Impeachment issue: Revival of Philippine-style politics

Isagani Cruz, Daily Inquirer The Philippines, Manila

Many hoped that the Supreme Court decision last week on the impeachment case would give the nation a respite from the political and legal skirmishes that had rocked it during the past several weeks. But this was not to be as the staged demonstration at Makati the next day proved all too odiously.

The report that the demonstrators were hauled to Ayala Avenue in Makati and paid for their attendance at the rally was not surprising. Such tactics have become the modus operandi of the vicious forces that would bribe and incite the masses to cause disorder and mayhem in the name of freedom of expression.

So we are back to politics Philippine-style, with the purchased mob mindlessly participating in the violence not out of an honest sense of outrage and protest but only upon the wicked instigation of clandestine overseers. These unprincipled agitators couldn't care less for the people's welfare but are motivated only by their own selfish ends.

With the impeachment issue seemingly laid to rest, Speaker Jose de Venecia will again mount his desperate appeal for support of the abortive Cha-Cha. Many people suspect, not without reason, that he hopes to be prime minister under the parliamentary system he wants to establish through his unpopular movement.

De Venecia ran for president of the Philippines but was roundly defeated in 1998. He now dreams of heading the government under an amended Constitution where he will be elected not by the voters at large but by a more tractable legislature with fewer people to persuade. He hopes to achieve this goal by going through the back door, as it were, instead of by a direct national mandate.

Given the quality of our present crop of politicians as exemplified by the congressmen-impeachers, we can imagine what persuasions can easily win their choice for prime minister. Given that among these persuasions is cold hard cash, campaigning among the legislators will be much more economical than campaigning throughout the land.

President Macapagal-Arroyo has piously pronounced that she is sacrificing a life of ease and retirement by running for election in 2004 "in the interest of the nation she loves." Such tripe has become so wearisome that the only reaction it deserves is scornful rejection. Shame on her for thinking that intelligent voters-of whom there are still quite a few-can be so easily deceived.

Senator Panfilo Lacson has accused the President and her husband of rank corruption but has so far failed to prove his charges. Meanwhile, Senate Committee Report 237, which holds him prima facie guilty of certain serious offenses, is still on ice. That RTC judge who dismissed the Kuratong Baleleng case for lack of probable cause is now being charged with grave abuse of discretion for prematurely absolving him and the other accused.

To his credit, Lacson has eschewed singing for the people's vote like most cheap politicians. He deserves sincere praise for dignifying his campaigning and putting it on a higher plane.

And what about Senator Gregorio Honasan? Soon after the Oakwood mutiny, he went underground for fear, he said, of being arrested. He finally surfaced later to belie denunciations of his cowardice and apparent guilt, but he was not arrested as he had feared. The government has not touched him to date although, as the Bible says, "The guilty flee when no man pursueth, but the innocent are as bold as a lion."

No sooner had the tempest in Congress been quelled than another problem arose. Col. Panfilo Villaruel and Navy Lt. Ricardo Catchillar seized the Naia control tower and were killed on the spot. An investigation conducted by three Senate committees deepened doubts about the summary action taken, given the clear cries of Villaruel that he and his aide were surrendering. The soldiers just barged in and started shooting. Suspiciously, it took them one hour to bring down the bullet- ridden bodies of the victims.

It is fortunate that, as recorded on tape, Villaruel was able to articulate his anger over the corruption and other serious failings of the government before 12 bullets took his life. Those few precious minutes when he protested the ills of our officialdom gave meaning at least to his untimely and needless death.

And now there is the ominous news that Fernando Poe Jr., Da King of Philippine Movies, has finally agreed to consider running for president of the Philippines next year. With the bakya crowd supporting him as they foolishly elected Erap in 1998, desperate days, indeed, hang over the Republic of the Philippines like vultures in the sky.

Philippine politics have reached rock bottom that the only way left is up from our accustomed failures. High school graduates naively say in their commencement speeches: "Our greatest glory lies not in never falling but in rising every time we fall." The question is: Are we too tired and too defeated to at least try to rise again?