Saturday, December 08, 2007 Carvajal: Erring on the long side of democracy By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
BECAUSE the Arroyo administration is embattled, and rightly so, it cannot be expected to go long on democracy in defending itself against its enemies.
Because it persists in its wrong-doings, it must flirt with authoritarianism and play democracy on the short side the way it did in the Manila Pen standoff.
Clearly, the Arroyo administration exists to preserve itself and not to respond to the people’s cry for meaningful changes.
This fact, however, does not give the opposition the right to respond in kind and short-side democracy in their effort to topple the regime. True opposition, meaning beneficial to the country in the long run, can only come from people who have deep faith in democracy and will not short-side it along the way.
Unfortunately, the opposition too is simply out to regain power. The only meaningful change they have in mind is a change in administration and they do not mind endangering our democratic institutions in their quest for power.
That explains why they harp on the validity of Sen. Antonio Trillanes’ criticism of the Arroyo government and not on the validity of the method he used in attempting to topple that government.
That is also why the opposition harps on the incidental, but by no means trivial, issues of police excesses and arrests of journalists covering the standoff. These are really moot points, being old and valid issues against the Arroyo administration, part and parcel of its undemocratic and authoritarian way of dealing with criticism.
The main issue on the Manila Pen standoff is whether a military-style take-over is justified as being the only way to change power and institute meaningful changes in Philippine society. From the dwindling response to calls for Edsa-like revolutions it would seem that the people have very little taste left for it.
One group that seemingly played democracy long was the media. I admire offhand the courage of those who covered such a risky situation. But media is as human as any of the other groups and is not beyond politics or politicking.
The police definitely erred in arresting them but that does not mean media should shirk the duty to do some serious soul-searching of its own.
Media’s self-examination should focus on how much of the risk to put journalists in harm’s way was for democracy and how much was for the ratings or for scooping competition. And since no one is apolitical, what was media’s stand on the Trillanes’ caper and how much of that stand was behind the decision to cover the standoff the way they covered it?
We have seen the excesses of the military in a dictatorship. We must move forward by going long on democracy, rejecting authoritarianism both as an end and as a means.
