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| Reconciliation or Surrender? By Antonio C. Abaya November 19, 2003 The title is not meant to suggest that we have to choose one or the other. It is meant to convey the fear that we have a situation in which one may lead to the other as night follows day. After rampaging mobs from the slums struck in the heart of Makati's business and financial district last Nov. 12, President Arroyo seems to have been rattled to the bone. She is now offering "total reconciliation by 2004 and beyond" to all anti-government or opposition forces in the country. She says she wants to mend fences with the Marcos family, with Joseph Estrada, with Danding Cojuangco, with the Communist movement, with the Muslim secessionists, with Gringo Honasan and his Magdalo putschists, and with "other opposition personalities", which, presumably, include Ping Lacson. "I have opened earnest back channels to all the groups involved and I hope they will heed the call for principled reconciliation...Reconciliation is the only way the country can attain peace. These efforts must continue to strengthen the democratic institutions in our country...Our country needs to be healed through the patriotism brought about by the reconciliation of opposing groups." Some people will jump to the conclusion that what President Arroyo is really offering is not "total reconciliation" but "total surrender." That, instead of the "strong republic" that she had earlier claimed she wanted to establish, she is really still presiding over the same old wishy-washy poor excuse of a country, decrepit and disorganized, badly frayed at the edges, irreparably rotten to the core, stumbling aimlessly from crisis to crisis, forever embroiled in one conflict after another, which every one of its many internal enemies feels free to growl and take swinging jabs at because it never gets angry enough to stand its ground and fight back like a lion, preferring instead to pray for its tormentors or attempt to seduce them with 30 push-ups and the siren call of reconciliation. "Total reconciliation" with Joseph Estrada seems to mean allowing the disgraced former president to leave for knee surgery abroad, apparently with the prayer that he stay away, at least until after the May 2004 elections so that he will not be around to sic his creatures from the Blue Lagoon again on Makati's financial and business district and thus weaken her standing with the business community on whose meager investments economic growth has to depend. "Total reconciliation" with Erap would now reinforce earlier speculations that the recent attempt of the shameless Brat Pack to impeach Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. from the Supreme Court was part of "total reconciliation� with Danding Cojuangco, which would have included dismissal of Cojuangco's other cases in the Supreme Court. Otherwise Danding would field his probable dummy, FPJ, in May 2004 and thus spoil GMA's ambitions for a second term. And having revealed that she has a weak hand, does President Arroyo think that Erap will be satisfied with just the permission to undergo surgery abroad? Erap's ultimate goal is to have the plunder case against him dropped. Is GMA prepared to give away that much in exchange for the political support of the Pwet ng Masa and the Iglesia ni Kristo? Many in the middle class now think that she is. And what about "total reconciliation" with the Marcoses, who have more than a hundred cases pending against them in courts since 1986? Having recently lost $683 million in Swiss banks as a result of a Supreme Court decision that that wealth rightfully belonged to the people of the Philippines, the Marcoses will now no doubt insist that �total reconciliation� with them will now be possible only if those 100-plus cases against them are dropped, in exchange for the political support from the Warays and the Ilocanos. Will she accept that condition? Many in the middle class now believe she will accept anything to add more votes to her potential total in 2004. By her callous pursuit of more votes in 2004 in the name of reconciliation and at the expense of the rule of law, President Arroyo is frittering away the support of the middle class, and the next time her government is pushed to the brink by one or all of its many enemies, and the Catholic bishops issue another call to EDSA, few of the middle class, other than the cabalens, may answer that call and turn out to march in her parade. President Arroyo must now search deep in her heart of hearts. If, because of political expediency, she cannot deliver the "strong republic" that she had said she was out to build; if, because of the pressing need to pre-count her votes for 2004, she cannot insist on the rule of law in her governance, and must henceforth temper each major decision with a gesture of appeasement towards vote-rich criminals and lawbreakers; if, because of a poverty of imagination and creativity, she and her inner circle cannot conceptualize and implement programs of governance that can steal the thunder from her enemies and must therefore resort to placating them instead with pathetic offers of reconciliation �..then she may come to the realization that it is not worth her dignity and her place in history to prostitute her honor for a few million votes. It is now too late in the day to deliver what she had promised earlier: �a revolution in the way we think and do politics and economics.� Her revolution never got off the ground because it was weighed down by her baggage of trapo politics. Her best legacy should now be to prevent the barbarians from grabbing the presidency in 2004. And she can best accomplish that now by withdrawing from the 2004 elections and throwing her support behind the only viable decent candidate left in the field, Raul Roco. ***** The bulk of this article appears in the November 29, 2003 issue of the Philippines Free Press magazine. |
| OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Revolution or Surrender� Like I said Mr. Abaya, there can never be reconciliation without justice, now and in the future. The thing is President GMA seem to swing here and there wanting to please everybody including these immoral obscene people who plundered the country. No wonder she lost the most credible cabinet minister in her cabinet. Ofelia Mananquil Bakker, [email protected] November 24, 2003 ................................................................. The half-educated Amang Rodriguez put it more bluntly: politics is addition. "Reconciliation"? That is a clerico-fascist phrase. Ross Tipon, [email protected] November 24, 2003 ����������������.. good writing Mr. Abaya...keep on....however , possibly as the " masa " is for Erap/Fpj...."we" are for you, your thinking that is.......yet how sure are you of this man, Roco ? ....I had a good look of him especially in the ConCon of 71, and I find him wanting .....not as a presidentiable ! ... there was this other delegate too ( E.A.) who impressed "us" a lot but later on turned out to be a real scoundrel..... be sure now....for we are right behind you.....YR (your reader) Tinine Bautista, [email protected] November 24, 2003 ........................................................... I thought your article was an accurate description of what is happening in the Philippines!!! Keep up the good work. Reynaldo Sarmiento, reynaldo_ [email protected] November 24, 2003 ....................................................... She has another thing under her sleeves, Tony. The call for "reconciliation" could just be a prelude to something else. If they don't heed her call, then she still has the military with her to now go after trouble-makers and enforce the "law" to maintain order. The military would be glad to accommodate her. She is legally in power. Why would they support one or the other group who want to take her place? The unity within the military is a turning point in politics in the Philippines, not EDSA masa or EDSa elitista or EDSA middle class, kuno. The game of the generals is something to watch. Gras Reyes, [email protected] November 25, 2003 ������������................ (Through the CebuPolitics egroup) Antonio, What can I say? What you said here is simply a nail to the coffin! Victor Canoy, [email protected] November 27, 2003 ��������������............. I agree. best choice for all of us is to support raul roco. all the best Eros Kaw, [email protected] November 24, 2003 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |