Unite and lead

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/10/2011



"Divide and rule, the politician cries; unite and lead, is watchword of the wise.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Last week we saw the climactic final arguments in the intensely-debated issue of apology as a requisite for the amnesty to be granted to the Oakwood and 2006 AFP protesters. Those demanding it — led by Joker Arroyo and the Monsods (Christian and Solita), along with outright Gloria Arroyo devotees such as Edcel Lagman — were pitted against Gen. Danilo Lim, the most vocal, unapologetic anti-Gloria military protester, as well as the equally firm but more restrained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

About a month ago, a special article by Christian Monsod got the ball rolling, followed by a series from Solita, all against Lim. But the final devastating blow, the coup de grace so to speak, was delivered when Gen. Danny Lim delivered his knockout blow via his statement: “Admitting guilt would clear Gloria Arroyo…” Now that ends the debate!

Anybody still demanding an apology from the patriotic soldiers who stood up to oppose the venalities of the Arroyo regime would hereafter look like pro-Gloria apologists; but indeed, the Monsods and their ilk are still really closet Arroyo devotees, as are many others in print and broadcast media who range themselves with the pro-apology line.

Gloria’s media operations are very much around. Our Sulo ng Pilipino volunteers monitoring the radio airwaves can identify each and every one of these “kumain-taristas” still under someone’s payroll, evidently because of their inane spiels that the plea bargain with Gen. Carlos Garcia is even more acceptable than the amnesty for our conscientious military objectors.

Trillanes, for his part, also gave his own coup de grace by accepting the amnesty while “proudly” admitting the disobedience of certain rules without apologizing for anything.

If after this point the amnesty is not consummated, then there’ll be hell to pay. The embers of protest will grow into a fire and then ignite a great prairie conflagration over in the tinder fields of suppressed popular rage over MRT-LRT and transport fare increases, along with other burdensome hikes in toll fees as well as power and water rates.

No doubt the Gloria Arroyo forces would like to see this happen too. So if the Aquino III administration falls into the trap of yielding to the demand for an apology then they’ll have hell in their hands. But either way, the Arroyo media team, planting their assets in various newspapers and commissioning full-time bloggers and Facebook brigades, will go to town hitting at the administration and destabilizing the situation.

That requirement for apology was indeed inserted by Arroyo elements in Aquino’s cabal, and he’d better recognize who they are or he’s in deep shit.

While the Arroyo versus Aquino undercurrents continue to run (at least officially), it should also be clear that the Aquinorroyo direction runs parallel to it. Among the many factors that tie the two together, the clearest ones are their co-existence in the matrix of Belmonte-Ochoa and Rico Puno, aside from the aggressive continuation of such policies as the cash transfer program, privatization, and build-operate-transfer scheme in the guise of public-private partnerships.

This is very difficult for many to keep in perspective as the ruling class which presides at the very top works hard through the manipulation of media to frame the polarization of issues as Aquino versus Arroyo, when the real polarization is between the people’s welfare and the insatiable appetite for profits of the oligarchs, which both Arroyo and Aquino are serving and are part of. The people and the conscientious and patriotic military officers must therefore be conscious of this.

Unity of the people is key to overcoming the millennial strategy of divide-and-rule. For so long, the ruling oligarchs have been dividing our minds and ruling our lives. Through the past three decades, members of the ruling class centered in the plush Makati business district, guided and aided by foreign powers, have set the agenda by dividing the people into Yellows, Reds, pro-Marcos, pro-Erap, and whatnot.

And now that they are featuring a tussle between the pro-Aquino vs pro-Arroyo Yellows, the oligarchy with its foreign partners continues to increase its stranglehold on the nation’s assets, resources and natural wealth while making the country harsher and harsher for the Filipino people — with higher taxes and public utility rates, among others. Even filing fees now make it impossible for the poor to bring their cases to court.

“Those who have less in life should have more in law,” Magsaysay was supposed to have said. But that is no longer true today especially after the evolution of economics and politics into an anti-poor and pro-oligarchic system.

The recent turn in the Vizconde case seems to have highlighted this and has led to efforts by heretofore divided pro-people advocacy groups to come together and clamor for a rethinking of what is happening to our justice system.

Last week the People’s Movement for Justice was formed with various groups, ranging from Liza Masa’s Gabriela and its once estranged fraternal organization Sanlakas, to Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (associated with Edsa II) and our own Sulo ng Pilipino which was part of Edsa III, as well as many others under the unifying influence of Rasti Delizo and Tito Guingona, to pursue justice for all.

The people’s military and civilian champions are getting wiser. Unification of popular causes and efforts must proceed henceforth with greater energy and wisdom to lead this nation toward full emancipation and prosperity.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; TNT with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8 with Dr. Rene Ofreneo and Mr. Hiro Vaswani on “2011: Filipino SWOT”; visit our blogs, http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)