Thursday, November 23, 2006 Wenceslao: Honasan’s luck By Bong O. Wenceslao
That most Filipinos hate our brand of politics is a no-brainer. This is the reason why President Arroyo’s description of the current political setup as outmoded is a good sound byte. The root of the problem, though, is not the presidential system, as the President would want us to believe, but our politicians, including Arroyo herself.
After former senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan was arrested, what did Malacañang’s Michael Defensor announce? That Honasan will be included in the administration’s “unity” senatorial slate in next year’s elections. If that is not sadistic, then it shows the administration’s lack of principles (or does it really have one?).
Honasan, as the joke doing the rounds goes, should have been in the Guinness Book of World Records for this category: the number of failed coups he led—all against women presidents. Before he was elected senator and shortly after he joined Edsa 1, Gringo rattled then president Cory Aquino.
Months ago came President Arroyo’s turn.
It is therefore mind boggling how the very same administration that Honasan allegedly wants to destroy now wants him to run under its senatorial ticket.
Either that is an admission that the case it has filed against Honasan is bogus or that its senatorial slate needs to be propped up by the charisma of a former fugitive. Both are condemnable.
The effect of this posturing is the weakening of the case filed against Honasan. How can, for example, the Department of Justice, which is under Malacañang, strengthen the charges it filed against the former senator in connection with the Oakwood mutiny? In the end, therefore, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s bluster won’t amount to anything.
But politics as savior of those charged with high crimes is not a new phenomenon. There is a growing list of people saved by it—from the Marcoses down to the Estradas. To evade the long arms of the law, one either has to run for a government post and win or be rich enough to bankroll the candidacies of others. Or one has to have political clout.
Why do you think the cases against Imelda Marcos have dragged on? Because the Marcoses are still politically powerful. And why the leniency given to former president Joseph Estrada? Because the Estradas are still politically powerful. In a lesser sense, why was Panfilo Lacson able to reinvent himself? Because he ran for senator and won.
I was not surprised, therefore, with the announcement of one of the Oakwood mutineers, Antonio Trillanes, that he will run for senator next year. With the opposition already mulling the possibility of including him in its senatorial slate, Trillanes may yet end up as another Honasan: become a senator. After that, he will become untouchable.
One should not blame ordinary Filipinos, then, if they have lost faith in this country’s leadership and in this country’s future.
The blame should be pinned on our politicians, although I doubt they will own it up—ever.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/ my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
