eat. First they
chorus "destabilization" which has been in the lexicon of this government since
May 1, 2001. They even imagined a date for a "real" threat – January 22. After
the day passed with nothing happening, as expected, they claim the threat is
dissipated. All these to predicate a decision done as early as November – that
Hermogenes Esperon would be given an extension as AFP chief of staff.
We said it in this column then, along with planned movements
in the stinking palace beside the stinking river. Everything that followed was
scripted noise, and the announcement from Davos was anti-climactic. Last
Thursday, January 24, in a get-together of the UNO presided over by Mayor Jojo
Binay, we stood pat on our sure "prediction" as ABS-CBN’s Maricar Bautista asked
for reactions to the rumors in Davos that Esperon would be given a new lease on
life.
"Partners in crime," I told Maricar. Esperon, after all, is
the last of the Garci generals in the AFP’s topmost hierarchy. Ebdane is already
"civilianized" in the DPWH. Lomibao is a "monobloc" undersecretary at the NICA,
after Reynaldo Berroya refused to budge from LTO where Lomibao was appointed
last year. She couldn’t push Berroya off his chair at LTO, not because he was
glued to it by the epoxy of such a juicy post, or because of his heft, but
because he knows too much about the past. As for the Kyamkos and the Habacons,
they’ve been retired, and likely belong to the list of 90 or so generals that
Karina Constantino David derides as resurrected bureaucrats.
Alexander Yano is just a professional soldier, pushed into
the post of army commander by seniority, combat experience and merit. No place
for such "un-trustworthy" because unfathomable generals in "her" chain of
command. He does not belong to the "cosa nostra". That makes Esperon
indispensable.
But Esperon wanted to lay the predicate to something he knew
was inevitable, and so he heard mysterious "destabilization" noises. Everybody
and his mother saw through the ploy so ridiculous. Ayos na nga, gusto pa ng
popular acceptance!
Now that the deed is done, with a supposed three-month limit,
Esperon could not contain himself. He is now laying the predicate to what his
Boss Woman will do just before May 9, when 3-month overtime expires. He says the
next four months could be "bloody", because he will launch major offensives to
eliminate the New People’s Army off the Philippine map. And while Esperon may be
pretty good at oppressing junior officers and even a West Point graduate, and
successful in election operations under the tutelage of Garcillano, he is not a
good dissembler. He conjures a bloody scenario not for three, but four months,
which means more than his 3-month extension.
Again everybody and his mother knows that you cannot break
the back of a rebellion that has been going on for decades without end in four
months, certainly not through the sheer force of Esperon’s combatants alone. So,
what will happen before the ninth of May? Esperon’s services will once more be
indispensable.
***
Because on or about that time also, the long-delayed rigodon
de las malas en el palacio maloloroso is scheduled to happen. Someone will
finally be given the most plum of all assignments in the foreign service. That
gives him enough time to sew up a few things, most especially his son’s "comelection"
through means most foul as "prinsipito" ng Kumintang. (If you haven’t guessed
yet, ask your nearest "ala-eh" friend.)
A former prince of the snake pit who lost in the last
senatorial elections despite being everybody’s ’tol is being offered one of the
concurrent posts of Ronnie Puno. Guess what. For his own sake I advise not. But
then, who the hell am I to offer unsolicited advice to Senator Escudero’s very
good friend?
If one will go to a foreign land, someone will be recalled
from posting so historic, and so lovely. But he wants a position that is coveted
by another. Both come from the fabled province of Pampanga.
Someone who is doing something he has absolutely no academic
or work preparation for will finally get what he wants most. What I cannot
predict is whether his immediate public will warm up to him, even if they are "mag-kabaro".
Where his hapless would-be predecessor will be shafted to I still do not know.
But then again, it’s time he takes a rest. After all that lying for someone,
it’s hard to keep a straight face, and worse, it’s hard, real hard, on the
conscience.
Someone who has been sidelined into a government corporation
after the 2004 elections will once again metamorphose in the palace, still quite
bulky despite respite from the snake pit. He is an old reliable, having been of
service to the Boss Woman since her senatorial days.
And some guys who have smelled the coming political
"juggernaut" that the Boss Woman intends to operationalize this year, with the
help of her new crew, are opting out. One has already joined a presidential
wannabe, and brought along some of his "bright" boys to work in the campaign of
his preferred.
Another is signing up in the camp of another presidential
wannabe.
But who says there will be elections? Well, the bishops can pray.
