to even predict how the world would react should another popular uprising occur. Is the world stage her last card? Does she think world leaders would save her, should something like that materialize? Hah!
The world, my dears, will not give a damn. Just as world leaders do not give a damn, even a hoot or care, about what Gloria Macapagal Arroyo says wherever she traipses in her perennial lilliputian misadventures in the world stage. Some of the same world leaders she inflicts her presence upon, including neighbours in Asean and Asia, would even cheer quietly in their tea rooms, should these benighted people finally muster the courage to throw her out. And that is the truth.
They are so enmeshed in their own problems, including the America she visits all so often, enduring the obvious snubs and indignities. And its new president has enough sense of righteousness as to be associated with the leader we suffer. Already, while President Obama signalled the significance of Southeast Asia by directing her Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to make it her first destination, breaking the usual tradition of visits first to Europe or the troubled Middle East, the Philippines was pointedly excluded. She went to South Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia. So near the Philippines, yet so far from his ken of vision. We do not matter. Period.
We do not matter any more because of the abysmal depths to which we have been sunk by a decade of bad government. And the leader who has inflicted herself upon us by virtue of a mistaken Edsa II uprising, a mistake because we rewarded someone most unworthy with our destiny, is certainly not someone the world will defend, should another uprising happen, people-powered or otherwise. Not the European Union, not the United States, not Japan, not Australia, not Malaysia or Singapore or Thailand, not Indonesia or Brunei. Why, not even “her” China. They would just let us be.
Gloria is not a Cory. It is as simple as that.
Sureour businessmen will be fidgety at the start, while foreign business would not even sit up and take notice. After all, they are in no mood to invest anything at the moment anyhow, so what the hell does it matter? If the new government after this abomination should mercifully be clean, purposive and reformist, the whole world will start taking notice. And if the new leaders should be the opposite of this woman, and could steer this country clearly in the right directions, with righteousness as governing standard, then the whole world will cheer as we, the benighted, will deliriously celebrate.
* * *

Joke of the week, courtesy of Ric Tan, FSGO stalwart and former PDIC president invited by Nograles to dinner to meet Legacy’s Celso de los Angeles --- DOF Secretary Gary Teves, testified before the Senate that as soon as he received the WB-INT report on the graft-ridden system at the DPWH, he had the same delivered posthaste to Merceditas Gutierrez, without reading.

Says Ric, “Gary should be the Postmaster-General. He is best suited for that job”.

Halalang bulok

Kung sadyang hindi guguluhin ng cha-cha o ano pa mang masamang balakin ng mga nasa kapangyarihan na walang intensyong bumitiw, dapat ay magkaroon tayo ng halalang pipili sa lider na uugit ng pamahalaan ng bayan mulo Hunyo 30, 2010 hanggang Hunyo 30, 2016.

Napakahalaga ng halalang naka-iskedyul sa Mayo ng susunod na taon. Nababalot ang buong daigdig ng krisis pangkabuhayan. Marami ang nawawalan ng trabaho, dito sa atin at maging sa sektor ng mga OFW na hindi naman tinatrato bilang bayani. Marami rin ang nagugutom, sa mga bulubundukin, at lalo na sa kalunsuran. Higit sa lahat, nawawalan na ng pag-asa ang sambayanan na wala nang ginawa kundi magtiis sa hirap sa nagdaang mga taon ng mali at lisyang pamamalakad.

Kaya nga ba’t kay daming sabik sa 2010, kung kailan mawawala na ang kasalukuyang rehimen, ayon sa kasalukuyang Saligang Batas, at makapipili na ang taong bayan ng susunod na pagkakatiwalaan. Kanya rin ang daming nababahala sa isinalang na panukalang amyendahan ang Saligang Batas, na kunwa’y para sa mga amyendang pang-ekonomiya, nguni’t malamang ay para magpalawig ng termino ang mga namumuno ngayon. Nguni’t ilang beses na nating tinalakay ang balaking ito.

Ang isa pang pinangangambahan ng inyong lingkod ay ang tila mala-pagong na pag-usad ng mga preparasyon para sa halalan ng 2010. Pagka’t ang buod ng tunay at demokratikong pamahalaan ay ang malaya at malinis na halalan, ilang beses na tayong naunsyami ng pandaraya sa ating halalang bulok. Pinakamatindi na ngang kontrobersiya ng halalan ay ang nangyaring pandaraya noong 2004, kung saan ipinuroklama ng Kongreso ang mandin ay huwad na pangulo. Hanggang ngayon ay pinaparusahan tayong lahat ng kabulukan ng ating sistema ng halalan.

Bagama’t naggigirihan na ang mga kakandidato sa 2010, parang wala pang malinaw ukol sa sistemang gagamitin para ma-computerize ang halalan. Unang-una, hindi pa pinapasa ng Kongreso ang supplemental budget para sa malaking gastusin ng computerization. Dito pa nga lang ay kitang-kita na natin ang pagka-doble kara ng rehimeng Arroyo. Mano bang isinali na ang budget ng computerization sa General Appropriations Bill na kamakailan ay pumasa na bilang batas, at hinihintay na lamang ang lagda ni Arroyo. Hindi nila ginawa ito, kaya’t ngayon ay panukala pa sa mababang kapulungan ang salaping gugugulin.

Pangalawa, wala pang malinaw ukol sa gagamiting sistema ang Comelec. Basta’t humihingi nga 11 bilyung piso, pero maraming nangangamba na madaling dayain ang sistemang kanilang napipisil. Samantala, may sistema namang bukod sa may “paper trail” ay gagamit lamang ng mga personal computers o PC, na matapos magamit sa halalan, ay maari namang ipamudmod sa mga iskwelahang pampubliko. At ang kailangan ay 4 na bilyon lamang.

