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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| 2001 � Have We Learned Anything? By Antonio C. Abaya December 12, 2001 It is that time of year when media organizations go on a retrospective binge to assess the most important events and the most newsworthy newsmakers in the past twelve months. For the world at large, there is absolutely no question but that the suicide attacks in New York City and Washington DC on September 11 were the most catastrophic event, not only of the year, but perhaps of the last 100 years. Certainly no act of war of this magnitude has discombobulated the world since the atom-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, and that was in a situation of declared war, with the combatants neatly arrayed and identified. What the world learned in 2001 is that in the next global war, which may have already begun, there may be no more national boundaries, no more distinction between combatants and non-combatants, no beginning and no end. Welcome to the 21st century. For us Filipinos, the most historic event in 2001 was the overthrow by People Power of the Estrada Gangster Government in January, and the attempt by the Erap Mafiosi to recover their power, through a cynical corruption of People Power, the following May. What we Filipinos learned in 2001 is that the Great Divide between the haves and have-nots in Philippine society is not only wider than ever before, but also that it has been and will continue to be manipulated, even more cynically, in the future by power-mad trapos whose only commonality with the have-nots whom they court is an abysmal ignorance of the true nature and immense possibilities of Politics. To the trapos and their extended families, politics is nothing but the easiest and fastest path to fabulous wealth, totally unattainable through honest toil; to the have-nots � the masang tanga, if you will � politics is just another form of entertainment to distract them from the harsh realities of their brutish existence; which gives them a chance, perhaps, to see in the flesh the joking, singing and dancing idiots who mesmerize them on their TV sets. In the Philippine context, the trapos and the masang tanga are an odd couple, but truly made for each other. Welcome to the 16th century. ***** What I learned even before 2001 but which became more apparent during the aborted Erap impeachment trial and its aftermath is that the Philippine political system, derived to a large extent from the American model, is a bad copy of a bad original. It is inherently and hopelessly corrupt and is not capable of cleansing or renewing itself. This is because the seeds of its own corruption are imbedded in the nature of the political competition itself. It costs so much money to run for public office that a candidate must outlay huge sums of his/her own money, if he or she has it; or, if not, must rely on, and therefore becomes inevitably indebted to, Big Money financiers who bankroll his or her campaign. The Juan Flaviers in Philippine politics are the exceptions that prove the rule. Running for public office thus becomes a business investment that must be recovered many times over if and when the office is won. Money begets more money, and nowhere is this truer than in our politics. To the winner, the spoils, be it in the form of juicy government contracts and/or positions of power and influence, for oneself, one�s relatives and/or one�s financiers, from which to extract rent from the captive public. What other earthly reason can possibly motivate anyone to spend millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of pesos, to run for an office that pays only P30,000, P40,000 or P50,000 a month? The huge financial stakes involved also encourage cheating at the polls and even murder and mayhem during the campaign. It has been observed that no one admits losing in Philippine elections; the losers all claim that they were cheated. How else can they justify to themselves and to their financiers their huge investments gone down the drain? Even when victory is won fair and square and with minimal bloodshed, as apparently was the case with Joseph Estrada, his campaign financiers � the Mark Jimenezes, the Lucio Tans, the Jaime Dichaveses of his Inner Mafia � expect and receive their just rewards, and they in turn acknowledge who butters their bread by repaying �il capo di tutti capi� with opulent mansions for his mistresses and fat bank accounts under phony names. ***** So we learn or should learn from 2001 that the root cause of graft and corruption in Philippine society lies in the very nature of the political system itself, in particular the flawed American-style electoral process which demands the commitment of huge financial resources for the capture of public offices which legally pay salaries barely enough to pay the winning candidates monthly grocery bills. And this built-in corruption factor is preserved and perpetuated by an enfeebled justice system and a Comelec that is glaringly a toothless, spineless and brainless wonder. One recalls that candidate Juan Ponce Enrile benefited most from massive fraud in 13 provinces in the 1995 senatorial elections, according to my own statistical studies of the results, which were subsequently confirmed, and even enlarged to 31 provinces, in the electoral protest of losing candidate Nene Pimentel. Yet that protest was made to drag on beyond the term for which Enrile was apparently fraudulently elected, making it moot and academic. Contrast this with the example of Thailand, whose experience with American-style liberal politics has been mercifully much shorter than ours. In February 2001, the Comelec of Thailand threw out of the Senate ten newly elected senators whom it SUSPECTED (repeat, suspected) of having won by fraud in elections the previous December. That the fatally flawed political system of the Philippines is incapable of cleansing itself is evident from the proliferation of political dynasties all over the country. These dynasties, having gotten a stranglehold on the reins of power, are not about to acquiesce to any drastic changes in the system that will dilute their power and the enormous wealth that that power brings them. In the Philippines, politics have become a family business. The communists have gotten it all wrong in more ways than one. Their �concrete analysis of the concrete situation�, to use one of their favorite phrases, convinces them that this country is a victim of neo-colonialism. My own interpretation is that we have become a victim of neo-feudalism, a more virulent form of feudalism, whish is based, not on the ownership of land but on the occupation of public office through fair means and foul. The events of 2000 and 2001 convince me that only a revolutionary leader, who preferably is the elected and sitting president, can set things right and give this country a new beginning. Can or will Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo be that revolutionary leader? ***** This article appeared in the December 31, 2001 issue of the Philippine Weekly Graphic. |