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Newspaper reports showed former Speaker Jose de Venecia
Jr. conferring with opposition leaders and appears to be
striking a deal. Former President Fidel Ramos, on the
other hand, indicated that JDV may step down soon as
president of Lakas-CMD, leaving the former political
strongman out in the cold.
There is
no doubt that JDV had contributed so much to the
evolution of the Lakas into the biggest political party
in the country and the most influential nationally and
internationally. However, when party unity and survival
is at stake, the priorities of the party shifts into
sustaining political initiatives and drifts away from
personalities who tend to destroy rather than build.
n n n
There is
no more painful a spectacle than to see a good friend
threatening you with disgrace, or much worse, involve
someone you have always publicly referred to as an ally
in wrongdoing that is sketchy and fabricated at best.
And when such friends turn ugly, who can we trust? When
even our privileged communications cease to become
honored ground?
I know
Joe de Venecia to be a reasonable man, a just man and a
gentleman, and I expect nothing but the highest form of
statesmanship and intellectualism from him. I am still
not giving up on my high esteem of this man.
I pray
that he will not commit the mistakes that so often
befall the desperate and the damned. To allow one’s self
to be a puppet on someone’s string, to be exploited and
used by people with less to offer, this is something we
cannot contemplate. But then, who can we trust?
n n n
As
political leaders of this land, as government officials
of consequence, we hold positions of trust, to be
performed with integrity and respect for the greater
number of people who entrusted in us so much honor and
prestige. It is not a permanent office, it is limited in
its tenure and scope simply because we are all
accountable for decisions that we make, the work that we
perform, the objectives that we pursue and the end
result of our labors.
At the
end of the day, it is in the manner of how we end it
that will always linger in the minds of these same
people who made us what we are. Let us not disappoint
them.
n n n
On the
plus side, the country’s gross international reserves
again rose dramatically to $34.4 billion, an all-time
high. Despite the onslaughts on the credibility of the
Arroyo administration, when even an upstart senator can
ask the President to take a leave of absence, the
President’s economic initiatives continue to bear fruit.
The
forex continues to hang on at P40.62 to a dollar while
Federal officials warn of an impending recession in the
US; another group of foreign investors have poured in
some $150 million in fresh investments in the energy
sector; thousands of senior high-school students are now
qualified for scholarships after garnering almost
perfect scores in the National Career Assessment
Examinations, which tells a lot about the education
system in the country; and everywhere around us are
evidence of democracy at work.
There
are so many good things happening that is being
overshadowed by the melodramatics and funny antics of
those scheming against this government, which diminish
the achievements of our government in the eyes of the
world. We lose and nobody wins.
n n n
The race
for the Democratic standard bearer in the forthcoming US
presidential elections has changed the way Americans now
view the future of their nation and their concept of how
government should be run.
Many
Democrats have broken with the Clintons to shift their
support to Obama, an African-American who has captured
the hearts and minds of key political leaders and
campaign contributors, despite the fact that he is
black. And believe me, they have nothing against a woman
as president of the USA.
The
unique American selection process makes it possible to
allow voters enough time to ponder on the merits of each
protagonist and, in this manner, compare the past with
the possibilities of the future. The ironic predicament
of Hillary is that many young Democrats see the
possibility that if she wins the primaries, she may not
be so lucky come election time. She can lose, and they
are opting for someone who has the acceptability to win
in November, not just the primaries.
n n n
Famous
writer Robert Ludlum wrote in one of his novels: “For
me, one of the truly great achievements of man is open
representative democracy, and the greatest of all
attempts throughout history to create such a system was
the significant American experiment as expressed in our
Constitution. It’s not perfect, but to paraphrase
Winston Churchill, it’s the best damn thing on the
block.”
Yes, we
too have a functioning democracy that even some of our
neighbors envy, and it is evident in the way we live,
the way we conduct ourselves in the face of
disappointments and adversities. We strive to maintain
that political maturity that improves with time. But we
can do more if we continue to have faith in ourselves. |