Dapat na pagtuunan ng pansin at interes ng mga mamamayan, lalo na ng media, ang ginagawang preparasyon ng hindi mapagkakatiwalaang Comelec. Ilang beses na tayong dinaya ng mga Garcillano at Bedol, na hanggang ngayon ay pinagtatawanan pa ang sambayanan, kasama ng kanilang amo na si Abalos. Nakatatakot na kung hindi maipuslit ang cha-cha sa Kongreso at Korte Suprema, ay mandaraya na naman ang kasalukuyang rehimen, upang siguruhin ang panalo ng tuta na kanilang mamanukin.

The anarchy of impunity

Lintang Bedol has been “wanted”, ostensibly by the Comelec he worked for since June or July of 2007. A PNP official, Joel Goltiao, assigned to his lair, had been scouring (according to him), all the warrens of Maguindanao and neighboring provinces, so that Bedol may be brought to justice, as per the delayed orders of the Comelec. This Lintang na Bedol has been adjudged by everyone and his mother as having been the “evil” genius behind the “evil” operations of Zaldy Ampatuan and his clan, who, in trying to show their indispensability to the “evil” administration of Dona Gloria y su esposo.

It is now February of 2009, more than a year and a half since, and a Comelec commissioner informs the Commission on Appointments that they “discovered” of late, that this Lintang na Bedol is now lost in the wilds of America. The Bureau of Immigration, who issued a hold-departure order, is clueless. Of course, Goltiao and his policemen, who never ever really searched for Lintang na Bedol, are silent, even more clueless. For all we know, it was Goltiao and his forces who escorted Bedol through the backdoor, and from there the linta must have flown the coop.

Why aren’t we surprised? Why is it so matter-of-factly to the dishonourable men who run the Commission on Electoral Cheating? Magku-computerize pa daw, e tumapak lang sa isang linta, hindi pa kaya. We are hopeless. Crime pays, and pays exceedingly well in these benighted parts.

So do you expect the police operatives who kept shooting at a half-dead suspected car napper, the mayhem caught live by an ABS-CBN camera, to be meted justice for the rub-out? Perish the thought. After all, people have such short memories, and his superior officers in that institution of impunity called the Philippine National Police know this all too well. You think you could run to the Department of Justice, where a half-senile pit bull is propped up by a mafiosi of fixers supervised by a syndicate of quattri consiglieri? Perish the thought once more.

This is the Philippines of Gloria y su esposo, where an anarchy of impunity reigns, where bad is good, where the art of lying is virtue, and the science of stealing is enshrined as obras pias. Recall that Romulo Neri described his boss as “evil”. In normal dispensation, the person described as “evil” would have been insulted deeply, and sought retribution for such assaulting description. But no! Apparently she felt elated, she considered “evil” as encomium. And Romulo Neri, instead of being slapped, was promoted to one of the “juiciest” postings in her government.

Surreal? Of course not. “Blessed are the “evil”, say the lord bishops Ramon Villena, Diosdado Talamayan, Fernando Capalla and Juan de Dios Pueblos, her hallelujah chorus. Why, if these characters had their way, they probably would certify Dona Gloria y su esposo for beatification by the Vatican.

Look at the Ombudsman. She wonders why the Makati Business Club and the Management Association of the Philippines and the Coalition against Corruption and a myriad other organizations whose sense of decency has been assailed by the prevailing culture of impunity, is asking her to resign. How could she? She has been of utmost service to Dona Gloria y su esposo. She has been faithfully, and mercifully absolving all those that they wanted to absolve, or keep indefinitely frozen, in her walk-ins at that pink building on Agham Road. She is duchess of impunity, gatekeeper of the culture where true evil is unseen, and her masters’ “evil” is propagated.

She is protected by a fixed term of office, and when some people upbraid her, she can always run to her Senate counterpart, that “insect” repellent called Miriam, and be insulated from the stings and bites of do-gooders. Sure, they can try to impeach her, but there’s Legacy’s patron, along with his majority of thieves in the House of the Bought, who will thrash whatever challenges to her term can be conjured by her detractors.

Thus is the culture of impunity enshrined in this benighted land. And we all suffer from the anarchy it breeds, the anarchy it institutionalizes.

Is there anyone to run to? Not the Supreme Court, even if you have a Chief Justice who is a bedrock of moral intentions in a land plagued by the immorality of greed and the impunity of crime. Many in his Court are not yet done paying the wages of their undeserved appointment by the “evil” they pay homage to.

Not the Senate, which can only rant and rave, often worn down and wearied by the harangues of a Miriam or the silence of lambs among the actors and absentees who plague that chamber.

Perhaps one could implore the armed forces, the soldiers of the people, who the Constitution mistakenly describes as “protectors of the people”? Perish the thought likewise. Its generals are just awaiting retirement, so they could in time escape what their consciences find revolting and what the Academy taught them, once upon a time, to be wrong. Its idealists languish in jail because they dared to challenge the legitimacy of the illegitimate commander-in-chief.

Why, that commander-in-chief will soon appoint her favourite, despite his inadequacies and his excesses, simply because he fawns upon “evil” with canine loyalty, to be the Chief of Staff of all “her” armed forces. And you think the sons of the Academy who were bypassed despite far better credentials will howl?

No. They will just mutter under their breath. Theirs but to follow. Theirs but to fight and die. Theirs not to question why or how, whatever the resident “evil” in our lives, should deign “best”.

Wait till Dona Gloria’s “classmate” in her adopted class at the Academy is appointed Chief of Staff. Then she will unleash the tactics and the forces that will keep her “forever” in our lives.

As the FSGO keep saying --- we are ruled by a curse. And for as long as we cannot muster the courage to fight evil in all its forms, in all its personifications, we just have to suffer through the anarchy of impunity that bedevils our society and our polity.

