Saturday, September 29, 2007 Ledesma: Chairman Mao would have praised Miriam By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
SENATOR Miriam Santiago, the intellectual spitfire in the Senate, need not really apologize for her outbursts. But she did it just the same and that makes her different from her peers who are unrepentant in their sheer display of arrogance.
Yet, when she referred to China as the "inventor" of corruption, she was not really far from the truth. The bloody and protracted people's revolution in China was, to a large degree, precipitated by the massive corruption that pervaded the great nation then.
Chairman Mao fought hard to put an end to the cycle of corruption and drove away from the mainland whatever were the remaining vestiges of the corrupt regime.
The process of cleansing was sanguinary. For several decades, China shielded itself from the dubious influences of the west. It proscribed capitalist stooges from gaining foothold anew in the mainland.
Priceless lessons had been learned in and out of China. Even as the wind of politics changed course, one thing is evident and left unchanged. He or she who reverts to corruption deserves the firing squad.
Lady Miriam, in her outrage, actually referred to the corrupt regime in China. It was the same regime that the present leadership of China abhors. It's an act of statesmanship and sublime humility that she publicly and formally apologized.
But beyond everything, her stinging rebuke will surely reverberate all the way to the hall of China's leadership. Let's wait for the echo to reach us back and see who in ZTE will get it in the neck.
In the case of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, I don't think he has the Chinaman's chance of escaping impeachment. He is neck-deep in the quagmire where he has dragged himself. Had he just concentrated on his golf and kept putting his ball on the hole, he might still be out there on the green waiting for his retirement in February. Unfortunately for him nobody shouted "fore!" He got hit right on the solar plexus. The Cebuanos and the Ilongos have a word for it: "mirisi".
BTW, I received a few reactions on my column about biocides, which I mentioned in previous columns. Yes, I have read about an excellent biological nematicide that had been proven effective for bananas. This natural control for plant parasitic nematodes, which are bane to bananas, is derived from fungal spores. It will take another column piece to discuss how this came about but it is an interesting product that I hope corporate banana plantations will look into.
