Struggle with tranquility

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
7/28/2006



Dr. Alejandro “Ding” Lichauco gave us one advice he packed up from psychic Uri Geller’s book: “We must struggle, but struggle with tranquility”. That I accept to be the ideal state of mind while a person wages this eternal struggle for redemption from the angst of life, the good we fight for while mired in the evil of this world. It was very timely because I am again enraged by what I see in the continuous hypocrisy and abuse of our people by the corrupt power factions still prevailing in our country and on the global stage.

One can find a bright side in everything to strike a balance, like Senate President Manny Villar’s “mea culpa” over radio the day before this was written, over his role in as Speaker of Congress in 2000 in the railroading the impeachment petition against President Estrada. Of course we know his mea culpa today is self-serving, for his ambition to run for the presidency in 2010 (if the upheaval does not overtake things) as he was self-serving in his blatant violation of the constitutional impeachment process in 2000.

We salute to a good deed unconditionally if it were done without any other consideration, but politicians like Villar invariably always act only on self-interest. The bright side in this, despite the sham of it all, is that Villar’s mea culpa buttresses our call for the immediate exoneration of President Estrada and the elevation of the restoration issue of the legitimate presidency of the country. If the Estrada impeachment was attended by a transgression, the outcome must wrong; and a wrong must be righted.

Another bright spot is Villar’s promise to be “independent” and I surmise that was a major factor for President Estrada benediction for the PMP swing vote of Villar. At this very early stage Villar has already signaled that he will be balancing on the tightrope instead of pulling in the direction of what is right, just and good for the Filipino people. He will be “non-adversarial” that may mean “collaborative” with GMA and his being “independent” can mean that he will only side with himself and not the public interest.

We will watch what Villar does, with healthy skepticism. We are ready to lobby for the reversal of President Estrada support for Villar once Villar shows any weakness towards GMA’s dirty politics and vascillation in the investigations of Joc-Joc, Mayuga Report and other Gloria scandals – the Senate has no excuse to dilly-dally now that E.O. 464 has been junked by the Supreme Court. Can Villar wield the powers of the senate to force open the truth and satisfy the people’s clamor for justice?

An angering development is the Aboitiz oligarchs’ move to block competition in Cebu’s electricity supply sector. They “obliged” their puppet president GMA to fire Tranco chief Alan Ortiz for signing an agreement with Korea Electric Power Corp. and Salcon Power Corp. for construction of a 200-megawatt plant in Naga, Cebu, which is in direct competition to the Aboitiz family in the power sector business in the region. The Aboitiz’s dowager heckled anti-impeachment senators and lawyers
during Erap’s impeachment and joined Ayala at Edsa Shrine on January 2001.

Cebuanos will not know for more time to come the benefit of competition in their power sector. So, what’s Makati Business Club preaching about competition when they their members are posing the most obstacles to it – like Meralco’s Lopezes. Our condemnation of the GMA-Aboitiz defense of monopoly here is not an endorsement of Ortiz who has also supported the privatization of energy which he may also bee taking advantage of in the “deals”, we continue to be for state control of such strategic utlities.

The silver lining above in the Ortiz debacle is exposé of the true character of these oligarchs-cum-plutocrats who now rule the country after Edsa Dos. The “people” in People Power no longer matter because the oligarchs already got their hands on the power. By the way, Transco reported a 7% increase in profit, an additional P 605-M profits or P 9.13-B over last half year’s P 8.35-B. Is it moral and correct to have increasing profits in the midst of increasing difficulty of the consumer to pay for increasing power costs?

The second question is: is it responsible to the Filipino public to sell off such public companies that is earning so much? It is simple stupidity to privatize these profitable public companies when it’s the public who put up the start-up capital and built up the asset base through their payments. The political opposition should bring up these issues in the for a provided for it – the Congress, and not leave these to the NGOs. But who among the politico is not afraid of the power of the oligarchs? Sadly, hardly any.

A prayer-rally will be held on Sunday which will commemorate among other things the Oakwood protest of the Bagong Katipunero (misleadingly dubbed by media “Magdalo”). Their protest echoes today and deserves our kudos. It reverberates in the AFP today as evidenced by the February 2006 turmoil. Kudos too to Philippine Airlines for its 60th Anniversary which also commemorates the first Asian airline flight across the Pacific to Oakland, USA; to be marked by a fete hosted by PAL Chairman Dr. Lucio Tan.

(Tune in M-W-F to 1098AM, 6-7pm; T-Th to 1242AM, 7:30-8:30am.)