‘Evil taking root in power’

I yield this space today to print the whole statement of the FSGO (former senior government officials) on the occasion of its first anniversary. FSGO, which counts some 80 former cabinet secretaries and undersecretaries as members, was formed on Feb. 16, 2008, where it denounced the attempted abduction of key Senate witness Jun Lozada on the investigation of the NBN-ZTE deal. Since then, FSGO has released several statements on the bad quality of governance, drawing from their own collective experience as practitioners of public administration from the Macapagal I to the Macapagal II presidencies, a period that has spanned two generations and six Malacañang occupants.

The statement is entitled, "A Cry and a Warning: Evil Taking Root in Power".

"We, former senior government officials, rose in alarm and outrage last year when Engineer Jun Lozada was nearly martyred. Many of us were impelled to act against dictatorship by the blood of Ninoy at the tarmac in 1983, and we were again compelled to raise our voices in horror of an attempted kidnapping that could have silenced a whistleblower.

"It has been a year since Jun Lozada decided to bear witness to corruption at the level of the couple Gloria and Miguel Arroyo. And sadly it has been yet another year of governing criminally.

"We cry at the debasement of our democracy. Mrs. Arroyo rode on the backs of people outraged with corruption in order to steal the presidency, and then used her tenuous hold to lie and cheat for a lengthened stay. Mrs. Arroyo remains president in Malacanang without being legitimately elected into office. That alone makes her an affront to our republic born of a free people rising in revolt against stolen elections in 1986. We cry that power over our government and our collective future remains in the hands of an illegitimate leader.
"Our people now look to 2010 as a constitutionally sacred deadline to finally end Mrs. Arroyo’s illegitimate tenure. We warn our people that left unrestricted, illegitimacy has no tenure, that a cheating and lying leader respects no constitutional limits. And we warn our people that the signs are clear – corruption is Mrs. Arroyo’s bribe to remain in power in the past, present and future.

"The corruption we hear, read, and above all, smell everywhere, are the wages of evil in power. Corruption is the currency of Mrs. Arroyo’s administration. Corruption is the price of getting positions of authority, the cost of incompetence in those positions, and the inevitable result of tolerating an illegitimate ruler.

"Corruption is the fertilizer nourishing Mrs. Arroyo’s evil to deepen its roots in our nation’s government. Corruption buys congressional inaction to impeachment and possible complicity with tenure-extending charter change. Corruption is the shopping bags of cash that keep governors and mayors coming to conspiratorial meetings for issuing statements of support. Corruption is the balm for generals’ troubled consciences, at least for those whose hands are still clean enough to retain a conscience. And corruption may eventually buy judicial tolerance to illegal rule and abuse of power, and may even offer incentives strong enough for providing judicial justification to extending that illegitimacy and abuse.

"One year after the exposure of the NBN-ZTE project as a veritable Chinese lauriat of corruption, no Senate report on its investigation has been issued; no Ombudsman case on anyone involved has advanced; no one in the administration has been suspended or fired, except one early retirement to ‘borjer-dom’ and golf heaven in Wack-Wack.

"Contrast the black holes of our institutions for accountability with the rest of the world. Over the past year, foreign institutions and governments have hit at Mrs. Arroyo’s corruption much more vigorously than our own government.

"Joc-joc Bolante, whom Mrs. Arroyo encouraged to escape abroad, was returned to the Senate by US authorities;

"Mrs. Arroyo’s appointed police generals, allowed to travel abroad with obscene amounts of euros in cash in their carry-on luggage, were exposed by Russian authorities;

"Mrs. Arroyo’s favored public works contractors, colluding with DPWH fixers to defraud our people, were formally sanctioned by the World Bank;

"And governments, investors, academics, and ordinary people around the world generated perceptions, experiences, and indicators that ranked corruption in the Philippines among the worst in the world.

"Filipinos themselves judge Mrs. Arroyo’s administration the most corrupt ever in their memories of other corrupt administrations. Corruption orchestrated by Gloria and Miguel Arroyo is more rampant, more deep-seated, larger scale, and ultimately more nefarious than anything we Filipinos have experienced. It uses corruption to keep power and uses power to pursue corruption in a self-reinforcing racket that perpetuates evil in power.

"In this year of global crisis, nations all over the world are turning to their governments to protect their collective welfare and sustain their productive capacities against the onslaught of a terrible global contraction in financial resources and economic demand. The Philippines cannot escape the ravages of the ongoing global decline in credit, investment, production, and consumption. Unfortunately, the government under Mrs. Arroyo offers nothing. To our fears of economic insecurity, Mrs. Arroyo mouths assurances as false as ‘I will not run’ in 2002 or ‘I am sorry’ in 2005. To our hopes of public action to mitigate private pains, Mrs. Arroyo merely lays out more pork, more patronage, and yet more opportunities for corruption that enriches only her coterie of conspirators against our democracy.

"We are witnessing the inevitable consequences of corruption becoming the currency of governing. Selfish and self-serving motivations crowd out the rule of law, devotion to public good, and pursuit of sustainable development. Everything is considered from the standpoint of what can be stolen by those in power; hence, all decisions and actions are driven by corruption. For example, corruption infests the enforcement of laws against illegal drugs, then infests the criminal justice system where such cases are brought, and infests public policy where Mrs. Arroyo as anti-drug mini-czar orders drug tests of students as prime measure to fight the breakdown of law enforcement against drug lords.

"We will not have a useful or effective government unless we root out corruption in its brains, muscles and bones. And the tumor that is Mrs. Arroyo’s evil at the center of power is growing daily, corrupting everything in its path to stay in power today, tomorrow, and tomorrow. And yet another year of governing criminally."

