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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| From GO to GAGO
By Antonio C. Abaya Written March 18, 2007 For the Standard Today, March 20 issue As has been clear for several years now, I am not a fan of President Arroyo and her coterie of shameless opportunists, political turncoats, predatory relatives, corrupt and complicit bureaucrats, professional electoral cheats and military mercenaries and assorted scalawags of various stripes. But neither am I an admirer or supporter of deposed President Joseph Estrada, the presumed head and financier of the so-called Genuine Opposition (GO), whom I have characterized in the past as a �criminally inclined ignoramus,� because of his marked preference during his presidency for the company of fugitives from the FBI, stock price manipulators, embezzlers, big-time smugglers, jueteng lords, Chinese mafia dons and other sleazy characters. To which he replied in writing that �I believe you called me a �criminally inclined ignoramus,� whatever that is. (It) is quite sad that your opinions, though perhaps well-meaning, are apparently falling on deaf ears. �As I understand it, name-calling is only resorted to when all other efforts to destroy a person have failed. Thus far, most surveys show a significant number of Filipinos still trust yours truly. You will understand, of course, if I put greater importance on the people�s sentiments rather than on your opinion of my intellectual skills and moral aptitude�.� (See my article Erap�s Response (Nov. 06, 2005). As chairman of Tapatt Foundation, I was one of 23 NGO signatories to the House resolution in the late 2000 calling for his impeachment. This is to lay to rest insinuations from some ignorant quarters that I am critical of President Arroyo because I want to see a restoration of the Erap presidency. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The GO people are ecstatic over the results of recent surveys by SWS and Pulse Asia showing that ten, then eight, of their senatorial candidates are apparently among the choices of respondents for the winning 12 slots. But it is still early in the game. When the euphoria of launching the campaign wears off and the nitty-gritty of waging the daily hustle for votes takes its toll, those ten will likely drop to eight to six and even less, and the GO will complain that people�s minds are being conditioned for their strategic defeat in May and that preparations are being made by the usual suspects to cheat them of victory at the polls. Maybe, just maybe, they will agree with my call to postpone the elections unless and until the bungling Comelec finally programs the perennially discussed but perennially discarded automated elections, if even only in the major urban centers, which would be the only effective way to significantly reduce the cheating. But the GO have no one else to blame but themselves for the pathetic way in which they have so far conducted their campaign. At least three of their major rallies � in Iloilo Antique, and Nueva Ecija - have so far been cancelled because of poor crowd turnouts, or the unavailability of most of their candidates, or both. They have adopted one �guest� candidate (Kiko Pangilinan), almost certainly for the crowd-drawing capabilities of his wife, Sharon Cuneta. But Pangilinan has refused to campaign with the Rat Pack, selfishly denying them the presence of his Super Star. This is political campaigning by the Katzenjammer Kids And they have so far failed to pick an issue or issues over which to wrestle with the Arroyo administration. Not that it matters much in this country. Graft and corruption? Erap and his son Jinggoy are on trial for plunder, which is the highest indictment for graft and corruption in the Philippine judicial system. They could complain, as the recent PERC survey on corruption did, that Erap�s and Jinggoy�s trial for plunder has dragged on for more than five years. But so have the more than 100 cases for corruption against the Marcos family members dragged on for twenty years, through the Cory, Ramos, Erap and Arroyo presidencies. So what else is new? Economic management? What can they possibly offer in place of President Arroyo�s modest but welcome gains? During Erap�s short presidency, our GDP grew 3.4% in 1999 and 4.00% in 2000. Under President Arroyo, our GDP grew 1.8% in 2001, 4.3% in 2002, 4.7% in 2003, 6.00% in 2004, 5.1% in 2005 and 5.6% in 2006. Not enough to propel this country to First World status � contrary to her preposterous claim � but much better than what Erap achieved during his watch. And that includes higher exports, higher gross international reserves, higher OCW remittances, higher tourist arrivals�.higher than anything Erap was able to sleep-walk through in his drunken reveries. Political turncoatism? It was not many years ago that Loren Legarda was shedding dainty tears over the defeat of the impeachment case against Erap, while Tessie Aquino-Oreta danced her infamous jig to celebrate it. Look at them now. Loren is in the camp of Erap, while Tessie sucks up to Gloria, neither without batting a false eyelash. Political pok-poks showing their true colors, no less. Political dynasties? The