Corona: The perfect red herring

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/6/2012



“Like Saguisag, I still recall Corona’s sneer and derision of poor people in Edsa Tres,” said a texter — adding that the current Chief Justice (CJ) “represents the worst of his class…” Another called the chief magistrate “matapobre” (someone who looks down on the poor), since he also “called the pro-Erap masses… at the Edsa-Ortigas April 2001 (uprising) as toothless, pant-less hordes…”

They were, of course, referring to a recent column by former senator, Estrada counsel, and anti-Marcos human rights lawyers’ group icon, Rene Saguisag, who holds the view that the forthcoming Corona impeachment trial is a crusade against a knave and a lowlife. Those messages, coming from my radio listeners and column readers, expressed surprise at my linking arms with former Gov. Homobono Adaza and lawyer Alan Paguia in our petition against the impeachment of the chief magistrate of the Supreme Court (SC).

Probably perplexed at my apparent siding with the CJ, these texters confronted me with his past that ran contrary to my long-standing pro-Edsa III and anti-elitist position. So I replied that although Saguisag is entirely correct about Corona being a knave, he is absolutely wrong if he believes that the CJ (or his impeachment) is the real issue here.

This move against Corona was initiated by Malacañang mid-December last year. While I maintain that the whole scenario is part of the Aquinorroyo moro-moro, my analysis has expanded as other events have fallen into place.

With the many things transpiring around Syria and Iran, along with the angry exchanges between the US and Russia over missile defense, coupled with Obama’s refocusing of his country’s presence in the Asia-Pacific through his buildup of 2,500 US Marines in Australia (incurring the ire of China and Indonesia), I saw a number of things that fit into the jigsaw puzzle.

First, we have the moves of BS Aquino III in assaulting the SC (with veiled threats that the Senate and Vice President would follow). Second, there is this recent shift in his national military policy from “counter-insurgency” to “territorial defense.” Third, there is this order by BS Aquino of a squadron of F-16s, which Hillary Clinton seems all too willing to provide. All these amount to none other than a US-BSA III dictatorship in the making — no different from that of Cory’s revolutionary government.

For sure, Gloria Arroyo is merely a scapegoat. The rest of her cohorts, who are now in cahoots with the BS Aquino regime, are allowed to run free. We need to name only a few to establish this point: Speaker of the House Sonny Belmonte, who is an erstwhile Arroyo enforcer; his protégé Jojo Ochoa, who sits at the right hand of BS Aquino lording over all today; the corporatist gofers in various Cabinet and regulatory agency posts (such as Rene Almendras in Energy) protecting their corporate bosses in the privatized public utilities, who have successfully kept all the anomalous profit-gouging under cover. Oh, should we forget Arroyo veteran and even bigger “corporat” Cesar Purisima, who enforces the diktats of the US and the multilateral finance mafia? Of course, he’s just part of the Hyatt 10 caboodle, all Arroyo veterans now serving under the new “useful idiot.”

Enter Corona, a specimen of the old regime and what do we have? A perfect “red herring,” that’s what.

The term, which originated in Britain, was coined when “British fugitives in the 1800s would rub a herring across their trail, thereby diverting the bloodhounds that were hot in pursuit…” In this case, Corona is an ideal “red herring,” especially after he was appointed by Arroyo under the controversial but arguably legal “midnight” clock. As for those comments of his against the masses of Edsa III, well, they are now ready ammunition against him.

But come to think of it, how many in the coterie of BS Aquino today are not exactly like Corona? The Hyatt 10, for one, sneered upon Edsa III; the SC justices seemingly favored by the current dispensation, such as Carpio or Sereno, moved against the populist causes being espoused by the masses, with the latter even expressing her contempt for “consumers” and its advocates in her ponente favoring Meralco and the Energy Regulatory Commission. Now that they are raising issues left and right against Corona, beginning with his plush condo, let’s see if they or their boss are faultless in that department!

Bono Adaza likes to quote this Arab saying: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The tactics and strategies in building up this new dictatorship in the country under the guise of an “incorruptible” has been sold to the Filipino once before and left a bitter legacy.

Cory Aquino was given revolutionary powers that allowed her to wipe out all elected officials, erase economic and public protection provisions, and ensure the potential of successful US-backed coups by enshrining the Praetorian principle in the Constitution.

This time around, the US wants a dictator to push this nation to become a bait for a conflict in the South China Sea against a large nation that has never conquered any lands outside its coasts in millenniums past — a neighbor that, moreover, has only offered trade, roads, bridges, trains, and other infrastructure loans in a hand of friendship in recent times. These facts, notwithstanding, the US will again have its “useful idiot” acquire dictatorial powers to destroy this country for the nth time.

These are the reasons that should compel us to see this “red herring” of Malacañang and oppose its goosesteps toward the Second Yellow Reich (and a Reichstag fire-burning of the Batasan). We should shake out of their hypnotized state those “sheeple” mesmerized by mainstream media and the ruling class’ survey outfits. We should take action now to stop this useful idiot’s drive toward autocracy.

(Tune in to Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with HTL, Saturday, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable Channel 8; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)