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Sunday, July 10, 2005
Sobriety lost
By Stella A. Estremera
MANILA is in an uproar, louder now than when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo finally came out on television last June 27 apologizing for calling an election official, a 22 days after Malacañang spokesman Ignacio Bunye said there is a plan by the opposition to release a recording of a wiretap conversation between the president and a Commission on Elections official where the two allegedly conspired to rig the elections last year.
The cause of the uproar: former president Corazon C. Aquino has urged President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to make the "supreme sacrifice to spare our country from the violence that threatens it". Simply put: Resign.
Makati started massing up, Edsa was again getting its share of crowds. In Davao, the "reglamentary" streamers, placards, and "operation pinta" are there along with the rally habitues. There has been resignation calls made by highly-regarded activist groups, but the same calls seem unable to be converted to marching feet and deafening shouts as yet. Something different is going on.
"Magkuwentuhan tayo ngayon at baka bukas overseas call na ito!" a lady squeals into her cellular phone while talking to a friend in Luzon.
"Maayo gyud siguro nga magbulag-bulag na ta kay daghan na man gud sila nag-posisyon dito. Magkambyo-kambyo ra na (Maybe it's indeed better if the country splits up because there are so many already positioning for the presidency, they'll just try to oust each other)," Boy Compa, a taxi driver said.
The Seed of Disgust
While before Mindanao independence was an idea scoffed at by ordinary people who even looked at those who espoused this as crackpots and federalism has been a call that has been called for so long but with not so big a following, now the idea is going mainstreamed becoming more acceptable.
The years of neglect has taken its toll and Mindanaoans are just about
ready to call it quits.
In the statement dated July 8 of the Mindanao Business Council regarding the turmoil in Manila, it hints of a disgust to such political power plays.
"We have always been treated as a bystander to events unfolding in Manila but are made to suffer the consequences of their actions," it said.
Ordinary people, on the other hand, are playing with the idea of independence, especially after two major political figures of Davao spoke of it in the same press conference last June 12--Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte and Majority Floorleader and Davao City First District Representative Prospero C. Nograles.
"It's about time the militants in Manila know that they are not the only ones living in the country. Mindanao is not just going to watch them in an uprising and accept who the next leader would be," Duterte said in that press conference, a statement picked up and echoed by the media.
Then stepped in the "One People Mindanao" being espoused by former Transportation and Communication Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez, who is pushing for a Federal Republic of Mindanao and even has the logo, the flag, and the anthem for it.
"They have tried all out military action pero anong nangyari? Wala. Ilang peace talks na ang kanilang ginawa, wala pa ding nangyari. Ang 'di na lang nila nasubukan is independence," Alvarez said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City last July 4.
The Leader who isn't
During the television program "Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa" and the "Ato 'ni Bay" programs of Duterte three Sundays ago, he showed the One People Mindanao logo and flag and even had the anthem played, saying that these were just given to him by a group who talked to him earlier.
Thus, the lines got mixed...
Days after, the mayor is being referred to in national news as the one pushing for Mindanao independence.
"Yan lagi ang mahirap sa media ngayon diyan. Because I laid down the predicate, ito hindi ito akin ha, pinadala lang ito ipakita ko lang sa inyo ito. Kayo 'pag hindi kayo magtinarong (do what's right) diyan sa Manila baka sasakay ako dito. Yun lang. Paglabas doon sa Manila ako na ang lider dito. Nabuang na," Duterte said in a press conference last Friday.
The mayor then insisted that he is all out for Mindanao independence
if and only if Arroyo is removed unconstitutionally.
In an earlier interview, he said, it is not blind loyalty to Arroyo that has made him speak up for the president but for what the constitution stands by.
Thus, Arroyo can only be replaced by two processes: Voluntary resignation or being impeached. If through either of these two means Arroyo is out, then the Vice President and no one else will take over, he said.
He added that Mindanao severing its ties with the Philippines is an option Mindanaoans can take especially in case of a military junta or another Edsa revolution.
"Ambot sila didto naa sila coalition, naay junta-junta ngyawa, asa man ko padulong, imo kong pasunodon didto (If those in Manila do manage to set up a coalition government or there is a military junta, you expect me to submit to them)? Crazy!" he asked.
Trouble in the Cabinet
Friday was a day of uncertainty for the Philippines, that saw Mindanaoans again glued to their televisions and radios as seven Cabinet members and three undersecretaries announced their resignation because her admission of being the voice in the bugged telephone conversation with the Comelec official has lost her ability to lead.
"The longer the President stays in office under a cloud of doubt and mistrust and with her style of decision-making, the greater the damage on the economy and the more vulnerable the fragile political situation becomes to extremists seeking to undermine our democratic life," resigned Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima said in a press conference the group called in the Hyatt Hotel in Manila.
Purisima was joined by Education Secretary Florencio Abad, Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman, Trade Secretary Juan Santos, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rene Villa, Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno, National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Imelda Nicolas, and peace process adviser Teresita Deles.