most shameless would-be political dynasts in this election are the GO�s Peter Alan Cayetano and Koko Pimentel, who do not want to wait patiently in the Lower House while their sister and father, respectively, serve our their terms in the Senate. Why the mad rush to pole-vault into the Senate? What have they ever done to deserve such an accelerated and shameless elevation to a higher position? Nothing, if you ask me. Accusing the Arroyo family of having bank accounts in Germany amounts to nothing if you cannot offer incontrovertible proof of your accusation. Just a clever ploy to earn media mileage and to fuel a fabled motor-mouth. Extra-judicial killings? At present, this is probably the weakest chink in the Arroyo armor. But the GO cannot raise this issue because one their most prominent senatorial bets, Sen. Panfilo Lacson, is also said to have engaged in extra-judicial killings during his watch as head of the national police, including but not limited to, the kicking of two screaming women out of an airborne helicopter, as claimed in a death-bed video testimony by one of his own lieutenants (who later recanted his story). And I cannot see what Noynoy Aquino and Sonia Roco have done to deserve a Senate seat, other than for being the son of Ninoy and Cory and sister of Kris, and for being the widow of Raul, respectively. Reflected glory is no glory at all, just the faint glow of a low-watt bulb that has little luminescence of its own. In my book, trying to overthrow the state disqualifies anyone from running for any position in the government of that state. And that applies to Independent Gringo Honasan as well as to the GO�s Antonio Trillanes. Genuine Opposition is nothing but Gloria Arroyo�s Gulaman Opposition. Soft, amorphous, and lacking a defining backbone. From GO to GAGO. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org and in acabaya.blogspot.com. DISASTER! My computer crashed over the weekend, wiping out my address book and the contents of my inbox and outbox. Fortunately, I had a back-up address book which contained about 80% of my distribution list. We are trying to reconstruct the missing 20% from readers� reaction letters as loaded in www.tapatt.org. But the inbox and outbox messages are gone, including reactions to the articles �Defeating the Communists� Parts II and III. Readers may resend them, if they wish, but only to [email protected]. ***** OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �From GO to GAGO� Dear Sir, Nabasa ko po ang iyong column ngayon at akoy naniniwala na itong GO ay GAGO (Gloria Aroyo Gulaman Oposition). Nais ko pong humingi saiyo nang opinyon kung sino ang mga karapat dapat na iboto ngayong eleksyon para sa mga senador. Eto po ang nasa talaan ko 1.joker 2.escodero 3.pangilinan 4.depensor 5.villar 6.recto. Maraming salamat po,, Emilio Vargas, (by email), March 20, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww While I agree with your indictment of the Estrada presidency and the weakness of the GO platform and candidates, I believe that it has to be said that any leadership will always have suspect officials, freeloading relatives and incompetent managers. Arroyo is not spared this fact, much like the current US president. President. Arroyo, however, desires the upliftment of the country and is backed up by competence and results. Mike Gonzalez, (by email), March 20, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, This subject article of yours is direct to the bull's eye. Well laid out subjects and explanations. It's worth the time in reading your article. Good luck to you, man. Thank you and best regards. Agustin Bacalso, (by email), March 20, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, I really enjoyed your column in Manila Standard the other day. You hit it on the spot!!!! The is the sad reality in the election today. We have an administration and opposition that is not trustworthy and a Comelec that is incompetent. It was very tempting to say postpone the elections and do away with the government. I just wish the media and groups like yours will do more to propagate this mesage across the nation. Our people have to use a very fine-toothed comb in selecting the lesser evils in the coming polls. Mabuhay kayo! Marvin Valido, (by email), March 20, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Thank you for e-mailing me your article. It is bull's eye. I agree with you 100%. It is unfortunate that I do not subscribe to your paper. I only have Philippine Star now. I used to have the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It is comforting that we have the same stand on the issues you mentioned. I just cannot understand why some politicians and media people have their hearts bleeding for Satur Ocampo and his kind. More power to you. Lt. Col. (Ret.) Hector Tarrazona, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You got it right, Tony. As far as I am concerned, they are truly g.a.g.o (grand alliance for genuine opposition)! Cheers! Bobby Tordesillas, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony: I could not believe that Mr. Joseph Estrada (a.k.a. Erap) is capable of such impeccable English! I had assumed all the time that he is not on