Sunday, September 07, 2008 Mercado: Sleaze level By Juan L. Mercado Sidebar
“THE nail that sticks out gets hammered,” the old proverb says. And a corrupt oligarchy, in this country, pounds to their sleaze-level officials of integrity.
Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca and Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, for example, had to run gauntlets of smears. Only later would they win recognition like the Magsaysay Award.
This pounding is most relentless in President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s Pampanga. There, officials wage what the Inquirer aptly calls a “shameful and shameless” Recount, Recall and Requiem campaign to oust Gov. Eddie Panlilio. Why?
This priest-turned-reluctant-candidate dented Malacañang’s patina of political invincibility. With little cash and citizen backing, he trashed board member Lilia Pineda and governor Mark Lapid. Both preen as the President’s moneyed allies.
Politicians have an unwritten rule: “Never touch our wallets.” Under chief justice Hilario Davide, the Supreme Court ruled on the notorious coconut levy. Eduardo Cojuangco unleashed “Brat Pack” to impeach Davide. Only furious protests beat back Cojuangco’s legislative gunslingers.
Panlilio fractured that rule by reforming tax collection. The Provincial Treasurer’s report shows govenors Lito and son Mark Lapid collected P121.02 million from quarry taxes over 12 years. In contrast, Panlilio doubled the Lapids’ collection to P230 million----in three years. Bulk has been shared with local governments.
This record stood a corrupt elite on its head. It gave citizens a glimpse into the massive amounts that leached into politicians’ wallets. Indeed, “few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example,” Mark Twain notes.
In October 2007, the President met Union of Local Authorities. Brown envelopes were handed out. Panlilio confirmed he found P500,000 stuffed into his envelope. “No one blushed,” noted an editorial. “Even more telling, no one returned an envelope” --- except Panlilio.
Candor can turn the “annoyance factor” ballistic. Thus, the Provincial Board granted mayors greater police powers over quarries. It stripped P45 million from the quarry reform fund in his budget.
“Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?” King Henry II fumed against Thomas Becket. The archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170, bucked the monarch’s abuses. Henry’s men cut Becket down at the altar. This became the theme of TS Eliot’s “Murder In The Cathedral.”
Today, a “3-R” campaign would rid Pampanga of this “meddlesome priest.” The third “R” stands for the first word in Requiem aeternam dona eiis Domini (“Eternal rest give unto him,O Lord“). Panlilio says little of this threat. But he dons a flak-jacket in more exposed situations. Men have killed for less.
The Supreme Court stopped the second “R” or recount. Officials seek to gather 100,000 signatures to force a recall election. That’s the third “R.”
“This petition has partisanship written all over it,” the Inquirer said. “Their ‘campaign’ is both shameful and shameless. In Filipino, “nakakahiya, walang hiya!”
“Instead of recall, people should call for reform,” said Pampanga’s Bishop Pablo David. Of the province’s 137 priests, 122 support Panlilio. “This is not about a person. It's about a whole moral crusade for good governance.”
This country is starved for officials of integrity “who stick out.” They prove to a dispirited people that integrity still exists. “Example is the school of mankind,” Edmund Burke wrote. “And men will learn at no other.”
Malacañang meticulously distances itself from the “3-R” campaign. But would Pampanga officials pound “Among Ed,” to their sleaze level, if the kabalen in Malacañang didn’t wink?
