The trial: Is it really over?

YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Linggoy Alcuaz
3/5-11/2012



After the events of Tuesday and Wednesday last week at the impeachment court, is it over? Or, are they over?

After the prosecution withdrew last Tuesday, five out of the eight articles of impeachment, Is it over for them?

They claimed that they had presented enough evidence and witnesses to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona in three out of the original eight articles. They made a formal offer of these pieces of evidence last Friday. The defense has until Wednesday to make its objections.

Next week, Monday, the Senate as an impeachment court will hold a very critical caucus. That caucus will determine how liberal or strict it will be in the application of the rules on evidence.

If the senator-judges are as strict as the rules are in criminal cases, the prosecution will be left hanging, high and dry, without any evidence.

If they are as liberal as they can and want to be in the case of a trial that is called and considered “sui generis,” then the defense will have a long and hard task of presenting its own evidence and witnesses to counter the allegations, evidence and witnesses of the prosecution in the three remaining articles of impeachment.

The hullabaloo on Wednesday between Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago and private prosecutor Atty. Aguirre is a bad portent of things to come in the future for the trial, both for the court as well as the prosecution.

Miriam’s performance and style may serve to strengthen the resolve of the confused and demoralized advocates of impeachment and conviction.

On the other hand, Atty. Aguirre’s arrogance, “kabastusan” and defiance may serve to strengthen the general perception that the prosecution has been a failure.

The worst that can happen at this critical juncture is that the bias of the court and its senator judges may be tipped against the prosecution and for the defense in their appreciation of the admissibility of allegations, evidence and witnesses.

However, from the beginning, the impeachment trial and court have not been allowed to stand alone. First, there was a full month of trial by publicity even before the Impeachment trial proper started on Monday, Jan 16.

When Corona did not imitate Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and did not resign but chose to undergo trial, a Plan B was planned and prepared for in case of acquittal. Plan B would have been a repeat of “yellow” people power ala Edsa I and II.

In the beginning, it seemed so easy to “Occupy the Supreme Court” and oust CJ Corona, The Executive Branch and the President as Commander-in-Chief command the Armed Forces, the police and most of the civilian bureaucracy.

When Marcos in 1986 and Erap in 2001 were ousted, they had in addition to these, a sizeable mass base among the civilian population.

The Supreme Court and its chief justice never commanded armed forces nor a national police. Its judicial bureaucracy is small and passive.

In better times its popularity is lacklustre. A month ago it seemed that even a midget sized people power could brush aside an acquitted Corona. After all, Taft Ave. is smaller than Edsa. Padre Faura is smaller than Ortigas Ave.

However, a month ago, on Thursday, February 9, things changed dramatically. The SC issued a TRO against the opening of Corona’s foreign currency accounts upon the request of PS Bank.

Simultaneously, the INC staged a 7,000 man mini-rally in support of Corona and the rule of law and filled Padre Faura as it had never been before.

On Monday, February 13, the Senate caucus voted 13-10 to honor the TRO.

That week, news leaked out about a mammoth INC rally to be held at the Luneta on Tuesday, Feb 28. It was originally perceived as an anti-impeachment and anti-P-Noy, pro rule of law and pro-Corona and Gatdula rally.

Malacañang denied on behalf of the INC that it would be a political rally. It was supposed to be a bible and evangelical religious prayer rally.

Whatever it would eventually be perceived, it pre-empted and overshadowed the 26th Edsa Uno anniversary celebrations and rallies. It turns out that the INC is celebrating an anniversary this year.

The gang of conspirators composed of P-Noy, the Liberal Party, “Hayop’ 10 and Evil Society and the left had laid down their plans:

1. Demonize Corona. Alienate and separate him from the rest of the Supreme Court and judiciary.
2. Since the articles of impeachment were irreparably flawed, force and shame Corona into resigning.
3. Transfer the venue of the trial from the court to media, public opinion and the streets.
4. Peak public indignation. Make use of a trigger. Call for “Occupy the Supreme Court.” Mobilize big crowds.
5. Force and shame Corona to resign. If he does not, convince the Supreme Court to do a “constructive resignation” on Corona. If it does not, declare a revolutionary government and convene an appointed constitutional commission.

The best time to climax the above would have been during the 26th Edsa Uno anniversary celebrations.

Unfortunately, the timing for Plan B had peaked much earlier and was in quick decline during the whole month of February. Instead, a counter Plan C was brewing and percolating.

However, the maestro, presiding officer Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile prevented both prosecution and defense from walking out of his venue. He deprived them of any triggers within then trial. He counter pre-empted the trial publicity that had previously pre-empted the trial proper.