your level as far as the English language is concerned. Therefore, I have to wonder whether or not Erap truly understands his response to your column calling him, among other things, an "ignoramus." Mariano Patalinjug, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Copy furnished) To Ren Arrieta, it was only two years ago when I learned the meaning of "pok-pok". See what Mr. Abaya thinks of that cum laude graduate of Lito Gutierrez's U.P. Institute of Mass Communication, and Nono Aquino's Dancing Queen Aunt. So what do you think of the article of this ex colleague of Bishop Nilo Tayag and PCIJ chair, Joel Rocamora? "Political pok-poks showing their true colors, no less." Cesar Torres, (by email), San Francisco , CA , March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, I am very much grateful my e-mail address is not among the 20% lost. How true, while the administration's ticket is just a bunch or recycled trapos and political wannabe's and never-heard's, the GO ticket is worse (and with no clear platform at that)! If only there is a potent third force that can challenge these chop-suey's and pinakbet's. It is very pathetic that the old reliable Liberal Party has joined the GO ticket (with the exception of Kiko Pangilinan), but then the very honorable Sen. Jovito Salonga has practically endorsed the Kapatiran's Bautista, Paredes and Sison (who could very well be the third force we need). As for the party list, it is very disheartening that AVE is not among the top choices and in fact in danger of losing their representation. AVE would be a good choice, but it has to work more in the campaign (and just in case, uplift or upgrade the education system). Another partylist I would like to see in congress is Katutubo to represent our very much marginalized tribal minorities. I just hope COMELEC and other crooks will not do anything to quell the people's real choice F. Rommel Martinez, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Very sorry to hear about your files being lost. You are absolutely right; those files could be restored but it may take a while. Going back to Estrada and his Opposition team. The celebrity filled line-up is there to gather and harvest votes but the ultimate crop that the country gets are "political weeds". No wonder the country has not advanced in gaining political maturity and wisdom but regressed rapidly with the passage of time. The proclaimed high literary rate does not run parallel to the political achievement and economic prosperity that every Filipino wants to have. It is a shame to have too many cerebrally challenged and greedy political leaders that mismanaged the country but too little patriots and nationalists to choose from. Dr. Nestor P. Baylan, (by email), New York City , March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I appreciate your honesty and openness. I'm so happy to know that someone in the homeland is watching out for our people�s welfare. Jaime Lim, P.E., (by email), Portland , Oregon , March 23, 2007 President, Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon (PACCO) wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Tony! Unfortunately for the Opposition, much of what you observe of them in your article is quite true. Regrettably for the electorate, the Administration ticket does not offer much better alternatives either. What do you think of the other candidates outside of these two dominant slates? If you were to disaggregate the candidates outside of their parties or groups of convenience, who would be your top 12 individual picks and why? Beyond the political noise created by the professional campaign drumbeaters, is there any hope of rousing our electorate towards more meaningful and sensible choices? More than the lack of what you call individual luminescence among the low-watt bulbs that dot the political marquees, what is truly worrisome is the apathy of many voters towards the failure of the official political parties to offer better alternatives for leadership in government. Regardless of the merits of your analysis of the candidates, many voters remain Thoughtless and Amoral Nincompoops who Grouch but Abdicate their duty to demand better leaders (TANGA). Best regards. Jimmy A. Cura, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Nice one, this article. You can use other email service provider like gmail or google to park your addresses. It� free anyway. AL Jose Leonidas, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony: What happened to you? I haven't been receiving your emails. I thought you might have passed away or something. I'm glad to be receiving your emails again. Thank you for your comments about our country. I am encouraging every Filipino to say what he thinks is good or bad in our country. Unless more and more Filipinos make it his business to make Filipinos his brother's keeper, nothing would happen to our country. Thanks very much for your patriotism. Very truly yours, Ramon A. del Gallego, (by email), March 23, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, I get even more frustrated and depressed as most everyone gets ecstatic over the coming elections. The Namfrel (to which I belonged in the early 80's), the PPCRv, the