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Thursday, February 09, 2006
Wenceslao: Cory, the stampede and Erap
By Bong O. Wenceslao
Former president Corazon Aquino does not like President Arroyo one bit, there’s no doubting it. And there’s nothing wrong with that. With the way government is being run, and with allegations of cheating hounding her 2004 election win, Arroyo is a legitimate target of criticism. So Cory has all the right to hit her when given the chance.
Two of her recent actuations, however, I find disturbing and thus subtract somewhat from whatever is left of her respectability as leader of the past two popular revolts of the country. Aquino used the deadly stampede at the Ultra to chide Arroyo. Before that, he met jailed former president Joseph Estrada, sparking talks of an alliance.
We have heard other people point to poverty as one of the underlying reasons for the Feb. 4 stampede. But when Cory mouthed the same line, it sounded creepy. Poverty as widespread as the one we are experiencing now is not an instant occurrence. It is a product of various factors that accumulated through the past several decades.
Looking at Cory conjured images of her Malacañang stint and of her efforts, or failure, to improve the country’s economy. It also brought back scenes at the clan-owned Hacienda Luisita, the exploitation the farm workers endured and the massacre of protesters. And you find it awkward for Cory to be talking about easing people’s misery.
On the other hand, I agree that building alliances is an important strategy in the struggle for power. But alliance work should not be haphazard; it has to follow certain principles to be effective. In the struggle to topple the Arroyo administration, for example, alliance work must not impede the support of the unorganized masses.
So how would one view Aquino cozying up to the jailed former president? Cory, in People Power 1, represented sectors battling the corrupt Marcos dictatorship. In People Power 2, Cory represented sectors fed up with the corruption and incompetence of the Estrada administration. And Estrada? He represented what governance shouldn’t be.
So how can Cory unite with Erap without alienating sectors fighting for democracy and good governance? Conversely, how can Estrada forge an alliance with Cory without alienating his supporters who propped up his presidency? Or how can leaders gloss over past misdeeds in their obsession to topple a government?
TEXTREAX. From Vic Baguio Jr.: “The stampede at the Ultra was an offshoot to the competition for ratings between two rival TV networks. ABS-CBN’s strategy was to exploit poverty and our penchant for games of chance.”
(khanwens@yahoo.com/0915-9228651)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 9, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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