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Those
who are involved in “communal action” in search for the
truth about the ZTE/national broadband network (NBN)
deal and, if one believes former Speaker Jose de Venecia
Jr. and his wife, Gina, a string of other contumacious
acts under this administration, better be prepared to
handle the consequences.
Just
like Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo’s call to
“communal action,” which was embraced in a number of
ways by his colleagues and the faithful, knowing the
truth about the ZTE/NBN deal is one thing, doing
something about it is another.
As the
truism goes, the road to hell is paved with good
intentions. And there lies the danger not just for the
Arroyo loyalists and the most rabid Arroyo critics, but
ultimately the nation as a whole.
Already,
there are moves to insinuate (kalburuhin, as they
say in street lingo) an Edsa moment by fueling the
outrage over the reported cases of corruption and abuse
of the regime, disregard all norms of redress provided
for under the basic law and seize power by any means
possible.
Taking
off or, should we say, driving the ongoing Senate
investigation to suit their own ends, these guys are
feverishly bashing every nonbeliever in sight in a bid
to get their way.
Even the
whistle blower of the moment, Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada
Jr., who has put on a good show since he claimed “low
bat” and “miscommunication” as the culprits for that
nonkidnapping-now-abduction-cum-attempted murder
scenario on February 5, seems dazed by the turn of
events. Asked whether he will endorse the “Gloria
Resign” or “Step Down” movements, he sheepishly mumbled
he was just “trying to tell the truth as he knew it,”
nothing more. Yet, he was visibly basking in the
limelight of a mini school tour organized by the
“Resign” crowd. Talk about standing up for one’s
convictions.
Indeed,
it is clear that the groups and personalities riding on
the public outrage over the scandal of the moment are
pulling our people and the nation to suit their own
ends, a development that, if left unchecked, can bring
us to unthinkable perdition.
Whether
the bishops and the religious sector realize it or not,
the ZTE/NBN deal probe has become the lynchpin of a
struggle for power not just between the Arroyo loyalists
and critics but among the members of the broadening
opposition, all of whom are busily engaged in directing
the growing outcry their own ways.
The
ongoing investigation and the attendant operations, in
and out of the Senate, are all too patently political to
be ignored. The protest rallies and symposia being run
all over the place, coupled with the teasing
“revelations” or collateral strikes, as some have come
to describe these, of the de Venecia couple and their
newly found comrades in the anti-Arroyo column can only
reinforce the view that, indeed, the effort to take over
power—even before the next elections—is well on the way.
As one
pundit noted, describing the demeanor of many senators
as grandstanding may be too harsh, but if they don’t
watch out they may just be cast that way, and the
present investigation from one essentially “in aid of
legislation” to more like “in aid of a power grab.”
It does
not help that Senate blue-ribbon committee chairman Alan
Peter Cayetano petulantly insisted that they will “get
to the bottom of the whole thing no matter what,” yet
keeps on teasing the public with a growing list of
“potential witnesses” who will presumably rant even more
on what they “know” about the deal than what Joey de
Venecia, Lozada and Commission on Higher Education chief
Romy Neri have all said.
But, as
some observers have been asking, what else need to be
said or known before the tricommittee can come out with
a report and present its findings, especially that which
pertains to new or remedial legislation needed to make
our procurement system less prone to corruption and
abuse? After all, it is legislation more than anything
else which the senators admit they have been elected to
do. Unless, of course, they will now ignore all other
institutions and substitute their operations all in the
service of the “truth.”
It will
not also help even for the Senate as an institution if
the public is subjected to such innuendo as Sen. Jamby
Madrigal’s “Are you as close to Secretary Neri as Tom
Isaguirre and Roger Santos?” question to Lozada, or her
tantrumatic “I will bring in even more personal things
about Neri if he continues to say anything about this
‘patriotic fund.’”
(By the
way, why is Cayetano or Senate President Manny Villar
not talking about this when it clearly impacts on the
value of Lozada’s testimony?) Or even Madrigal’s letting
Lozada corroborate rather than spell out what he says he
knows about Neri’s so-called revelations (Aboitiz ba
’ka mo?).
Nor will
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan’s patent gimmickry in shoving some
monies into a “sanctuary fund” or Sen. Aquilino Pimentel
Jr.’s ranting about ZTE and China illuminate the search
for truth and lead us to a responsive and responsible
conclusion to this sordid episode in our national
life.
What we
are hoping our good senators will do with this
investigation, Lozada, de Venecia and even the airport
and police officers is steer it to its logical and
proper conclusion. That should include saying something
about “corruption” and whether the same is systemic or
merely a function of people manning the levers of power.
That
should also include a page about ferreting out the truth
using congressional inquiries and the mites and bounds
of such undertaking. That should also include assigning
the blame on the irregularities and abuses associated
with this story.
But more
importantly, the pieces of legislation needed to
minimize if not insure abuse and corruption of the
government’s procurement system, especially the use of
official development assistance.
In a
word, this investigation should not only lead us to the
truth, the whole truth and all that stuff, but teach us
to discern and the consequences of the use or misuse of
such knowledge.
The
senators and their counterparts in the House should be
told that while the public will probably give them as
much leeway in their inquiries in aid of legislation,
there is a limit to such powers. That limit is not only
the one prescribed by the Constitution and the Supreme
Court but by the people themselves, who will see through
all the theatrics and ranting for what they really are.
For one,
the public will ask why our good senators are not as
aggrieved or inflammatory in denouncing “big pharma” or
“big oil” or even rampant smuggling of essentials, such
as oil and the like, or even the unresolved “sins” of
the past, such as PEA-Amari, independent power
producers, peace bonds, the aborted Neptunia takeover of
San Miguel, the unfinished or wasted Presidential
Commission on Good Government cases and assets, and so
on.
Truth,
indeed, is one thing, what to do about it, another.
Talaga naman…. |
