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There is
no question that the Estrada pardon on Friday, like the
former leader’s conviction some weeks back, marks
another first in our roller-coaster ride as a democratic
nation.
But
possibly, with even bigger implications and higher
stakes for the nation and the key players themselves and
their followers this time around.
Already,
we are hearing voices, like those of former President
Ramos and the dwindling ranks of so-called civil
society, warning of “dire consequences” for the nation
and its future. They talk of a “dark conspiracy” of
discredited leaders with unmentionable agendas who have
hijacked the spirit of the two Edsas as if they have a
patent on how democracy and the true people’s agenda
should come about.
But
whatever those consequences may be remain, for now, in
the interstices of their conceited minds. For whether
they like it or not, this act of statesmanship on the
part of both President Arroyo and the former President
has been met with almost universal approval.
As our
cohost in the daily morning program Karambola
over dwIZ, Rep. Teddyboy Locsin, patching in from New
York on Friday, enthused, this is perhaps one of the few
acts of President Arroyo which he, former President Cory
Aquino, Cebu Cardinal Vidal and, as is now widely
reported, the three top officials of the land, Vice
President Noli de Castro, Senate President Manny Villar
Jr. and Speaker Joe de Venecia Jr., have all agreed
upon.
That is
no mean endorsement if you ask me. And, best of all, it
has clearly caught the shrill, self-appointed guardians
of the nation’s future, such as Council on Philippine
Affairs convenor Boy Saycon and the power brokers within
the Black and White Movement, by surprise. These guys
will now have to look for other issues and presidential
actions they can bent their bitter criticisms on.
Even the
denizens of the Genuine Opposition who have always
looked up to Erap as its spiritual, if not actual,
leader, were tongue-tied they had to catch their breath
and grope for the right words to say.
Like the
“middle forces,” as the self-promoting “civil -society”
forces have romantically called themselves, the formal
opposition will now have to do a lot of rethinking if
they are to maintain their solidarity in the run-up to
other issues and, of course, the next presidential
elections in 2010.
For now,
they have to comport themselves with Erap’s
pronouncements immediately before, during and after this
historic pardon, and move from there, not engage in
hyperventilated activities or issue even more
hyperbolic, if not toxic, statements. Those will surely
consign them in no time at all to the political fringe.
If I may
give a little advise: stick to the letter of the order
of executive clemency (not overread it), which is a
well-grounded response to the earlier letter-request of
Erap through lawyer Jose Flaminiano; defer to the wisdom
of the framers of the Constitution (read Fr. Joaquin
Bernas and the transcripts of the 1987 Constitutional
Commission), particularly on pardon and executive
prerogatives; and listen carefully to Erap’s statements
and that of his lead counsel, former senator Rene
Saguisag.
In an
interview in Karambola also on Friday, Saguisag
so correctly pointed out: “[I]f this act of compassion
and statesmanship has indeed resurrected the deep
divisions and hatred within society, then perhaps it is
instructive that the vast majority of our people have
come to accept it as fact and chose to move on. It is
time we spread more compassion and limit the hatred and
give ourselves another chance to reconcile and unite for
the common good.” Or words to that effect, since it was
more powerfully said with all the emotions that the old
parliament of the streets warrior could muster in
Filipino.
Indeed,
the nation needs some rest and time to heal the wounds,
especially those inflicted by people enamored with
conspiracies, shortcuts and slimy operations. With this
pardon, we are putting a close to one of the most bitter
chapters in our national life in the past two decades.
Let’s just make sure the closure leads to positive
results and a more united effort to get the country off
the poverty and inequality trap.
Sana nga.
Subic
redux, and now Lapu-Lapu City
Speaking
of moving on, President Arroyo and her advisers should
now take time and pay special attention to the
continuing anti-investor policies and practices of the
head honchos at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA),
and lately, Lapu-Lapu City.
Using
Gestapo-like tactics which could easily rival Hitler’s,
SBMA officials not only mindlessly confiscated the
assets but rammed the Taiwanese investors of the free
port’s golf club out of the premises in a clear display
of brute force based on a misplaced and whimsical
interpretation of written contractual obligations.
Reportedly egged by powerful political forces in the
area, SBMA administrator Armand Areza chose to degrade
the zone’s once highly regarded responsible and
professional corporate culture in favor of corporate
hooliganism, which is anathema to investor confidence.
Not only
did Areza and his cohorts divest the investors of their
rights and assets even to the point of defying the
courts and the collective sentiment of foreign business
chambers, they have introduced a wayward culture which
will definitely set back the gains he himself had worked
on from the time he joined the SBMA professional corps
in the ’90s under then-SBMA chairman, now Sen. Dick
Gordon.
Unless
he and his group rectify this grievous error in time,
they will revive yet again the enmity not only of the
investing class but the public as a whole.
Why, we
are told, even the golf-course employees got it in the
neck from SBMA officials as they got pink slips without
benefits and without even the courtesy of a reply to
their feverish request for consideration of their
employment standing. This is not the first time, and
perhaps will not be the last, we will witness this kind
of wayward tactics. Unless, of course, Malacañang puts a
stop to it. Pronto.
I just
hope this kind of unwarranted abuse of power will also
be nipped in the bud in time in
Lapu-Lapu City,
the gateway to prosperous Cebu province and Central
Visayas, by Malacañang.
We are
told that the city’s chief executive, a certain Arturo
Radaza, has been busy bullying investors in his area to
the point that lots of them have been cowed to
submission or simply moved out to avoid persecution.
This time around he found his match in two people; a
certain Jun Pelaez, the proprietor of a mall inside the
Mactan Special Economic Zone, which was ordered closed
and demolished by Mayor Radaza without reason and in a
fit of anger, and a certain Richard King, who also
suffered the same fate.
Tensions
are running high as both Pelaez and King sued Radaza for
grave abuse of power and graft and corruption. We await
with bated breath how this whole thing will come to a
close. But this early we can say that like SBMA, it is
not only Lapu-Lapu City but the country as a whole which
has come out smelling like shit with these potentates’
antics. Tama na. |