The Makati Business Club took the cue from the mass irrevocable resignation of the president's economic team and urged Arroyo to step down.
And then, late afternoon Friday, Aquino appeared on television to state her piece.
Much later, former president Fidel V. Ramos arrived in Malacañang to present his suggestion of a caretaker government to still be headed by Arroyo while the country prepares for a charter change for a shift to a parliamentary form of government by 2006.
The message for that day that reverberated the loudest, however, was that of Aquino's, which has become the rallying point of the "yellow" groups' clamor for Arroyo's resignation.
No Resignation
The appeal to resign made by Aquino, however, was branded as "uncalled for" by Majority Floor Leader Nograles.
While saying he respects Aquino's opinion, Nograles said, "Nobody asked her to resign when she was surrounded by (Gregorio) Honasan and the RAM military coups and when the entire country was in 15 hours of daily darkness brownouts due to the energy crisis that her administration mishandled inflicting great pain and havoc on the Filipinos. We all stood by Cory that time. We never deserted her when she needed us. Personally I find the call most unfair," Nograles said.
He added Aquino's call for the "supreme sacrifice" is not even a solution to the turmoil the country is in.
"When the united opposition would refuse to accept Noli and will charge him with poll fraud like Gloria, what will the MBC (Makati Business Club, not Mindanao Business Council), Cory et. al. do? Will they ask Noli to resign also?" Nograles asked.
This is the same scenario Duterte foresees; worse because there is also the left and ultra-leftists who are pushing for a revolutionary form of government, too.
Arroyo herself has declared she is not resigning. "With all due respect to former president Cory Aquino and others I say: that their actions cost deep and gravest harm to nation because they undermine our democratic principles and the very foundation of our Constitution," she said in a radio statement after saying that she was elected to uphold the Constitution and "ensure that the institutions of the nation will strengthen not weaken" and that is what she intends to do.
"The Philippines has fallen into a dangerous pattern where the answer to every crisis is to subvert due process rather than work within the system. This must stop," she said.
Bystander No More
As business grinds to a stop once more, the local business communities are gnashing their teeth in frustration.
"The president is trying her best, pero ang mga tao ginugulo siya," lawyer Bienvenido Cariaga, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Incorporated (DCCCI) said.
He added that the president has been receptive to their requests for infrastructure budget, the most welcome being the restoration of the US$40M- budget for the Maramag-Bunawan (Davao City) transmission line intended to bring in more hydropower to the southern portion of Mindanao by 2007.
Cariaga believes that the greater reason for the standstill in business is because of all these plots and mass actions against the president and not because of the president's ineptitude.
"Every time some people in Manila are not satisfied with the President, they will again go out in the streets. Itong ginagawa ng mga tao ang nakakasira," he said.
In the statement released by the DCCCI regarding the crisis, it said, "Instead of plotting extra-constitutional ways to toppled the current leadership, we urge all Filipinos, especially the Dabawenyos, to work together to protect and ensure socio-economic progress for all."
The Mindanao Business Council, while expressing the same disgust, however, pushes for federalism as the answer to all the sufferings Mindanao had to undergo because of Manila unrest.
The Mindanao Business Council, while echoing the stance that the constitution must be upheld at all times, is pushing for a scenario should indeed the constitutional process sees Arroyo's resignation or ouster: a drastic and dramatic structural reforms "the soonest time possible" that should come together with any constitutional change in leadership.
"This is the time to bring to a halt this endless cycle of political crisis that has continually plagued the nation. The shift to a federal form of government that would bring about the much-needed reforms for economic and political," the Mindanao Business Council said.
Whatever comes out of this, the President is still there and Duterte has only this few words of advise to her so she can weather through the crisis and bring back normalcy to the country, especially its economy.
"Tutal nag-revamp na rin, get the neutral persons, huwag yung galit sa kanya huwag naman yung sa kanya. Get as much as possible as many as you can neutral persons with the talent, the brightest and the most enterprising Filipinos there. Yung mga bata, yung mga assistant manager lang, tapos gustong tumulong sa bayan. Huwag na yang matatanda," he said.
He admits that he does not have a clear idea of what's really happening in Malacañang amid all this turmoil over the weekend, claiming that while he is constantly summoned, he is not really a confidante of the president nor was he ever the president's lieutenant. But, he said, he may have a clearer view after his meeting with the President in Malacañang Saturday.
"I have a fairly good idea of what the military will do, and the police, but I have yet to really assess at close range what's evolving inside Malacañang," Duterte told Weekend when asked about possible scenarios within the week.
In the meantime, Mindanaoans are glued to their televisions as they were during the two events that ousted a President in Philippine history. This time though, a general feeling is creeping through those watching the crowds massing up in Edsa and Makati in their television screens: Mindanao has had enough. (with report by Ben O. Tesiorna) |
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