Editorials:

Illustration by Jimbo Albano

It cannot be business as usual

Why do we have this nagging feeling that the short-lived rebellion by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati on Thursday would certainly not be the last?

Maybe it’s for the very same reason that the communist insurgency begun in the late ’60s continues to rage in the countryside up to now despite the superior firepower and resources of the government.

Or that the Moro rebellion in southern Philippines since the ’70s also refuses to die despite successive efforts by the central government to bring it to heel.

The very same conditions that breed discontent and armed rebellion—poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth in society, endemic corruption, injustice—are still very much with us, and show no signs of abating.

We cannot deny that there’s impressive economic growth, projected at 7 percent this year. But this growth is fueled in large part by the dollar remittances of the more than 8 million Filipinos working and residing in the four corners of the globe. And why did they choose to leave our shores? Simply because they had no other choice but to seek greener pastures abroad since they could not find suitable employment at home that would keep body and soul together.

At the same time, however, Trillanes and company have raised serious issues, among them the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration due to questions about cheating in the 2004 elections—issues that have been raised as well by civil-society groups—that remain unresolved up to now.  

Don’t get us wrong: we stand unequivocally for the rule of law. This is a keystone of our democratic system.

We stand as well for transparency and accountability, two components of good governance.

But we do not agree at all with past attempts by the government to limit the exercise of the basic freedoms and rights guaranteed by the fundamental law.   

Neither do we agree with the propensity of the government to give free rein to state security forces to infringe on these basic rights.

We join our colleagues in the media in protesting in the strongest possible terms the arrest and detention of members of the press who covered the Peninsula standoff.   

We believe the police units sent to the hotel overstepped their bounds when they arrested and detained legitimate members of the press covering the event.

Whoever ordered the arrest and detention of legitimate members of the media covering the Peninsula standoff should be made to account for this brazen violation of a constitutionally guaranteed right. 

While the President herself had expressed “regret that police procedures became a problem for the media, even for a few hours,” freedom of the press has been undermined not only by this latest incident but also by the culture of impunity that allows the killing of journalists to go unpunished. 

While the state must do everything within its power to preserve law and order, it should do so with utmost respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

Political instability does not come solely from attempts at power grab by disgruntled sections of the military. It is the logical outcome as well of the failure of the government to curb corruption that perpetuates mass poverty in this country, and to uphold transparency and accountability that are the hallmarks of good governance.  

The Peninsula standoff was an act of desperation on the part of Trillanes and company that goes against the rule of law. If it is true, as claimed by the police that documents recovered from the hotel siege revealed a plan for the setting up of a revolutionary transition government to be headed by Trillanes and Lim, the state is well within its right to uphold the law. Where the law ends, tyranny begins.

At the same time, we must emphasize that the rule of law is a two-way street. While the government wields the power to exact compliance with the law, it should be the first to respect the freedoms enshrined in the fundamental law.

It cannot be business as usual for the Arroyo administration in the aftermath of the Peninsula standoff. It should apply the law evenly, and bring to justice all those who break the law, including those who use public office for private gain.

While it is important to sustain the country’s economic gains to reduce poverty levels, it is equally important to ensure good governance, which is the foundation of political stability. Economic growth and good governance must go hand in hand if the nation is to move forward.

Why do we have this nagging feeling that the short-lived rebellion by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati on Thursday would certainly not be the last?

I spoke too soon.  I mean, I wrote too soon. Less than a month ago, the Congressional Committee on Justice slammed the door on the Tamano supplement to the original Pulido impeachment complaint.

It is difficult to escape clichés—at work, at home. In almost every aspect of your life, you will hear them, even use them.

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The Senate should be able to finish its work on the proposed budget for 2008 before the end of the year, so that we can start the New Year with a timely spending package. The Senate has temporarily suspended legislative inquiries so it can concentrate on deliberating on the proposed budget.

It is well that Congress and the newly established Procurement Board have decided to look deeper into the whys and wherefores of that World Bank board decision deferring consideration of the second tranche amounting to $232 million of the bank-funded National Road Improvement Program (NRIP).

People speak of the growing problem in hushed tones, respectful of cultural diversity. For some, the encounters are limited to the supermarket line where some South Koreans brusquely cut in as they do at the airport where police shrug in subservient deference.

In the bedroom of my apartment in Honolulu, I watched the Filipino Channel news coverage of the reported walkout of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim from the court hearing in Makati.