Saturday, February 16, 2008 Editorial: Truth seeking in the NBN issue
Some sectors, specifically the Catholic Church hierarchy, are again using “truth” like a mantra in the protest actions being waged against the Arroyo administration.
In yesterday’s rallies and prayer meetings sparked by the testimony of Rodolfo Lozada Jr. on the national broadband network (NBN) deal, “truth” was in the placards.
“Truth” was also sought by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines when the controversial “Hello Garci” tape shook President Arroyo’s rule years ago.
Different approaches
The quest for the “truth” in the scandals hounding Malacañang, however, can be differentiated from the oust-Arroyo call by militants and the political opposition.
Merely seeking the “truth” is a calming move because it bases future actions against the government on the information gathered in the process of truth seeking.
On the other hand, the oust Arroyo movement or the “Arroyo resign” call presupposes that the President’s guilt has been established, thus the need to topple her.
That the “quest for truth” option exists side by side with the “Arroyo resign” call only shows the divergence of views of the forces ranged against the administration.
Complicated
And while the oust-Arroyo move tends to be simplistic as a call to action, the “quest for truth” is complicated and, more often than not, difficult to achieve.
In the “Hello Garci” scandal, for example, the bishops’ quest for the truth was stymied by the lack of credible witnesses to complement the surfacing of the tape.
The Senate inquiry on the aborted NBN deal may have snagged Lozada, but the testimony is obviously inadequate, thus the search for other witnesses, like Romulo Neri.
Impasse vs. uprising
Of course, the “truth” call can target the conscience of those with knowledge of the wheeling and dealing in the NBN transaction, but what if they still won’t testify?
That can result in an impasse or, like in the aborted Estrada impeachment trial when senators voted not to open the Jose Velarde envelop, lead to an uprising or a coup.
