Wednesday, February 13, 2008 Carvajal: 'Clear and present danger' By Orlando P. Carvajal Break Point
I WATCHED in horror on TV as Gen. Avelino Razon and company were turned into shreds by the sharp questioning of the senators. They looked pathetic fidgeting and squirming in their seats only to sink deeper and deeper into the quicksand of their evasive tactics. I just cannot imagine anybody watching the Senate hearing conclude otherwise than that the Philippine National Police (PNP) “kidnapped” Lozada.
Meanwhile back in the mountains of Cebu and Bohol, the same PNP tells us that they are going to dismantle the NPA in six months. They have, of course, made the same boast many times before and, by that many times, were proven wrong. They are wrong again this time because they cannot get rid of the New People’s Army (NPA) for as long as they continue to defend a very corrupt government that wastes people’s money on bribes and kickbacks instead of spending it to fight poverty in the rural areas.
How can the military stop the NPA from getting fresh recruits when the government doesn’t stop being insensitive to the needs of the poor in the rural areas? The root cause of the NPA insurgency is economic. Only when we start paying attention to the plight of the poor in the rural areas will communist ideology begin to die like seeds thrown on dry ground.
Expect the administration and its allies to do their best to discredit Jun Lozada, who unfortunately does not have documentary evidence to support his allegations. Still, how can they discredit a man who is braving and losing everything in making his allegations of corruption whereas they have billions of dollars worth of motives to lie about him and fabricate evidence against him? I think the people have seen, heard enough and concluded that there are many liars facing the Senate but Lozada is not one of them.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), therefore, is right in calling for communal action. But more than call for it, the bishops should lead this communal action to stop graft and corruption which presents a clear and present danger to the nation. The senators are doing a good job of making the administration’s lackeys look stupid but we know why they are doing it. They are simply grandstanding now in aid of their re-election or election into a higher office.
Only the people have the pure motive of helping themselves when they go into communal action to stop corruption. I know the bishops hate communism and its violent and godless ways. Well, if they do not lead this country’s communal action to stop this clear and present danger of corruption in high places, they have only themselves to blame if the masses of the poor eventually run to the hills, to the NPA, for their salvation.