***

As postscript to the above statement, and as mirror of the wretchedness the country has sunk into, read this report which was forwarded to us by faithful reader Ferdinand P., and weep: A hospital in eastern Philippines is opening up its residency program to doctors from impoverished Nepal to address a shortage of Filipino physicians. Some 40 Nepalese doctors are vying to be admitted at the state-run Bicol Medical Centre in Naga City, where they will be assigned to departments including pediatrics, surgery and internal medicine.

The Nepalese doctors are supposed to undertake their residency in Philippine hospitals, but an officer-in-charge of the hospital said some of the foreign doctors may be asked to extend their stay to help solve "the severe shortage of doctors in government hospitals." Another government hospital is considering taking in more than 30 Nepalese doctors.

About 1,000 Nepalese doctors look for residency each year in medical facilities across Asia based on the US system to sharpen their skills and because there are only a few hospitals in their country. We have many hospitals, public and private, for a huge population. Problem is, we are now experiencing a shortage of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. How has this come to pass?

Exodus, that’s what. Since the year 2000, some 11,000 Filipino doctors have gone back to school to retrain as nurses, according to the Philippine Medical Association. Most of them have landed jobs as nurses in North America.

If Dona Gloria y su esposo continue in power, time will come when the only medical professionals left in the country are those at St. Luke’s, but their services will not be affordable to you and me. Only crooks in government and their contractors and "runners" will be able to afford them.

Is there no one else?

Last Friday, we described in this space what to our mind are the parameters of informed choice, for the kind of president we should elect in 2010. We have described ten presidential wannabe’s in previous columns. In the order of our articles, they have been former president Joseph Estrada, Sen. Dick Gordon, Sen. Loren Legarda, MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando, Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, then Sen. Francis Escudero, Vice-President Noli de Castro, Sen. Manuel Villar, Sen. Manuel A. Roxas, and Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson. Ten in all. These are the names most often enumerated by media, and the ones most often included by the pre-campaign poll surveys. But are there any others waiting for their “timing” to announce their candidacies?

Over the weekend, Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte categorically declared before the Kapihan sa Sulo forum that he is not running for president, dashing the hopes of some Lakas faithful that he could be their standard-bearer. Sonny knows best. I have always known him to be a man who weighs his chances carefully, and he knows that a presidential run at this time is “suntok sa buwan”. Never mind that he has proven competence in administration.

Administration loyalists are also thinking of Gilbert Teodoro, who has been competently running that staff department called National Defense. Early last year, when we bumped into each other at the wedding of Anthony Taberna and his lovely Roselle , Gilbert hinted at a desire to seek the highest post in the land. I told him that he needed to show both his wares and intent early on. He has been coy. And his own uncle, Ambassador Danding Cojuangco, owner of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, had formally announced that the party will choose between Senators Legarda and Escudero. One cannot fathom Gilbert running for president under a Lakas-Kampi coalition without the blessings of his uncle, who has been his political “father”. It is against the political culture of this country.

Groups like Kaya Natin have floated names like Among Ed, the embattled governor of Pampanga, Gov. Grace Padaca, a giant-killer five years ago when she broke the Dy dynasty in Isabela, and remarkable Jesse Robredo, umpteenth mayor of Naga City. The last two have been Magsaysay awardees for public governance, no mean feat indeed. But check out their awareness in an electorate of 40 million, and see how difficult the road ahead could be. I have kept saying that one should not run for senator of the land if a year before elections, his or her awareness level as measured by the surveys falls below 70%. You’d be surprised to note that persons more often in the news than these three have awareness ratings no higher than 40 to 50%. If any of the three should now announce that they are available for the senatorial slate of say, the Liberal Party, of whom the last two are card-bearing members, and accompany the announcement with familiarization trips across the archipelago, they ought to hit awareness levels of 70% by September this year. But the presidency? That’s a pipe dream, where the ten names we have described in our articles all have anywhere from 95 to 100 percent awareness levels.

I hate to be a wet blanket to the dreams of the idealistic Kaya Natin and their adherents, but political reality must set in. Kapatiran, the political party launched years ago by Nandy Pacheco, has been at it for a decade or so, and the highest number of votes a senatorial candidate of theirs garnered in 2007 was about half a million. One needs more than 11 million votes to be Number 12 in the next senatorial polls. Theirs is a laudable quest, but the system we operate in cannot change overnight.

This is not to detract from the competence of Padaca or Robredo, which have been demonstrated. This is not to pooh-pooh Panlilio’s singular feat of increasing quarry collection fees in Pampanga, manifold times over the Lapids, pere et fil. But they have yet to capture the nation’s imagination, let alone attention. Padaca and Robredo are excellent cabinet secretary material in a future administration, and that should give them the exposure needed to bag a Senate seat, and perhaps later, the presidency. But it’s definitely early days, whatever the bloggers spread.

So, is there no one else?

One name that has particularly caught the attention of the thinking crowd is that of Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno. His low performance approval ratings as head of the Supreme Court is attributable to low awareness of the position among the masa, and second, his family name is often confused for Dona Gloria’s interior secretary and political Rasputin. The Chief is hardly related to Ronnie the Tree, but people do not know that.

But he has maintained, against a preponderance of numbers in his own court, the independence and institutional integrity of the highest magistracy. That has created believers among thinking society, who keep searching for one man to best approximate the “untainted, un-tarnished, un-controversial” character they seek in the next person to lead the land after the abomination. His stock rose when the lackey of a most controversial former congressman attacked his integrity over a mediocre ponencia written by a mercifully retired associate justice, the promulgation of which was withheld by his peers en banc. Noises about possible impeachment by a House of thieves made Puno loom even larger in the esteem of civil society.

