The truth is in the contradictions

CRITIC'S CRITIC
Mentong Laurel
03/28-04/3/2011



The hottest headline the past week has been the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, with her top critic being “Hocus PCOS” President P-Noy Aquino.

Although the digital president did not write a newspaper column lambasting his latest pet peeve, he’s been slugging at the Arroyo-appointed Ombudsman covertly and overtly with increasing frequency. Last March 24, in a speech made at Cagayan de Oro, P-Noy said: “As the Senate prepares to try the Ombudsman, I urge you to support this and other efforts to fight corruption.”

Covertly, P-Noy mobilized the money of the state, namely P20 million of the Road User’s Tax, to lobby with congressmen for the impeach-Merci vote. As the covert move was headlined in the mosquito press, now every Filipino knows how P-Noywould use every low down, unprincipled means to get his way -- pretty much the way Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did.

The question is: Can one use unprincipled means to achieve a principle, in this case, the fight against corruption? Didn’t P-Noy just exacerbate Congress’ already endemic corruption by teaching everyone that money, not principled persuasion, still triumphs?

Is P-Noy’s guiding motto, “Daang matuwid,” true at all? Clearly, the contradiction between his actions and thisprinciple of the straight and narrow reveals the true character
and intent of his claimed advocacy as not being a seriousfight against corruption.

Supplier Rico J
The blatant contradiction that anybody can see, and continues to be on practically every informed Filipinos’ lips, is the appointmentof confirmed rogues to the top echelons of his government.

The prime example is Mr. Rico Puno, alias “Rico J,” undersecretary of the DILG, in charge of the nation’s 114,000 police force and budget of P47 billion. He was an arms and supplies vendor to the PNP before his appointment to the department in July 2010.

Rico J is also known amongst the military and the AFP suppliers’ community as the front man in military deals for a former congressman from Tarlac who, in his three terms,
had zero number of bills filed and laws passed.

Rico J is best known for his admission in September 2010, during the Archbishop Oscar Cruz exposés on jueteng, of receiving bribe offers from representatives of jueteng lords
and failing to make any move to have those people charged for attempted bribery.

Senate Estopped
While P-Noy succeeded in getting Congress to impeach Merceditas Gutierrez before the solons’ Holy Week break, it remains to be seen if the ouster will be completed by the Senate when it reconvenes. Pundits and experts, such as the only credible law commentator Prof. Alan Paguia, are saying that the acquittal of Gutierrez is imminent.

Paguia cites 14 senators who have been on record with comments on the Ombudsman’s case and, therefore, estopped from voting on the issues.

That these senators, including chief impeachment hatchet man TG Guingona, who should be well versed in the rules of Congress, should be making these missteps early in the process raises questions: Why this apparent contradiction between the call for ousting the Ombudsman and the actions that would put them in estoppel? Are they deliberately estopping themselves so there won’t be enough votes to convict the accused Ombudsman, thereby stopping the pursuit of the greater prey--Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo--for her alleged crimes? Why does this track seem oh-so familiar, reminding us of the stillborn Davide Truth Commission?

These contradictions lead us to reaffirm our belief that whatwe are seeing is just the continuity of the corrupt system. It is a system that is unable and unwilling to reform itself and, as such, will never indict anybody else in it by letting its principals (such as Gloria Arroyo) ever face true judgment. As we have asserted from the very beginning, this present administration is an Aquinorroyo regime flying the Yellow banner on its 25th year.

Looking for Consistency
The many columnists and commentators harping on the issue, from pro- and anti-Merci impeachment fences, may all be simply role-playing in a moromoro or zarzuela to distract from the essential truth: It’s all a stage show, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing in terms of real change. Even if by some twist of the law the estopped senators are allowed to vote and Merci is convicted, does that change anything in the country while the Rico J’s of the land are ensconced in power? No way, Jose.

In a contradictory and schizoid society, consistency in word and deed would be a revolutionary act and nothing revolutionary can come from a corrupt political and electoral system.

Looking for consistency in leadership is to look for revolutionary leadership, found in such leading lights as Oliver Cromwell of England to Mao Test-Tung of China, who both decapitated the old ruling class and system. Cromwell did so with King Charles and Mao Test-Tung with the Confucian tradition.

Speaking of revolution and the decapitation of ancient ruling classes, one can say that Moammar Gaddafi’s nondismantlement of Libya ’s old tribalist society has led to his failure of building a nation-state out of the Frankenstein cobbled together from Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan (and all their 140 tribes and clans) by the Italian colonizers in 1934.

Alienated?
This discussion on Gaddafi brings me to another Critics’ Critic favorite, Conrado de Quiros of the Inquirer. In his March 22 column, “Tale of two interventions,” he pontificates on
justifications for the attack on Libya, saying, “The Libyan civil war began as an uprising by the Libyan people following similar uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt .” (Actually, the latter two were in capital cities, reflecting national and popular support; whereas in Libya , it was in Benghazi , reflecting actually only regional and factional initiatives.)

De Quiros then said that Gaddafi was “determined to fight on despite his alienation from his own people and those of the world.” Yeah, right. Weeks into the conflict, popular support for “alienated” Gaddafi has only enabled his successful military and political counter-offensive. What’s more: The African Union is calling for a fact-finding mission instead of precipitate war while the BRICS ( Brazil , Russia , India , China , and South Africa ) abstained from the UN resolution and condemned the attack on Libya . Is that alienation by any stretch?

De Quiros’ third salvo is that “…the strikes on Libya pay service to the truth.” What truth? That the monarchist loyalists funded by Western powerskindled the insurrection (just as
what’s being done in Mindanao)? Or that Western-led disinformation of Gaddafi using jets to mow down unarmed protestorsproved to be a lie by Russian satellite monitoring? Or, that the US-NATO coalition can’t even decide on the true objective for the attack, leading Germany to withdraw all participation, with France and Italy denying “regimechange” as trumpeted by Obama? Or that US-NATO bombs kill Libyan civilians to supposedly “protect civilians,” leading Turkey and the Arab League to protest?

De Quiros’ position is the height of hypocrisy and misinformation, justifying Big Power interference, as well as cynical, murderous, and unjust war on sovereign nations.

(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; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and watch or listen to our select radio and GNN shows)