Church, business and civic sectors, etc are all talking about clean elections when we all know it wont ever be (in the past, present and possibly even in the future). Add to that the least of candidates (national and local) from whom we are asked to choose the 'lesser evil'. But why must we always choose the 'lesser evil'? In fact, a former president, when asked for his personal preferences, whispered , "choose the lesser evil".I talked to a priest just very recently and suggested that it might be better not to vote so one could register a personal protest. He strongly said that that it would be like allowing the real bad ones to take over; better he said to vote and choose the 'lesser evil'.That said, I changed the topic. Regards, Cesar Sarino, (by email), March 24, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sadly, the observation of the fact that democracy (esp. our Pinoy brand) is the only form of government that ensures that the people get the government they deserve, is being validated once again "onli in da istupid Pilipins". Surely, we can do better than that! Tom de Guzman, (By email), March 24, 2007 Peace and Joy Every Conscious Moment! wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww What a crap (sic), Mr. Abaya! What you actually miss is the fact that a lot many people will take anything but Gloria, and the stupid people she has propped up for the Senate that the idiots would even want to abolish later in another plot to make her position permanent, not just as president or prime minister but as a queen. I actually suspected this ever since I heard her claim that she was a descendant of a Manila Chieftain whose kingdom was three days by foot in ancient times from the birthplace of the Macapagals whose 19th century descendant earned his provincemate the unpalatable nomenclature "dugong aso" and a century later the final scourge of the Philippine nation named "Gloria Macapagal Arroyo" a.k.a. the Mother of Lies and Deceit! You may not like Trillanes, but great soldiers like him have proved a blessing in disguise as in the case of Rawlings of Ghana, who was a great favorite and who risked condemnation by the likes of you in their country, but look at what his 20 years in power have proved. Ghana is far better than the Philippines after 1986 and EDSAs 1 and 2. You bet, my friends and I are supporting him and his 10 companions. Cuneta in fact was never included in our line-up of wannabe senators. At least, Binay finally listened to clamor of majority of their supporters, which is OUT WITH MR. NOTED! Filipinos, in fact, should not forget how this creep had helped the crooks in the palace by the murky river cheat majority of Filipino voters of their votes. What you do not know Mr. Abaya is that there are a lot many Filipinos doing the campaigning for these wannabe senators especially the younger ones who are challenged to prove that money and patronage by the rich and mighty are no criteria for winning an election. They are challenged to take a precedence as a matter of fact. I know for a fact that my middle-class friends in the Philippines are taking time to campaign for Trillanes, et al sans the publicity and patronage of people like you, but they surely are getting the right hoot from drivers of jeepneys, et al. Frankly, it is not just a matter of opinion but a matter of right and wrong, good sense, and yes, even survival! Yuko Takei, (by email), Tokyo , Japan , March 24, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I am one of your avid readers and will continue to be one. I do support your proposal to postpone this coming election until at least Nov 2007 to make ways to automated election. I am 100% support that anybody who tried to overthrow the state are not qualified to run for election, my question is why the COMELEC accept their candidacy application. Isn't it one of the disqualification according to the Constitution? Through the various articles that you have regarding the different senatorial candidates, I noticed that you are not in favor of most of them and you gave the reason why. To be direct to the point, do you have candidate(s) in mind that would be worth of your support? It could help our people in making decision, otherwise, they might go for popularity contest again. Thank you and again, please continue fighting for and educating our "Kababayans". God bless. Gil Mateo, (by email), March 24, 2007 MY REPLY. I will make my choices known at the end of April. