FPJ supporters' vindication

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
7/22/2011



“First they ignore it, then they laugh at it, then they say they knew it all along.” — Alexander Humbold

Such was what the Edsa III masa and their populist supporters witnessed when they said that cheating in the 2004 elections was massive and incontrovertible. They were ignored. They were taunted. Rival candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in trying to paint FPJ and his supporters as sour-grapes, even said, “Those who can’t protect their votes don’t have the right to run,” while others such as Akbayan’s Etta Rosales stood idly by to acclaim Gloria Arroyo’s stealth congressional proclamation in the dark, wee hours before dawn of June 23, 2004, as the nation slumbered.

FPJ supporters rallied and demonstrated. A memorable one was at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City, where we were dispersed after being cornered at the nearby McDonald’s outlet. A long chase ensued through the evening, ending up at Sto. Domingo Church, without any of us having an inkling that the next time we would converge there was to attend FPJ’s wake and kick-off the longest funeral queue in Philippine history.

Where are the notorious names we exposed in 2004? Where are Generals Esperon, Kyamko, Quevedo, Tolentino, Villanueva, Allaga, Pajarito, Habacon, Garcia; Rear Admiral De Leon; Colonels Ortiz, Baclayon, Gapay, Ardo, Lucero, Lactao, Pangilinan, Segovia, Gupana, Sumaylo, Capuyan; Majors Musngi, Masa, Nicolas, Sison; Garci wiretappers Col. Sumalo and Capuyan; Maj. Teofilo; SG Sage; and, of course, former Defense Secretaries (and retired generals) Hermogenes Ebdane and Eduardo Ermita, who went around military camps while using the military’s resources in campaigning against FPJ, telling soldiers, “Of course you will not vote for an actor… we should vote for the candidate who has the experience, appropriate academic background… etc.” in support of their patron Gloria?

At the same time, we also remember those servicemen with conscience who kept their integrity whole, such as Gen. Frank Gudani who faced court martial for being a so-called “erring personnel” as well as Col. Alex Balutan.

We also remember with disdain those civilians and politicians who were involved directly or indirectly, overtly or tacitly, in that dark episode by their silence. People should be reminded of the complicity of both the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which didn’t do anything but cover-up for the massive electoral fraud. Same goes for others such as “Mr. Noted” Kiko Pangilinan, Cory Aquino, Frank Drilon, “Hyatt 10,” and other participants.

The cheating in 2004 didn’t just include the so-called “Arroyo Generals” but the whole system that was established in Edsa II to ensure the continuity of what was started in 2001, which was to keep President Estrada in continued detention while averting the scuttling of a fast-tracked era of globalization, privatization and the corporatization of the Philippines, as well as the consolidation of Epira and the privatization of TransCo, etc., with an FPJ sitting in Malacañang.

After all, they must have known that FPJ’s first act in signaling his candidacy was to attend the anti-globalization conference of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in UP.

But even as things didn’t go the nation’s way, FPJ supporters, including the most prominent of them all, President Joseph Estrada, who was working behind the scenes despite his incarceration at Tanay, still did not rest in their campaign to expose the truth.

Then, “Hello Garci” emerged.

The link to the sources back then was not yet timely to reveal, as security implications outweighed other considerations; but Samuel Ong and Sgt. Vidal Doble finally surfaced the tapes that provided incontrovertible proof of Arroyo’s direct hand in cheating operations. Subsequently, cellphone videos of some of the military’s cheating operations also emerged.

Scrambling to control the damage, GMA spokesman Ignacio Bunye obfuscated by producing a fake version of the tapes, before the issue went to Congress where, most significantly, then Rep. Noynoy Aquino voted not to play the real tapes.

The involvement of the military led to the Mayuga Commission which, to this day, has not been allowed to release its full report to the public (perhaps to allow Garcillano a chance to still preempt the Mayuga report?).

The Comelec at that time was perceive to be among the most guilty; and that was the root of the megalomania of Ben Abalos who allegedly said to the Chinese ZTE officials, “I am the most powerful man in the Philippines,” knowing that he could expose everything Gloria anytime did if he didn’t get his way.

How correct Greek dramatist Euripides was when he said, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.” It was a mad era. The post-2001 Edsa II power grab and the 2004 election cheating age was one when those in power believed they could manipulate everything and get away with it forever. It was a time when black became white, good became bad, and the cheats ruled the law. But one-by-one, the Mad Hatters fell… (who next after Angie Reyes?)

A history of the Mad Era of the Arroyo government obviously can’t be chronicled here in full. We don’t even have enough space for the complicity of mainstream media, including the iconic columnists of some major newspapers.

But as this is only a gist, we will cap it off by acknowledging those who fought for FPJ’s vindication when certain quarters ignored and taunted them: The FPJ movements that are too many to mention; the FPJ voters; President Estrada; the Bagong Katipuneros (Magdalos) and the Para sa Bayan military groups; as well as those who still suffer injustice for standing up against Edsa II, such as lawyer Alan Paguia, still suspended by the Supreme Court when all that he stood up for are now being vindicated. While we are sad about FPJ’s daughter who apparently loves those who tormented her father more than those who supported him, we finally have to acknowledge the late FPJ’s courageous wife, Susan Roces, for continuing this fight, too.

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