Then, when he delivered a speech before young businessmen about the need for a “moral force”, using Confucian writings about the primacy of trust and credibility in national leadership, no less than a presidentiable, Senator Ping Lacson, endorsed him for the presidency, and declared that he would defer to the Chief Justice should the latter decide to run. Of course, Puno has refrained from taking the bite, but his name continues to reverberate among thinking society. It was reported yesterday that the CJ will launch the “moral force” along with civil society and religious leaders before the Holy Week. Will the moral force become a vehicle for political participation in 2010?

Let me now walk our readers through the Fernan experiment in 1991. I was one of those who were unimpressed with the list of presidential; wannabe’s for 1992. Either they were good, but not winnable, or, they were winnable, but they were not good enough. There was Vice-Pres. Doy Laurel, Senate Pres. Jovito Salonga, Speaker Monching Mitra, Ambassador Danding Cojuangco, Sen. Joseph Estrada, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and Defense Secretary Fidel V. Ramos. Note that all of them, but for Imelda, came from Luzon.

I walked to Sen. Orly Mercado one fine April morning in 1991, and asked him to consider endorsing Chief Justice Marcelo B. Fernan. The man’s integrity was unsullied; he was not exactly a stranger to politics, having won overwhelmingly in 1984 as opposition member of parliament in Marcos’ Batasang Pambansa. Political arithmetic, I said, would take advantage of his being a Cebuano, and the Bisaya-speaking population of the country constituted 34% of the voters, a huge political force if united behind an “inato” candidate. It was, I reminded Orly, more than 30 years since the Cebuano-speaking nation had a president, the last one being Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol. On May 1, 1991, Orly and I flew to Cebu, and in a Labor Day speech, he entered Celing Fernan’s name in the presidential derby.

Immediately thereafter, Cebuano-speaking senators John Osmena and Boy Herrera seconded Orly, and later, even Ed Angara of Aurora. A secretariat to drum interest in the latecomer included Gov. Lito Osmena and his brother Tomas, now mayor of Cebu City, Lito Atienza, Mar Roxas and myself. Civil society took notice. The late Cardinal Sin was enthusiastic. Even President Cory was quietly encouraging. Things would have been different if Fernan took the political plunge two or three months after Orly’s announcement, but Mano Celing took so many months of agonizing whether to take a leap of faith, as against many more years in the Court as its Chief. When he finally took the leap, and resigned as chief magistrate, it was already the first week of December, less than sixty days before the starting bell of the campaign. Enthusiasm had waned, and in the end, we had to settle for vice-president, in tandem with Mitra of the humongous LDP. Mano Celing eventually became senator of the realm in 1995, and in 1998, Senate President, but died two years after.

If the Chief Justice should deign to take a political hat, and throw the same into the presidential ring, it would be best to take lessons from the unfortunate Fernan quest eighteen years ago. Of course, these are different times, and perhaps the despair over the system and its self-perpetuating cycle of shameless trapos could get enough people to take a long hard look at the chief magistrate as potential chief executive. Perhaps if civil society and respected religious sectors rallied around him, after no less than a senator-presidentiable announced he would support Puno, the tide of low awareness and even lower vote conversion could yet be reversed. But time is of the essence, and that runs fast.

Parenthetically, the clamor for the Chief Justice could also take the form of heading a transition government, a revolutionary mechanism proposed by many of those disenchanted with the decrepit political system. Given his competence and what we have appreciated of his character, Reynato Puno would indeed make such an excellent leader in transition. But that is a big IF, and as 2010 comes closer, chances of such catharsis materializing get more and more remote. At the risk of being called a subversive, I have always supported systems change, but not in the manner proposed by the unrelenting and irredeemable trapos who espouse cosmetic and self-serving charter change. The present polity, to my mind, sucks. It has kept us all benighted. But until circumstances and the political environment conspire to produce the culture for such germ of revolution to flower, we have to pin our hopes on a flawed system that just might produce a strong and incorruptible leader who will, after electoral victory and despite tremendous odds, change that hopeless system.

And because Filipinos take a long time to familiarize themselves with political candidates, pervasiveness of media notwithstanding, the chances of having someone outside the circle of ten entering the presidential fray are low. Of course, this is not doctrine, it is fair forecast.

What concerned Filipinos should do is make a mental matrix of the qualities needed in a president for these desperate times, and rate the ten against such desired qualities. Certainly, there are good persons among the ten. There are brilliant persons among the ten. There are persons with proven track records in their public life among the ten. There are persons among the ten whose political will and strong character have been demonstrated in the past and present. Just as there are people whose fitness for the office have been beclouded by issues of corruption or taking advantage of position for personal profit.

In sum, except for the possibility of a Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, there shall be no one else but the ten, namely: Ping, Mar. Loren, Chiz, Manny, Noli and Erap, plus BF, Dick and Jojo --- from whom to choose who should lead this benighted land out of the pits of its collective despair, if we have elections in 2010.

* * *

Just to underline how Dona Gloria continues to abuse the presidential power of appointments, she recently allowed an ailing Ramon Revilla Sr. to retire as chair of the Public Estates Authority. But guess who she named to replace him?

Why, Revilla’s son-in-law, former senator and former basketball superstar Robert Jaworski! All in the family.

And read more: El Esposo’s lawyer Ruy Rondain has been rewarded for representing his client, aside from legal fees, of course. His wife Cielo, or Chelo, has recently been appointed Assistant Solicitor General. Not that Agnes Devanadera wanted her, but what could she do? No wonder Agnes is dying to be appointed to the High Court. And if she finally gets her wish, who will be the new Sol-Gen? Think about it, and weep.