When we first used the term Plan C at the Balitaan sa Rembrandt on Friday, February 15, one of the guests/resource persons proclaimed that a Plan D would overshadow Plans A, B and C.

We were tempted to accept that possibility considering that people power had entered a stalemate. C had cancelled out B. Whether the vice versa of that is also true, we still cannot say.

We have not fully perceived and understood the new realities created by the mammoth INC Rally last Tuesday. That could be as important a game changer as Edsa Uno …

Oligarchs cause poverty

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
3/9/2012



The other spat that managed to outdo the “Whaa!” vs “Hear no Miriam” brouhaha in the Senate last week was the exchange between Manny Pangilinan (MVP) and Gina Lopez at a forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI). That event at a plush hotel, clearly organized to push the corporate mining agenda, was where Lopez, as a self-appointed representative of the anti-large scale mining sector, made her point that such an approach destroys the beauty of nature. Opposite to that was MVP’s counter-argument, which said that since areas where large scale mining will be conducted are not tourist spots anyway, the most important thing to keep in mind is that “Mining is not the enemy, (but) poverty is.”

MVP and those lining up behind his arguments are obviously selling the idea that giant corporate mining will solve poverty in the Philippines. But, in the hundred-year history of large scale mining in the Philippines, has poverty decreased?

John Moldero was OIC Governor of Benguet in the immediate post-Edsa I government. Son of an American haciendero married to a native, John grew up very close to the locals of the Mountain Province. As founder of the globally famous Hobbit House, a regular habitué to many expats and a feature in Western films, which put the country on the world tourism map, John is also known for his unique contribution to Philippine hospitality and entertainment.

In the 2004 elections, John joined the campaign for FPJ. Tragically, he didn’t get to finish it. While driving on his scooter down Commonwealth Ave. to organize political marchers toward a rally, he was sideswiped by a delivery van and expired just minutes after being brought to a small nearby hospital.

John often waxed nostalgic when the subject of the Mountain Province arose and whenever the topic shifted to the issue of large vs small scale mining, he would leave us with this narrative:

“I grew up playing with the children of miners of the Mountain Province. There is a basic difference between the mining in Benguet and in Kalinga. The big mining companies of Benguet, such as the world-renowned Philex, employed thousands of miners and attracted foreign investors (even Mafia figures such as Meyer Lanky), leading Fortune magazine to report it as the “crown jewel” of the Mafioso’s holdings; but the miners remained as miners all their lives, as well as the generations of their children and grandchildren that followed. The difference in Kalinga is that mainly small mining took place there and the extraction of the rich lodes was gradual and sustainable, while mining families used much of their earnings for the education of their children. The second and third generations of Kalinga mining families are now doctors and lawyers, professionals produced by the small mining endeavors of these natives.”

Here lies the real argument against large-scale mining: Who benefits and how sustainable it really is.

Large scale miners promise to set up facilities, tailings ponds (really the size of giant lakes), and dams to contain poisonous and disastrous deluvial tailings for 20 years of mining operations. But what really begs to be asked is since they are expecting to exhaust the riches of those mines, taking all the wealth in a period short of a generation, what will be left for the people’s children and grandchildren?

All the benefits will simply accrue to a handful of foreign corporate interests, whereas the mining sites and communities will be left with only the ever present danger of a deluge of poisonous and utterly damaging flash floods of tailings that render hundreds, if not millions, of hectares (as in the Tampakan mines) uninhabitable for centuries.

So why are MVP and his cohorts (such as Peter Wallace) in such a hurry? Why are government mining officials so excited to pass laws and regulations that will allow this? Why should the nation accept a mere five, seven, or even 10 percent tax, plus some other short change, when such wealth should be 100 percent for the nation?

Besides that, we should ask: How bad can tailings disasters become? To date, there are 92 mine tailings disasters from all over the world significant enough to be listed on Internet sources. One of the worst is the Stava Valley disaster on July 19, 1985, an industrial catastrophe that cost 268 lives and 133 million euros in damage. Poisonous mud spread over 4.2 square kilometers, as aerial photos showed the horrendous extent of its permanent, irremediable damage.

The Foundation Stava 1985 was created in order to make sure that the innocent lives lost on that fateful day would not be in vain and that the world remembers the dangers and folly of gigantic scale mining.

The Philippines has its own Marcopper mine disaster in Boac, Marinduque, too, where 1.5 million cubic meters of toxic mine tailings spilled into five villages and buried Barangay Hinapula under six feet of muddy floodwaters, with residents poisoned with zinc and copper beyond tolerable limits.

Marcopper is estimated to have reaped a net profit of $7.3 billion from mining 30,000 tons of copper ore a day, but Marinduque still has a 71.9-percent poverty incidence and registered as the 14th poorest province in the country as of 2006.