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, What can I say? I agree with you 100%. It appears that up until now, there is still no genuine platform politics, no political maturity or very limited; and that Philippine politics reflect the tyranny of the majority ignorant combined with the selfishness -- no, greed -- of the ruling dynasties! A genuine democracy needs the voice of the majority to work. This is assuming that first, the sovereign will of the people is reflected and not cheated during elections; second, the middle class comprises the majority; and third, that the values of the majority of voters are in order -- i.e. they value honesty over dishonesty, competence over incompetence, morality over immorality, decency over indecency, excellence over mediocrity, long-term development over short-term dole-outs, learning to fish than merely receiving fishes, leadership by example over leadership by convenience, righteousness over pragmatism, etc. The fact that serious problems with the above operate in the Philippine landscape already profoundly explain why things happen in the Philippines the way that they have. What bothers me though is the fact that even educated (middle class) Filipinos across sectors have not acted any better than their less educated or less idealism-endowed brethren. These otherwise "gifted" Filipinos could really make a difference if they do not allow themselves to be swayed into the misguided path by even supposedly equally "gifted" leaders and power-holders. What has resulted therefore is simply self-promotion from the exploitation of a greatly deteriorated culture that allows even the dishonest or morally bankrupt to move up. Of course, it is now even those who are morally upright and honest who are forced out of government careers or powerful corporate positions since they cannot compete against what should have been casualties in a morally competent system. I pity the Philippine bureaucracy which has become nothing but a virtual milking cow for people who use the organization merely to promote personal agenda -- whether these are the perks, titles, ranks, influence, power associated with high office or whether they become surrogates / tools of supporters ' agenda -- and not really the good of the majority of the Filipino people especially the 40 million who are poor. I read even the comments of my colleagues from our e-group and I feel the "void" that exists as far as real self-sacrifice and moral values go. Many have become lost in merely the aspiration for largely unprincipled ambitions -- forgetting or perhaps losing the courage to live up to "duty, honor, country" -- and have rather chosen to do the easier wrong than do the harder right. I agree with you, Tony, that our political landscape does not offer much. It is indeed quite a bleak scenario! These days, I often find myself praying ...for a miracle from God, never from man! I have no real intention to write these replies but find myself doing it whenever I read your column. Regards, Col. Dennis Acop, PhD, USMA �83, (by email), March 25, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sytakei or whoever you guys are: Your choice of Trillanes as political bet and Rawlings of Ghana as a model is shocking. I'm no fan of Mr Abaya nor GMA but your choice of Trillanes and Rawlings goes through the roof in terms of ignorance in economics and twisted love of country. Rawlings? He and his military cohorts were responsible for setting back Ghana 's democratic and economic institutions by decades. Ghana is languishing in poverty: per capita income of less than 5 USD, backward agricultural economy, etc. (According to the 2007 World Almanac and Book of Facts, the per capita GDP of Ghana in 2005, based on purchasing power parity, was US $2,500, compared to $5,100 for the Philippines . ACA) Same things with Honasan, electing Trillanes will send a new wave of militaristic adventurism and pushing back our economy a few decades backwards again. What a stupid idea! Picking Kim Il Sung as political model could have been less lunatic. Ike Eslao, (by email), March 25, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww We share the same sentiments of what's happening today on our political climate. Your article deserves wider scope of tri-media mileage. I'll forward it to my contacts ."For only the watchful townsfolk that know can strengthen the democracy and that the slapdash one will topple it" Allan Presto, (by email), March 25, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Tony, Greetings from Saudi Arabia . Hope your computer crash was not the work of those "GAGOs". I really liked your characterization of J.E. as a "Criminally Inclined Ignoramus" (CII), in fact I added them to words like oxymoron, hedonistic etc. in my noteworthy words file under his name. Since J.E. is fond of reversing words like a canto boy, I call him O'gag. At other times, I call him RAP-E. Have a nice day. Napoleon P. Serrano, (by email), Dhahran , Saudi Arabia , March 25, 2007 Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, KSA wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Based on the extermination of Bayan Muna members and the intimidation of their sympathizers among informal settlers, it looks like GMA and her military mercenaries are reading your column avidly and heeding your suggestions on how to stifle the Communist elements in the country. Oscar Lagman, (by email), March 25, 2007 MY REPLY. If they were indeed reading my column avidly and heeding my suggestions, they should know by now that they cannot defeat the Communist movement without (a) a credible government, and (b) a Better Idea. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, Just in case my email address was one of those lost, here it is. (Deleted) I can't live through my life not reading your articles. Thank you Manuel Espaldon, (by email), Ayala Alabang, March 25, 2007 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |