Right and Wrong
By Carol
Pagaduan-Araullo
Streetwise
BusinessWorld, Aug. 5-6, 2005
Posted by Bulatlat
One line of argument that the Gloria Step
Down Movement has had to contend with is anchored on the supposition that
the alternatives to a Gloria presidency are so unpalatable they are
practically none existent.
The Malacañang propaganda machine and its
paid media hacks are working overtime to picture the obvious candidates to
replace Mrs. Arroyo as either incompetent in governance, recycled
political rejects or heirs thereto or as untrustworthy as Gloria with the
potential to rival her in the lying, stealing and cheating departments.
So rather than jump from the frying pan into the fire, the seguristas
say let’s just sit tight, give the Gloria regime another chance to do
better, tone down the “political noise” and pray for things to at least
not get any worse so that the nation can settle down and survive this
latest political convulsion.
This seemingly prudent, low-risk approach
to the nation’s current crisis apparently has found favor with a
considerable number in the middle class, or at least that part of it that
still has something worth clinging to unlike those who not only feel poor,
but actually are, and desperately so.
Thus we hear otherwise decent, morally
upright and well-educated people (we assume they are not relatives,
business cronies or political allies of Mrs. Arroyo who directly benefit
from her rule) saying that the leadership crisis facing Mrs. Arroyo is
overblown. All politicians cheat their way to office anyway; all are to
varying degrees corrupt; all resort to half-truths, distortions and
outright lies to survive the political snake pit; and all are beholden to
the country’s former colonizer, the USA, and to the armed forces whose
shifts in allegiance can make or break any ruling regime.
Gloria and her loyalists take this cynical
sentiment a step further and conclude with the assertion that it is the
“system,” a suitably amorphous and ambiguous entity, which is impaired and
must be reformed. Ergo the solution doesn’t lie in replacing Mrs. Arroyo,
specially not with dimwits (even if they are in the Arroyo camp) or
political has-beens (vintage Marcos and Erap) or heaven forbid, those
Leftist radicals (even if apart from peasant and working class leaders
they count priests, nuns, professors and professionals among them) who
will usher in a godless society where everyone is equally miserable and
destitute.
The Malacañang spin is that the solution
lies in Mrs. Arroyo’s holding on to power no matter the public clamor that
she step down, for that is patriotism and adherence to the rule of law of
the highest order. To do this she must entice her allies in Congress to
use their numbers to defeat the impeachment complaint against her without
appearing to be railroading matters. In fact the administration majority
must appear to be bending over backwards to accommodate the opposition so
that when they utilize the tyranny of numbers to junk the impeachment
complaint, everything will appear fair and square and according to the
rules. In a word, constitutional.
In her State-of-the-Nation address, Mrs.
Arroyo dangles charter change via a constituent assembly to the honorable
members of Congress and the response is gleeful. How then are the members
of the Administration majority supposed to maintain their independence and
vote according to their conscience and not party affiliation? The
spectacle reeks of patronage politics and plain bribery at its worst
especially in the light of Mrs. Arroyo’s challenge to the opposition to
take their charges of electoral fraud and other presidential wrongdoing to
Congress and there have her impeached.
The people are expected to believe that
the urgent reform of our terribly flawed and untenable political system
can be entrusted to traditional politicians whose track record
individually (except for very few) and as an institutional body is nothing
short of uninspiring if not out rightly disgusting. The people are also
expected to believe that Mrs. Arroyo’s decision to back the Ramos-de
Venecia chacha is motivated by her recognition of the need for substantial
change in the political system rather than her own desperate need for
survival.
The problem with this latest
trouble-shooting approach of Malacañang bright boys is that it relies for
its success on some of the most backward, uncritical, cynical and passive
ideas about governance and politics in this country and that’s not saying
much.
It presupposes that it is all right for
Mrs. Arroyo to attempt to influence COMELEC officials to favor her
candidacy using the awesome power and influence of the Office of the
President since any politician in the same position would do the same.
It glosses over the fact that Mrs. Arroyo
attempted to use the powers of the Presidency to cover up the discovery of
her highly questionable actuations.
It justifies her resort to prevarication
(“I’m sorry”); suppression of evidence (“Mere possession of copies of the
wiretapped conversation is punishable”); withholding of testimony
(“Malacañang has no inkling where Commissioner Garcillano is”); and all
kinds of underhanded political maneuvers (chacha vs. impeachment).
Moreover it foists the unacceptable view
that in a nation of more than 80 million people, there are no alternatives
to the illegitimate, morally bankrupt and corrupt Arroyo regime.
On the other hand, the people’s movement
calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation, impeachment or ouster is standing
firmly on the ground that wrongdoing, especially by the highest officials
of the land, must not be tolerated; that our people deserve much more by
way of their national leaders; that those proven to be untrustworthy
cannot be expected to lead the way to any genuine and meaningful system
change. These are basic principles and values without which this country
is doomed to fail.
A reader’s feedback to last week’s column
should give Malacañang pause:
“Thanks for your analysis on current and
past bedfellow arrangements in the course of getting rid of venal people.
I also think it important to state that
people like me who won’t go to the rally because there is a principled
feeling that one cannot go there with the likes of Imee and Jinggoy, be
acknowledged and respected. BUT, it doesn’t mean we don’t want her
(Gloria) to resign or that we think the alliances are beneath us, or we
are less resolute or many, many other reasons put on us. You know I don’t
shirk from street marching.
But it’s just the unease and the unease
may certainly be wiped out when new events come to the fore.
For example, yesterday, I just happen to
have been in the company of Liza Araneta Marcos and I asked her point
blank, was there a meeting between GMA and Imelda and did GMA offer to
have Marcos buried in Libingan (ng mga Bayani). I consider Liza to be
forthright and she did confirm both questions and also said though that
the Marcos children were uneasy with GMA and the timing of such an offer.
They're not stupid.
Meanwhile, having confirmed this in my
head, I've been very pissed. Pissed enough to know the next street march
is for me, regardless of the shady characters around. The Marcos past has
just been dragged in and that's just over the top. I have told many
people about this fact and you can bet that there will be more street
marchers and more asking for GMA's head. And you should spread this word
around so that yes, the next march and the next and the next will be the
tidal wave we need.” Posted by Bulatlat
Published in
Business World
5-6 August 2005
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