Another JDV with a different collar

JDV's theatrical 59-minute rhetoric served public notice that he stood trial - and he pleaded guilty as charged, matter-of-factly. We all knoew where the man was coming from, trying even a last-ditch effort to evade the noose. Blackmail, call it that, for the first and final act, against the president of this damned republic. It was time for the man that left a legacy only best known to him - to go. Or ask anyone in the know what monstrous scenario he has created in an institution called the House of Representatives as its supposed-to-be mere agency head. JDV projected himself as bigger than the institution he represents when in truth and in fact, no part ought to be bigger than the whole. Thus, he probably overdid the state of affairs of what ought to be a sacred institution in so far as the officials and employees are concerned and more so in so far as the historic role of a Legislature is taken into account.

The vote configuration betrayed the man who thought he had all the Batasan for himself as new set of congressmen and women mixed with the old set in what Pichay always referred to as the "Old Boys Club." Now, there must be any given number of his colleagues - old or new - who rebelled against JDV's own self-fulfilling prophecy not to mention antics that have already lost their spell or hypnotic effect. Ironically how many editors, political analysts, and even scholars ever thought of JDV as the consummate statesman; such a perception rests on a mistake. It is not just Malacañang that benefited more with his ouster; but also the Filipino people. The anomaly that is JDV is soon a thing of the past or how indeed can he sit as speaker for three consecutive terms when each time a new Congress opens, every member is deemed on equal footing - no such thing as primus inter pares. In other words, he is the author of a grand historical blunder and good thing this Gordian knot was finally cut so that no more tradition as bad as that JDV authored be repeated in history.

Public perception of JDV is limited to what we read in newspapers, hear over radio, watch on TV, view on the net. All these were created to be false by the man himself who writes his own press releases, his own oratory, his own place in history. History should be objective but when he came, he made it purely subjective as though everything that happened in the country gravitated around his well-designed image as a great political leader of the times. Not anymore as his long oratory or rhetoric gave the man away - JDV - in real than in reel, has become more of himself. Now that he has to subordinate himself to the new leadership he himself apparently anointed - good or bad - not much shall be heard of him. He shall resign himself to oblivion - the sooner the better - that no more of him is heard, not his idea - if it ever was a bright one anyway. His chronic reference to all his accomplishments - spoken from the first point of view, that is - really is an insult to intelligence. Now he falls in his own snake pit.

JDV's successor, albeit his protégé, does not have to test the waters any longer. Problem is, our fate and future might still be more of the same as they both came from the same breed of what Salonga conveniently calls "traditional politicians" and its negative slant. Spin doctors, damage control experts, media handlers need not do a lot of dishing in or dishing out. The same menu will be served to the public at large with no perceptible change in flavor. As a people or as a country, Nograles doesn't have to reinvent the wheel. Creeping patronage politics as that discussed by Brillantes of UP will be the norm rather than the exception. If we go by B.F. Skinner's psychoanalysis, we shall find out in no time at all that anybody driven by the same set of stimuli will respond in the same particular way as that demonstrated by the old occupant for three punishing terms or the man called JDV. Thus, it is not as if "payolas"' will be a thing of the past. It is not as if "lobby money" will no longer circulate within the Big League. It is not as if, the Congress will cease to be a Malacañang rubber stamp.

PGMA is probably the luckiest president we ever had. And she better has to finish all of her term in office till she really has to go herself - with all the music and trimmings of a well-served term, if we can call it that. Nothing has been proven of all the charges slapped against her to the satisfaction of the High Court. On whether or not the High Court is beholden to her is another story by itself. If the AFP and PNP and even the bureaucracy itself continue to patronize her leadership, so be it - nothing is the matter with that. If coup plotters, destabilizers, or other extremists group cannot inflict the political blow they want to deliver, then so be it. The president is the president under all the harsh conditions that have visited her - past, present, future.

It would seem that no promising group ever holds promise. No such group can keep up a good fight - not even the so-called 'bully from the school yard'. Definitely, not Lacson, not Cayetano, not Escudero, not Magdalo. Nobody, as no group can boot PGMA out of office except by the tinkerable processes of law. Malacañang knows what buttons to press, its survival kit complete, its lieutenants and sub-alterns trained in politics as it should be better done under existing culture and sub-cultures. PGMA's core group of advisers is a force to reckon with and they understand their political calculus more than other presidents combined. Who said it was hard for PGMA to boot out JDV from his speakership? It was a walk in the park - so far as PGMA is concerned - no fuss, no fibs. The daughter of the former president knows how to run the affairs of state, albeit - one step forward, two steps backward. The more she is "harassed." the stronger her stay in power becomes.

What is in store for the Filipino people? - PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN, UP Diliman, Quezon City, nielsky_2003@yahoo.com

Mendiola recalled

THE memory of Mendiola evokes heart wrenching images of blood stained slippers scattered on the pavement and the farmers found slumped and dead with bullet wounds. It was one of the darkest days of our history, a moment of shame and ignominy we would rather forget and bury in oblivion.

Things may seem hazy now as we may not entirely and clearly remember how events transpired when the farmer desperately tried to breakthrough the barriers of Mendiola land as shots were heard, all hell broke loose. Today it is no longer how events evolved that we reflect and ponder. We instead find space in our hearts and affections to dwell on what counts most, on what would give meaning and substance to the memory of "Mendiola".

We find it hard to believe much less embrace the fact that bullets can crush our hopes, devastate our faith and shatter our lives. But let it not end there, for that would make the farmers death futile. We find now more fitting to say that while the memory of Mendiola may be painful, it is from these pains that we emerge stronger and learned our lessons. It is always said that those who do not learn from the mistakes of the past will be doomed to commit the same mistakes in the future.

The spirit of true reforms continues to live in each of us. Such reforms may not happen overnight but let us sustain the fervor and passion by being "the change we want to see in this world." Let us close ranks, sustain and preserve the gains we see around us, and be vigilant against those us who would like to exploit the vulnerability of our less privileged countrymen to advance their personal interests. Let us denounce these vested groups.

If there is any good that would come from Mendiola, it would be our disavowed commitment for peaceful, meaningful change for our country and our children. - ARMAND GARCIA, Parañaque City

Double standard?

DOES the Holy Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines practice double standards, one for businesses and another when the Church itself if involved? For president Jesus Arranza of the Federation of Philippine Industries, it seems to be that way.

It involves the case that has dragged on for 20 years as the Archdiocese of Nueva Caceres sought the exemption of the 268 hectares of farmland from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

But the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Department of Agrarian Reform subjecting the 268 hectares farmland of the Archdiocese of Nueva Caceres to land reform.

I do agree with Malaya columnist Ducky Paredes and FPI president. Jesus Arranza that the Catholic Church is moving heaven and earth to retain its 268 hectares farmland while the Church was quick in approving the protest of 55 farmers of Sumilao, Bukidnon ousting the San Miguel Foods, Inc. which converted the land they occupied into state-of-the-art agro-industrial complex that would benefit the entire town of Sumilao and its surrounding communities.

The Sumilao land was formerly owned by the Quisumbing family and was exempted from CARP coverage when it was reclassified as agro-industrial land during the administration of President Fidel V. Ramos. - ELIGIO M. PASTORIN, Marikina City