STATEMENT
entitled Government Should Serve the Truth formulated by a group that calls
itself "La Salle 60" and supposedly composed of former cabinet secretaries of
Gloria Arroyo has made impractical demands on the President. I find these
impractical because, while the call for Gloria’s resignation is very strong in
Manila and its environs, once one leaves Luzon, the rest of the country consider
us in Manila as impractical and even crazy.
They demand that President Arroyo do the following:
1. Allow Romulo Neri "to resume his testimony before the
Senate investigation without any restrictions or limitations."
2. "Order the release and delivery to the Senate of all
public records pertaining to the NBN-ZTE deal, starting with the minutes of the
NEDA Board meetings on the project."
3. Suspend Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)
Secretary Leandro Men-doza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso. DOTC was the
lead agency for the broadband project.
4. "Suspend environment Secretary Lito Atienza, PNP Director
General Avelino Razon, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Deputy NAIA
Chief Angel Atutubo, Senior Supt. Paul Mascariñas and all those allegedly
involved in the attempt to prevent Senate witness Jun Lozada from testifying,"
and
5. "Order a halt on any further attempts by such agencies as
the DOJ, DENR, NBI and BIR to harass Senate witness Jun Lozada and other
witnesses."
La Salle 60 adds: "Today we see how the institutions of
government are being manipulated, weakened, and corrupted. The President must
demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week as
more and more of our people make their judgment."
La Salle 60 argues that Gloria must do as they wish of else
Gloria will be "condemned as complicit with, and in fact, as being at the center
of, the lies surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal."
On this, I can bet an amount of money that Gloria Arroyo will
definitely not comply with these La Salle 60 demands. To do so would be to
surrender to people who, in her mind, were traitors to her. She trusted them and
they went against her.
In addition to the fact that giving in to any demands will
only mean that even more demands will be forthcoming, doing so also immeasurably
weakens her position, something that no President should allow. If Gloria Arroyo
were this easy to impress and to scare, she would not have lasted as long as she
has. Sure, she may well be a bit nervous about all of the street action but
Gloria Arroyo was never faint-hearted. Besides, she still has all of her
generals with her.
Thus, the La Salle 60 demands will be dismissed outright and
rightly so. It gives Gloria Arroyo noting in exchange for allowing her position
to be weakened. This will, on the contrary, only increase her resolve to beat
back these enemies.
Asking her to resign is the more practical call and,
according to La Salle 60, this is precisely what they will do if and when Gloria
ignores them. They have wasted their time. It would have been more practical to
just ask for her resignation, a call that, by the way, she is also sure to
reject.
If La Salle 60 want things to happen, what they ought to do,
instead of making impractical demands, is to pray as hard as they can that the
Supreme Court rule that EO 464 is an illegal EO and, thus, should not apply to
anyone. Even then, of course, Gloria will still ask the SC to reconsider its
ruling.
I just cannot see Gloria Arroyo giving up so easily.
In fact, there is even a question in my mind whether or not
she will actually step down at the end of her presidential term at noon on June
30, 2010.
***
We have another reaction to our Monday column: "Thanks for
sharing us that awesome letter (From the Internet, 3/3/08, Malaya). It was
indeed powerful and I wonder if it can be translated in Tagalog to reach a wider
audience among our people. We need a new nation. Umiiyak ang lupa sa hirap ng
buhay para sa ating mamamayan.
"For too long the elite have failed the poor. And yet still,
when we have clergy that dances with the poor by day but dines and sleeps with
the rich by night, the faithful are lost and the Church’s ministry is suspect."
– Eugene Garma, Wheaton, IL
***
Principally, the Church has been meddling with politics so
long that it is beginning to shoot itself in the foot and – worse, the bishops
can even be divided into opposing partisan political fronts. They are being
regarded with as much credibility as the worst of our traditional politicians.
The late Cardinal Sin was wrong to involve himself so deeply
in politics. Now, the Church is suffering for its all too often misplaced
political activism.
Someone ought to do a poll on this: Do Pinoys want a Church
that is into politics or do we prefer a Church that does not concern itself with
political issues.
***
The 9th Don Celso Tuazon Cup, which this year coincides with
the 50th anniversary of Valley Golf and Country Club, will be held on both the
longer, Championship South Course and the shorter but trickier (more water
hazards) Executive Course beginning on Thursday, April 17 to Sunday, April 20,
2008.
This is the biggest club tournament in the Philippines. Last
year, we had close to 900 participants. Teams are composed of a member and his
guest and each team plays both courses with a rest day in between.
As I suggested in a previous column, if you are a Valley
member, join now before all the slots are taken. If a non-member, look for a
Valley member, impress him with your golf and ask him outright to choose you as
his partner. Even if you do not win the tournament, the give-aways and the
raffle prizes are rewards enough. If that is still not enough for you, there is
also the camaraderie and fun at the awarding ceremonies.
As a Valley member, this is one tournament I never miss.
