Comedic tragedy

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
11/5/2010



Taking some time off writing about the widespread power plunder, I reviewed the other burning issues of the week. From the reactions of our Finance officials to the growing cries of exporters, OFW families, and the BPO (business process outsourcing) community for government intervention for the appreciating peso (and the depreciating dollar); to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief’s “not in our lifetime” comment on eradicating corruption; to the UP Law department versus the Supreme Court (SC) on judicial plagiarism, I only found comedies galore.

We received texts from our volunteer news monitor, Zaida, on an interview Wednesday afternoon by dzRH with National Economic Development Authority (Neda) Chief Cayetano Paderanga, which I translate to English: “Paderanga doesn’t even know a currency war is going on. He doesn’t even see the weakening of the peso! How did this guy get to be Neda chief? He doesn’t even discuss measures to defend the peso like ‘currency controls’ — so dumb.”

A week earlier, at a taping of my cable show with forensic financial auditor Hiro Vaswani, a colleague in the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) narrated how after a seminar discussion, Paderanga admitted envy of the honest economic talk from nationalists like Hiro — to which Hiro responded with an admonition for Paderanga to simply shut up as he is well rewarded for prevaricating anyway.

Another comedic character is Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas deputy gov. Diwa Guinigundo who, in response to clamor from excruciatingly suffering exporters, said that the BSP would continue to abide by the “free float” of the peso based on the principle that “the exchange rate reflects market fundamentals.” This, even as the most “free market” fundamentalist of fundamentalists there is, Prof. Victor Abola, already says this about the entry of the peso into the P42 to the dollar territory: “This level of the peso is destructive.”

Simply put, Paderanga and Guinigundo’s reactions are what can be labeled in colloquial Filipino as dedma or patay malisya, i.e. playing dumb. These clowns look like Stan Laurel being bonked on the head with a chamber pot by Oliver Hardy; except that they’re not funny at all since their antics cause so much damage to the nation.

The same is true for the Joan d’ Arc of taxation, BIR Chief Kim Jacinto Henares, who charged to skewer little sidewalk bananaque vendors and jeepney drivers into the tax barbeque. Imagine her stepping up a notch or two on the antics of Aquino III’s financial clowns with a headline-grabbing statement, “Not in our lifetime,” when she referred to the eradication of corruption in her agency.

One needs to ask: Didn’t her boss campaign on that great cause of eradicating corruption, and didn’t she armor up to proclaim her crusade it? Well, it shows that their pontifications are simply laughable.

Moving on to another comedy, this time in the legal circle, we are being made witness to the bitching match between UP Law and the SC over a magistrate’s alleged plagiarism. I just wonder how this is such a big issue when both parties have already figured in greater anomalies that have shaken the nation at its core, without them atoning for their sins of commission or omission.

Remember the blatantly unconstitutional “constructive resignation” of an elected President and the suspension of the brilliant lawyer Alan Paguia for raising the incontrovertible sin of the SC’s partisan political involvement in Edsa II? One can only recall how UP Law and the others sat idly by while these injustices transpired. Can they now expect us to take them seriously, given their past intransigence and the belief of many that the alleged academic theft was committed under the nose of one who is much like his peers?

If only UP Law as well as most other law schools had shown some inclination to help in the people’s struggle, such as upholding public welfare against the privatization of public utilities and resources, and against foreign usurpation of national patrimony, then maybe we can be supportive of them. Frankly, in light of RP’s gargantuan problems, this plagiarism issue is really just a molehill blocking everyone’s view of the crucial issues.

If things continue as they are, only tragedy can befall the nation from such inanities. The failure of our respective government institutions to stabilize the peso at some balanced rate, or stem the speculative dollar inflows via fiscal and financial measures, or reject the level of institutional corruption will result in the collapse of two of the biggest earners for the country, the export and call center industry.

Our domestic economy will also be dealt with a devastating blow as OFW families that are sustaining a great part of domestic consumption will spend much less amid decreasing pesos for their remitted dollars. Corruption in the revenue agencies, meanwhile, will continue to eat into the meager earnings of hardworking entrepreneurs that are keeping the rest of the economy alive. Let’s all put a stop to this comedic tragedy before it’s too late.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; watch “Fighting Power Plunderers in the House” with Rep. Toby Tiangco, former Mayor Jun Simon, and EmPower’s Maris de la Cruz on Politics Today with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)