While the corporate mining giant’s foreign mother companies have reaped billions, the country was left with thousands of hectares of poisoned lands that must rely on public resources (if any) to clean these up.

We do not have space enough to describe the horrors and economic injustice that large scale mining companies (that laugh all the way to their transnational banks) inflict on communities and nations while leaving a trail of disaster for the public to pick up in perpetuity.

So the problem is not poverty as poverty is not a cause but an effect--an effect of the greed, corrupting power, and avaricious machinations of oligarchs who want to devour and monopolize the wealth of nations.

(Tune in to 1098AM, dwAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “A Tribute to Horacio ‘Boy’ Morales: A People’s Man;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)

Obscenities at Edsa

BACKBENCHER
Rod P. Kapunan
3/3-4/2012



The most unusual thing that transpired in that latest circus of politicians who still entertain the thought of cashing in on that swindle was the presence of deposed President Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Many believe he has completely lost his sense of political history, forgetting he was a victim of Edsa not only once, but twice! In Edsa I, he was removed as mayor of San Juan, and his mandate was not at all respected by the new overlords. As he narrated, it was then Major Panfilo “Ping” Lacson who told him to vacate, if not they will be forced to drag him out.

He tried to put up an indignation rally for the shabby treatment he got. He joined the march of that maligned “holdouts” of Marcos loyalists. Estrada, together with his followers, were savagely beaten up for defying the order not to march by the government that just proclaimed to the Filipino people their liberation from the “dictatorship.” It was his defiance to be on the side of the underdog that made a destiny out of a municipal mayor. The people — not only of San Juan — loved him for that. Instantly he became a national figure.

Nobody then dared to be identified as a Marcos loyalist because they thought it would amount to committing political hara-kiri. Charismatic Estrada, after losing his post, then started to aim for a higher political office, although people could sense he avoided being identified as a Marcos loyalist. Nothing was wrong with that for in fact people admired him for trying to build his own identity and political mass base over that simmering discontent of people who realized that Edsa was all but a political swindle.

Estrada then began his “long march” to define his political history. In 1987, he ran for senator under the hastily organized Grand Alliance for Democracy, and only he and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile won. It was his election as senator that firmed up his ambition of wanting to become President, but clever enough, refusing to be identified as a loyalist, although the Marcoses were openly campaigning for him. In 1992, he ran for vice president with business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, Jr. as his presidential candidate. He won with a sizeable number of votes, but his presidential running mate failing to make it despite the all-out support from their traditional bailiwick, Iglesia ni Cristo.

Estrada had no reason to fear the yellow horde despite being treated like political lepers. The overwhelming votes he obtained when he ran for vice president were more than enough to convey the ominous message that he would be the next President. It was from that grim prospect of the Yellow Era about to come to an abrupt end with a closeted Marcos loyalists wresting power that the conspiracy of hatching another Edsa came about.

One of the notorious plotters that engineered his ouster was there. It was Ramos, who even scolded him publicly when he was President, who worked out that hideous strategy; that should they fail in dissuading the people to vote for him, they could well proceed to discredit him by fabricating charges of corruption, incompetence, and for wallowing deep in vices. Once the black propaganda reached their saturation point, the people would have no choice but to go along with the idea of kicking out the President they overwhelmingly elected.

Indeed, another of that dark chapter in our political history came, and it focused on how the President elected by more than 50 percent of the voters was unceremoniously removed from office. The hypocrites succeeded, but not without seeing Estrada’s followers going berserk. Had it not for the now jailed political hijacker’s determination to hold on to power, the May 1 bloody rampage could have evolved to one of widespread riots. Yes, he was jailed and convicted by a Kangaroo Court, but people did not mind that. He remained popular because he represented their galvanized sentiment, thinking he had that unwavering principle worthy of their blind adulation.

Maybe a man could lose everything, but not his honor. When he too loses that, then we could readily conclude he has become a real goner. Many regretted seeing him making that chikahan at people instrumental for his ouster. There are many things Estrada could do to ingratiate himself with the present regime, but of all things he could have excused his presence for that would imply he has been reduced to a mindless sycophant. His presence was not only an insult to himself, but an exposition that indeed he has lost his sense of political history. He made a trash of his own record at a time when he is about to pull down the curtain to his erstwhile colorful political career.

It was not only a case of him forgetting the people who sacrificed for him, but of distorting Edsa itself. Everybody knew he was not there when the first political swindle happened. But when he showed up in that last celebration, he completely distorted history all for his desire to be included as a party that threw filth at the Filipino people. He cannot term is presence a mere chika-chika, but a betrayal of himself, and an ultimate act of political self-destruction.