DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
6/24/2011
This is the text I got from a disgusted observer of the Miriam-Jun Santiago 40th wedding anniversary bash: “I just saw footage of Brenda’s wedding anniversary at the Manila Hotel where politicians of every stripe as well as the more prominent oligarchs were present. What a circus! What a farce! Nakakabaliw talaga. Kulang na lang si Tabako para sabay-sabay bombahin ang mga kumag na yun ng makabansang pwersa.” Then a follow up: “Well, the political bickering of those trapos and tycoons is as farcical as that madwoman’s marriage.” One text from Davao came: “ MATINO Street in UP Village was renamed SANTIAGO Street , in honor of its illustrious alumna Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago; kung mapupunta ka ngayon doon, sabihin mo lang sa driver, ‘Sa Santiago St. po, yung dating Matino.’ He5x.” As somebody else commented on Miriam’s gaudy red wedding dress, I thought to myself: Here we witness the “Ruling Crass” gather.
I can understand why the Santiago couple should be celebrating, and not just for staying married all these years as officially stated. Both have been through tragic trials that one wonders if the successes they are celebrating are indeed such great things in light of certain tragic events. The death of their youngest son by the barrel of a gun is still haunted by ugly rumors. It never helped that the case was closed after the waiver of the requisite legal and forensic requirements, just like many other unsolved celebrity deaths in this country. Then there is the case of the young secretary who was hurried off to the US after an alleged scandal in the private Quezon City offices of the couple, which reportedly cost a certain amount and a US visa for the dropping of charges.
Jun Santiago has been scandal-ridden for his alleged activities in the Bureau of Customs and in his favorite cockpits, as well as for a certain black Mercedes Benz believed to be illegally sequestered from somewhere. Miriam Santiago, on the other hand, aside from her explosive temper and verbiage, is infamous for her promise to “jump headfirst from a helicopter in Luneta if Estrada gets removed from power,” which she later recanted by saying, “I lied,” followed with boisterous laughter. She also gets into verbal jousts with just about everyone, including an even feistier lady, whom many say resembles her, Madame Dionisia Pacquiao, over the RH bill controversy. She has written books which have never made any mark in intellectual circles, such as her book Christianity vs. Corruption, which is long on motherhood statements but completely devoid of political-economic analyses--a trademark of her vituperations on her every pet issue. Her own original Ilonggo supporters, having seen her vacuity, have rejected her after the 1995 elections; but the couple’s perceived proficiency in working the Commission on Election’s dark alleys keeps her winning.
The Santiagos of Matino St. really have climbed the ladder of social status and opulence in this society which, if the Bureau of Internal Revenue really takes its “lifestyle checks” seriously, find little firm ground to stand on. After cash stashed away from Miriam’s first failed presidential run in 1992 and then the various iterations of her Senate pork barrel, the Santiagos have done very well while their supposed constituencies have gotten poorer and poorer. But this isn’t any different from what other politicians, most of whom were invited to the celebration, have notched up as a record: Getting rich as the nation sinks deeper into poverty; blabbering endlessly in their respective legislative halls and passing oppressive laws such as the Electric Power Industry R(d)eform Act (Epira), eVAT, as well as onerous Build-Operate-Transfer measures; then hobnob with the oligarchs for whom they pass these to legalize their plunder; and then party even more while the middle classes and the masses, who suffer deepening penury, watch with stupefaction.
There’s also the picture of this oligarch potentate in his wheelchair congratulating the couple, grinning and smiling (perhaps in the knowledge that a Supreme Court decision affirming his ownership of the P100-billion coconut levy shares in San Miguel Corp. was in the offing?). How such huge wealth from the sweat and blood of millions of Filipino farmers can redound to the interest of just one man, I wonder now.
The whole caboodle of the “ruling personalities” at the wedding bash clearly has no shortage of such ironies. There they were all together there--economic and political oligarchs alike. Even the top kleptocrat in Philippine history, Gloria Arroyo, was rubbing elbows with her ilk and reveling in the splendor as a member of the ruling class.
Yet, all of them are mere unproductive “rentiers,” part of a “Ruling Crass” that uses power and position to amass all they can, possessing only such values as greed, narcissism, and more greed. They haven’t even for a minute thought about where all the wealth they wallow in come from.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There will never be enough of any one’s greed. There will always be enough for everyone’s needs.” If this country continues to nosedive into poverty, it is simply because this “Ruling Crass” prevails. Witnessing such a gathering of the greedy, anti-social, insensitive, pathological, hedonistically rich and infamous members of the socio-economic parasite class without expressing disgust might be mistaken for vicarious enjoyment, if not open endorsement. Thanks to those who voiced their disdain for this display of ultimate social phoniness. There is hope after all.
(Tune in to Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8, on “Crushing 24 million coconut farmers’ dependents”; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)
