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Friday, July 15, 2005
Ledesma: Look who's talking?
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
"The drama is equaled only by the treachery of the closest and trusted friends of Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and Casca, who turned their ire against Caesar for rejecting their plea turned their swords against him..."
WE HAVE seen faces and heard incendiary speeches and pontificating advocacies from those who are demanding that President Arroyo resigns. To the man they swear by the bible that they adhere to the constitution. But the same characters blatantly reject the idea of impeaching the President who refuses to heed their call to abdicate. This is where the stalemate starts and graduates into the possible rule of the mob.
The agenda is obviously apparent. The opposition had been salivating to grab power. It has been a well-orchestrated game plan. First, the jueteng scandal, which, ironically emerged when the President herself issued a no-compromise "one strike" policy against law enforcers and the gambling syndicate. Then came the "hello Garci" spliced and expurgated bugged telephone conversation. The weaklings in the cabinet cajoled the trusting President Arroyo to accept she was the woman in the bugged conversation and to apologize to the nation for her lapses in judgment.
Then the conspirators in sheep's skin shed crocodile tears urged every unsuspecting members of the cabinet to join them in poignant "If we hold on together."
Hardly had the resonance of the stirring song settled when the triumvirate among the 10, known in all circles to be the most trusted by GMA, surfaced on a prearranged TV and radio broadcast to declare they are quitting the cabinet. And not content with having abandoned their President, the urged her with insulting plea to resign.
The drama is equaled only by the treachery of the closest and trusted friends of Julius Caesar. Brutus, Cassius, and Casca, who turned their ire against Caesar for rejecting their plea turned their swords against him and mangled his body with stab wounds.
Caesar in his amazement gasped as he stared a dying man's stare at his most intimate friend who delivered the final blow. The only difference in the saga of GMA is that she had a Caesar who did the unkindest cut of all.
As in the Shakespeare's play where the confederates cried out in all pulpits and platforms to denounce Caesar's alleged ambition, the same scenario is unfolding although in different time and arena. Deja vu, they call it. But come to think of it, the motive that moved men in that era never really differed from that consuming desire of men in the present time. And like Brutus, the stinging oratories that we hear ring the same tune: "not that I love Caesar less, but I love Rome more."
GMA does not have her Marc Antony. Surely her indiscretions will linger until the last rallyist transported by the opposition and the radical left from as far as Bicol, the last bastion of the communists, will tire from thumping the streets of Makati. Her good deeds will be buried in the din of the mob and who are not aware that the more they shout they closer they are to poverty and maybe civil strife.
So we grant that by her lapses she committed a condemnable offense and mere apology will not suffice.
She can burn her at stake. Look who are talking? What shall we do with another President who crafted and approved an agrarian reform bill but creatively excluded from its enforcements her family's vast Hacienda Luisita?
Just recently, several peasants were killed in her hacienda simply because they wanted to get their just share as promised and enshrined in Cory's Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program. Has she the moral ascendancy to minister what is right and wrong and to demand the resignation of another President? Has she forgotten the series of coup attempts that want her out of the seat of power because of utter inefficiency?
What shall we do with a President who is now "languishing" in the luxury of his "cell" because of plunder and brazen immorality, which shockingly is condoned by his family and adoring fans. What shall we do with a Mayor of the financial district of country who once faced an embezzlement case and recommended from prosecution by the Commission on Audit? What can we say of a senate head who pledged loyalty to the President then even before the cock crows, but before the klieg lights, demanded her resignation. What shall we do with the juetng witnesses who confessed to their criminal activities but are now protected by a bishop who succeeded to make them the modern heroes of our time?
What shall we do with the wire tappers who bugged private conversations, spliced them to suit a dubious agenda and then later sought refuge in the catholic convents? What shall we do with a bishop who was involved in an improper relation with his secretary? What shall we do with a bishop who cannot account for the disappearance of multi-million funds intended for an Internet project? Finally, what shall we do with the others who spoke to Garci but are now playing
possum?
Look who's talking!
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 15, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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