Wednesday, April 16, 2008 'Magdalo', mon amour By GH Arinday Jr. Sunfare
HOW praiseworthy it is to read the apology publicly given by the convicted Magdalo rebel officers to their fellow Filipinos and the duly constituted authorities.
It is heart-rending to say the least. If I was teary-eyed when reading the message, it was because I could feel their sincerity and candor by owning up the wrong they had committed. There was no shade of craftiness.
The ebb and flow of history have become murky after the first People Power peaceful revolution in 1986. Soon thereafter some political leaders believing to be the presumptive heirs to the unusual socio-political upheaval which brought down the fortress of Marcos' New Society, thought of devising means and ways to grab power by staging several coup attempts-a malady which deeply infected the military-police aberrant attempt "on a kind of transcendental sociology, which is the exact opposite".
From the socio-political viewpoint, our folk-soul impressed heavily with some superstition but hidden in some kind of intellectual jargons such as "curses" would never permit such kind of adventurism. To reject peaceful means for reforms is to accept violence, which inevitably leads to the "possible mean or end of humanity".
Small wars, according to French philosopher Michel-Antoine Burnier, do not achieve anything.
To the superstitious, the name "Magdalo" is cursed. They often associate such organization to the betrayal and senseless execution of national hero Andres Bonifacio and his brother Procopio along the hillsides of Marigodon, Cavite. This may invite disbelief but it is a reality.
Couched in simple language, Army Captain Gerardo Gambala, the most senior officer, tearfully read the group's manifesto for apology and clemency. The most touching part of it that manifests their chilling pain and the contrition reads:
"We undoubtedly make a mistake... We apologize to the people. We ask for your forgiveness for our rebellion... What I am asking for is mercy, and I cannot give anything but the purest intent, pure intention to ask for mercy...if we will be given pardon, I will gladly accept it, not only for myself but for my family as well... We are not in a position to make a deal because we have nothing to offer... We can only offer our purity of heart, our intention to ask for forgiveness...we do not have a bargaining chip to negotiate."
One's idealism may have gone beyond its barriers and political combat for reforms in a bloody manner is irrationality, if there are still available avenues for rational "philosophy of contingency".
The daylong mutiny in July 2003 where the "Magdalo" rebels took over the Oakwood Premier Apartments in the heart of Makati City would have been disastrous in terms of lives and property, let alone its fatal effect on the economy. By rigging with powerful explosives the environs of the service apartments and had there been bloody confrontations the country's business capital could have suffered the fate of Beirut, capital city of Lebanon.
One should study the recurrence of such event. The thorny tendrils in our political front lines have now and then surface like spikes thrown on the traffic lanes by mischief-makers.
No amount of sonorous inanities can lead us to the realization of our dream to remake this country into a haven for the true believers of democratic ideals and principles.
More often than not, the savage aspects of the political skirmishes among the various groups styling as political entities make them more savage than anything else, which leads us to ponder if what workable political philosophy can we make these groups more respectable and believable.
The currency of thought prevailing is how to dislodge those on the seat of power and usually this demand comes from the unspeakable.
Among the Magdalo rebels, now seeking clemency after long-term imprisonments imposed by the court because their guilty pleas could be the good source of study about their "idealism" which brought them to brinkmanship and how their minds were induced or seduced to launch the very premature adventurism.
At first glance, one would be tempted to say that their sole motivation was to oust the incumbent president. But as time unravels their polemics, it has now become clear that the "revolutionary ideology" they entertained was spotty with no definite lasting goals.
The simplistic answer is that they were misguided; it goes beyond such dialectic. Playing with fire is not child's game.
A long process of knowing exactly the factors, which drove them to their misfortune, is needed to identify the parts of the whole evolving into the penumbra of irrationality.
Personally, I must go for giving them clemency, believing in their sincerity and "purity of their hearts". But this must be the last generosity of the authorities. Let's take a lesson from the Cory Administration that most of those who received executive clemency went back to their old ways and continue their "democratic struggles" (whatever that means).