Napakagarapal

Sa imbestigasyon ng Institutional Integrity Division (INT) ng World Bank, may testimonya ang isang mangangalakal na Hapones, si Tomatu Suzuka, ukol sa kanyang mga eksperyensya sa Pilipinas, kung saan nagtangka siyang mangontrata ng mga proyekto. Minsan daw ay nakaharap niya si Ginoong Mike Arroyo at isang yumao nang senador. Hindi raw kasi siya makapasok-pasok sa DPWH, at sinabihan nga raw siya na kailangan kasing makipag-ugnayan siya sa mga malalakas at ma-impluwensyang tao. Nguni’t nasobrahan daw siya sa pakikipag-usap niyang iyon, at sa testimonya ay nasabing “they had a very rough approach” patungkol sa laki ng hinihinging pabuya. Ito naman ay isinalin ni Senador Ping Lacson sa wikang Tagalog, matapos makatanggap ng kopya ng report, at sinabi niyang “garapal”.

Kung dumaloy man sa isipan ni G. Suzuka o sinuman sa mahigit tatlumpung tao na ininterbyu sa imbestigasyon ng World Bank, ay tiyak na hindi na iti maglalakas-loob matapos mapanood ang nangyari sa Senado noong Huwebes na nagdaan, sa hearing na ipinatawag ni Senyora Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Sa mula’t mula pa ay nagpakita na ng kakaibang interes itong si Santiago na siya ang humawak ng imbestigasyon. Marami ang nagsabing dapat daw ay Blue Ribbon Committee ang humawak ng imbestigasyon, nguni’t dahil sa ang World Bank ay matataguriang isang economic organization”, pinilit ni Senyora Miriam na sa kanya mapapunta ang isyu. Nakisama naman at pinagbigyan siya ng mga kapwa-senador matapos na mag-aasta pa sa plenaryo ng Senado.

Nguni’t noong Huwebes ay sa umpisa pa lamang ay makikita na ang patutunguhan ng hearing. Papel ni Senyora Miriam ay huwes o mahistrado at hindi senador. Rules of court lang daw ang kanyang gagamitin sa pagtanggap ng mga ebidensya, at binale-wala ang imbestigasyon bilang isang tulong sa lehislasyon at hindi isang criminal o civil proceeding.

Higit isang oras ang ginugol sa pagtanong ukol sa kalusugan ni G. Mike Arroyo, samantalang hindi naman ito isyu, at tinanggap na nga ng mga kapwa-senador, at nadesisyunan na niya mismo, na hindi pipiliting papuntahin ang esposo ni Donya Gloria sa Senado. Pagkatapos naman ay narinig natin ang pagmamagaling ng inutil na si Merceditas Gutierrez, ang muchacha ng mga Arroyo sa kanyang paghawak ng tanggapan ng Ombudsman, naturingan pa namang isang independyenteng ahensya na sadyang dapat ay umiimbestiga sa mga kurakutan sa pamahalaan.

Natanggap nga daw niya ang siyam na pahinang report ng WB isang taon na ang nakalilipas, nguni’t hindi naman daw siya makakilos dahil saw ala namang nakasaad na mga testimonya sa summary na ipinadala sa kanya, at may nakasaad pa raw na “confidential”. E anong klaseng imbestigador siya, kung hindi man lamang niya kinapulong ang World Bank para humingi ng mas malawakan at kumpletong report, kasama ang mga salaysay ng testigo? Malinaw na inupuan niya lamang ang WB report imbes na magsaliksik, gaya ng siya niyang responsibilidad.

E bakit si Lacson, nakakuha ng kopya ng report, matapos na sumabog na nga itong pagkaka-blacklist sa tatlong kontratistang Pinoy at limang kontratistang banyaga? Ano ang ginawa ni Merceditas sa loob ng pagkatagal-tagal na panahon? E di --- wala. At bakit nga naman siya magsasaliksik, e kung may Makita pa siyang masama, samantalang tila malinaw na malinaw ang tagubilin sa kanya ng mag-asawang nag-appoint sa kanya, na dapat ay para siyang ‘yung unggoy sa alamt, na “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”? Hirap na nga ang ale dahil batbat ng “evil” ang pamahalaang pinagsisilbihan niya. Puno na siguro ng muta ang kanyang mga mata, tutuli ang tenga, at panis na laway ang bibig, dahil nga sa dami ng binabale-wala at pinagtatakpang mga krimen laban sa sambayanan.

Moro-morong hindi mabebenta ang ginawa sa Senado ni Senyora Miriam noong Huwebes. At siya namang tinawag ng mga bobo sa Malakanyang na “statesmanship” daw. Ngayon ay World Bank pa ang siyang maysala, Sila pa ang siyang uusigin, nitong pamahalaang walang kasing-korap sa ating kasaysayan.

Talagang garapalan. Wala talagang pag-asang magkaroon ng pagbabago kapag ipinaubaya ang bayan sa mga trapo at mandurugas na nagkukuntsabahan.

The leader we need

Over the past six weeks, interspersed with more au courant topics, we have written in this space about the nine most-mentioned men and one woman who have either directly or through media speculations, indicated interest in running for Philippine politics’ top plum, the presidency after GMA. Just to refresh your memory, we first wrote about Erap (The Hamlet act, January 8), followed by Dick Gordon (What the difference a Dick makes, January 10), then Loren Legarda (Loren’s Sinta for 2010, January 13), Bayani Fernando (The misunderstood Bayani, January 15), and later Jojo Binay (Jobama, January 17). Then we wrote about Francis Escudero (Say Chiz and what do you get?, January 20), followed by Noli de Castro (Et tu, Noli?, Januray 27) and his Wednesday Group buddy-buddy Manny Villar (The Ethics of Mr. Itik, January 29), later Mar Roxas (What’s the matter with Mar?, February 3) and finally Ping Lacson (The atypical Ping, 12 February).

I started with the president I once served, as general manager and CEO of the Philippine Tourism Authority (June 30, 1998 till November 3, 2000), and concurrent Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs (June 30, 1998 till November 3, 2000), Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the darling of the nation’s poor. I ended with the man I have supported since he first sought elections, Senator Ping Lacson, who began his political career in February of 2001, running for senator in the aftermath of Estrada’s ouster, after a successful if brief stint as PNP Director-General from November 1999 to January 20, 2001. While I am (or used to be in one instance), on first-name recognition with all of them, I wrote with close familiarity on the first and the last in the series, Erap and Ping. Mar Roxas and I are friends from the Fernan days of 1991, and have been close together in Erap’s advisory circle. I’ve “been there, done that” since 1981, when Ninoy Aquino got me hooked on this “fever in the blood” called politics, and I thought this is an opportune time to share my views on these men who would be president.

Early last year, I suggested in this same space that civil society and media should get together and sponsor a series of debate-fora throughout the country’s 16 regions, the better to gauge the fitness, both intellectual and moral, of the many aspirants for the presidential derby of 2010. This, I wrote then, could be a simulation of the exhaustive debates and primaries that precede the choice of party candidates as they have in America. We do not have a two-party system as they do, and are plagued by a multiplicity of flags of political convenience. Pia Hontiveros of ANC, who hosts Strictly Politics, liked the idea, and interviewed me on TV about it. Three senators, one cabinet official and one mayor, directly or through media, agreed to participate if something like that could push through. But on February 6, 2000, the nation’s short-sightedness became even more disturbed by an aborted abduction of a prime witness in the ZTE-NBN scandal, and for a while, the dogs of abrupt finis barked at the unstable Arroyo government, as it did when the voices of Garci and she were revealed in 2005.

I have brought attention back to the onus of studied choice, in the hope, perhaps forlorn, that in 2010, the people of this benighted land will not again choose those who I constantly refer to as “the least among us to lead us”. For far too long, we as a people have been like the legendary Sisyphus, cursed to carry the burden of our hopes and dreams up a steep mountain, only to fall back each time. If we were to look at it from the economic assessment of stages of development, we have never “taken-off”. We keep building up towards pre-conditions to growth, always tried to fly, but never got past the runway. In the past decade even, we have retreated to the tarmac, measured in terms of the wretchedness of our poverty.

Which is why it is absolutely important that we choose the best among us to lead us beyond the abomination that is Gloria’s curse. And again as I keep repeating in this space and elsewhere, we have to carefully screen both competence and character, never mind the charisma that has always fooled us in the past. We have been swept away by the charisma of false political gods so many times in the past, only to realize years after, in the winter of our collective discontent, that we chose unwisely.

In the campaign of 1992, when I was working as spokesman for the Mitra-Fernan tandem, a journalist asked then candidate Mitra how he would govern the nation if he could at best only squeak in a tightly-contested race, and therefore, not have a “real” mandate. I have never forgotten how the late Tata Monching replied instantly --- “A president creates his own mandate”.

How true, except that it was Fidel Valdez Ramos, proclaimed winner after a see-saw canvass of votes that had him winning by a whisker, with only 23% of the electorate choosing him over a field of seven, who “created his own mandate”. Now FVR has little personal charisma. His words failed to inspire, and neither did he have the support of the country’s traditional politicians. He formed a party, Lakas-NUCD, out of a rib he fractured off the humongous LDP whose trapos chose Mitra over him, borrowed a band-aid strip from Raul Manglapus’ Christian Democrats, and then got incumbent Cory Aquino to bless his adventure. But his competence was clear, just as his rivals --- statesmen Laurel, Salonga and Mitra, firebrand Miriam, business empire- builder Danding Cojuangco, and the widow Imelda, once the most powerful woman in the country. His character many doubted, partly because they did not know him up close. But when he severed ties with his cousin Ferdinand Marcos the dictator, after serving him loyally for years on end, and finally took a stand in Edsa, his character shone. Many will yet dispute me on this, and perhaps only history will judge, but FVR kept the nation on even keel, started far-reaching reforms (though some disliked these with a passion) and made tough decisions when the same were needed. While I maintained strong doubts about his militarist background, he surprised me by being pacifist when he was president. He built bridges of understanding, instead of sowing more discord in a society already rent by the post-Marcos hang-over. Fidel V. Ramos created his own mandate, and capitalized on the built-in awe and respect for the institution, personal charisma notwithstanding.

I see 2010 as similar in many ways to 1992. The surveys show that there are no clear favourites as yet. There is no narrowing of the field similar to 1998 when it was clear early on that it would be either Erap or Gloria. When the latter sled down to become Joe de Venecia’s vice-president, the coast was clear for Erap. The surveys also reveal that the early leads have been a function of boob-tube presence, made mostly through paid advertising. It is still anybody’s game for six presidentiables --- Noli, Loren, Villar, Chiz, Ping and Mar, plus of course the chancy candidacy of Erap. It is going to be rather improbable for my friends, namely Dick, BF and Jojo, to qualify for the starting line. I may be wrong, for as I said in previous articles, one year is a long, long time in Philippine politics.

I attempted to list down the variables and the givens in the linear equation that political forces will perforce balance if there are elections under the same system in May of 2010. I still have this queasy feeling in my gut that the system may yet be sundered --- either by deft and scheming political maneuvers of Gloria and her cabal, or by a revolution in whatever form.

But, ceteris paribus, or all things being equal, as the economists always preface their equations, the probability of someone else entering the ten names I have written about, to repeat --- Noli, Loren, Villar, Chiz, Ping, Mar, Dick, Bayani, Jojo and Erap, is rather low. The exceptions to the lay of our political game happened when a reticent FPJ suddenly entered the scene, and discombobulated the equation.

There is another very important factor to consider, a major difference between the 1992 contest and what could be next year’s. Then, Cory Aquino was not a hate figure. As incumbent, and as the repository of the loyalty of a great part of civil society, her endorsement had quantifiable political value. If she had not anointed FVR, he surely would not have won. Today, despite incumbency, all but fifteen percent of this country hate Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and of the 15% who approve her yet, less than half would vote for whoever she endorses, and assert their independence of choice. Call it “kiss of death” if you may, but for her unquestioned ability to do anything and everything to pursue her amoral ends (read that as resources plus cheating operations), she would be better off just fading into the political sunset (though this is not likely).

Also, it would be foolish to assume that we will have a single “opposition” candidate. Perish the thought this early. Candidates will be chosen not on the basis of their administration or oppositionist leanings. First, because if elections push through, Gloria would not only be lame-duck, she would be pariah in most people’s sentiments. Second, because defining who is truly oppositionist is an exercise in futility. But for two or three, no one will strictly qualify, as loyalties in our crazy political set-up are mix-and-match, very situational rather than principled.

Candidates will be screened according to their track record, their steadfastness to principle, their platforms if any. While it may be reasoned that I speak only for the middle-class and up when I state this, I believe that the hopelessness of the socio-economic and political environment would goad even the masa to take stock, think, and think twice, before paying with their votes the money that trapos will give. That of course is a role cut out for church groups, civil society, the youth, and of course, the pervasive media. They must help in the process of informed choice, and insofar as the presidency is concerned, 90% of the population, I believe, will sit up and listen. I still have faith in the Filipino, even if there are times when I want to give up. The local trapos, like always, will be too busy with their own local fights, and will just take the money of the national trapos, period. Command votes will probably deliver only in the case of Zaldy Ampatuan and his ilk, but again, because his landlady, his boss woman will soon be functus oficio, he will paddle his own canoe for survival’s sake. He will be up for grabs, so to speak.

Who is the leader we need? It cannot be one who has stolen from the kaban ng bayan, whether proven, or where the preponderance of proof, but for our “fixable” prosecutorial and justice system, is evident. It cannot be one whose sense of the moral or immoral has allowed his conscience to take advantage of the poor and powerless, in business or political endeavours. It cannot be one who has refused to learn, either because of inherent lack of comprehensive prowess, or because of sloth. It cannot be one who, having been given a position of responsibility, has acted irresponsibly or did not learn from human mistakes. Bawal dapat ang bobo, at bawal ang tamad. The nation and its population of close to a hundred million, can no longer endure another flirtation with shallowness. The next leader should be one who has stood for principle, and as best as possible, been unwavering in his written or spoken commitments. These are some of the measures of competence and character.

For better or for worse, there will be an NPC candidate, either as a stand-alone party, or in combination with like-minded traditional parties. It could be Lakas, Kampi, both, or huge fractions thereof, depending on how the negotiators on both sides will transact their political sosyo-sosyo. The old pre-martial law parties will plant their flags in the presidential derby of 2010, the Liberal Party better situated than the Nacionalistas, the latter being a party of, by and for one man, Manuel Villar. The fortunes of the NP are ineluctably bound to the political fortunes of Villar; the LP has freedom of choice, on the unlikely probability that its prince, Mar Roxas, should “pass”. If the NPC and Dona Gloria cannot come to terms, then Lakas-Kampi will have to find a candidate, and the most likely “saviour” would be Vice-President Noli de Castro. Or, (do not discount the possibility), they might yet tap a Gilbert Teodoro or a BF, or even a Ronnie Puno. Dick Gordon is not likely to fly the standards of Kampi. That both parties will disintegrate into fractions before January 2010 is likely, with a pro-FVR and whoever else left with JDV coalescing with another party.

If Erap runs, there will be a PMP. Like Villar’s Nacionalistas, the glue that binds the party together is one person. If NPC chooses Chiz over Loren, she would perhaps resurrect whatever remains of Ed Angara’s LDP. Smaller but tightly-knit parties like PDP-Laban, if they could go beyond their narrow and temporary alliance with Erap’s PMP, and champion their own presidential candidate, could yet become another major player. The so-called United Opposition or UNO, has become political farce. Candidates like Ping, Loren (assuming Danding ditches her for Chiz) and Noli (if he is minded to run, or if he is jettisoned by GMA for the NPC candidate) would likely cobble a coalition of parties, and this is where even moribund vehicles like Reporma and Aksyon Demokratiko could be useful. Philippine politics under the present system is hopelessly personal, and parties are of lesser significance. If one does not own shelter, he could always rent one.

Chiz or Loren will run as the NPC candidate. If the NPC allies with GMA, in pursuit of the same alliance that has been mutually beneficial to both she and NPC’s bosses, Loren will likely not be the candidate. The Nacionalistas will field Villar, assuming he is still willing to bet his own real estate fortune in running. The Liberals will field Mar, assuming he himself does not lose heart, in which case, they mat cast a wider net. Fractions of Lakas and Kampi will congeal towards other candidates, whether Noli or Ping or Loren. Whatever is left of FVR’s Lakas just might stubbornly field the stubborn Bayani Fernando. PMP will have Erap, with PDP’s Jojo Binay as his vice-president, if KBL’s Bongbong Marcos does not beat him to it.

So there you are --- my scenario for 2010, again with the caveat that first, I still am not too convinced the road is clear towards elections, and second, my personal belief that reforms will be slow and tedious even if we are able to elect the best instead of the least, such that to me, only revolutionary catharsis, admittedly a giant leap of faith, can bring about meaningful change. Only a discombobulation of the puerile and destructive system would give this benighted land a chance at redemption.

Next week, circumstances permitting, we will ask --- Is there no one else?