Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Ledesma: A grand rally, a grand deception By Jun Ledesma Sunbursts
THE organizers dubbed it an "Inter-faith rally." Little did the people know that it was actually a hate campaign where some of the potentates of the church cast venom against the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Because "inter-faith" implies it will be a prayer rally to seek divine intervention to ferret out the truth from the screwed up ZTE-NBN deal, not a few made time to participate in the inter-faith rally.
What turned out later is that saved for Bishops Ted Bacani and Oscar Cruz, the rest of the leaders of various faiths who stood in the grandstand had become merely props.
They should have called it "indignation rally" or "oust Arroyo" campaign and that should have been the more honest agenda. It's a grand deception but then having been trapped in a herd many just opted to stay and watch the frenzy anyway.
Others jostle for the good chance the TV camera will catch their faces or clenched fists hoping that if GMA resigns they still be among those who will be counted in.
Of course, there are thousands who went there still insisting that GMA cheated their idol FPJ in the last election. Rabid followers of the late movie folk hero like Rez Cortes do not even make reference to the shady NBN deal. He has not awakened from the stupor that FPJ is dead. He mouths invectives as if this will cause the re-incarnation of the King of the Philippine movies.
And then there are past presidents Cory Aquino and Joseph Estrada. Both living and still living in houses made of glass. They wanted GMA to step down before the courts shall have taken jurisdiction of the complaints of graft against the First Family. They took the center stage; the political opposition, communist fronts, two hydrophobic bishops who are not lily-white at all with their robes.
I have received some scornful rebuke and also kind praises and encouragement from my readers. This only shows how much divided the nation is. It is unfortunate for the administration, because in this country it is always fashionable to be on the offensive.
Gringo Honasan was perceived as hero out to deliver the nation from the bungling of President Aquino, and so were the mutineers who forced Estrada to abdicate.
Jun Lozada is bound to be another knight in shining armor out to save this country from the morass of corruption but he is now being overshadowed by the same cabal of rapacious opposition and the radical left who are just waiting in the bend for the prospect of civil disorder.
I go by the position of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte that the President should be given the chance to prove her innocence. There is no debate that some wheeler dealing characters that are identified with her had wanted to make a huge take from the botched negotiation.
I have written not a few columns about my own suspicion that those who cried foul were also on the take. Yes, I absolutely agree with Sen. Miriam Santiago when she said that the witnesses spilled the beans on their co-conspirators because they failed to agree on the sharing of the would-be loot.
The partnership took a different turn when the President cancelled the anomalous contract altogether.
Cory Aquino, with a rosary held in a clenched fist, spoke from the pulpit that "it will take a long way to go in fight for truth." But what's the truth that they are looking for? A national broadband network proposed DOTC that Joey de Venecia, through the intercession of his father the Speaker, wants to undertake by BOT.
The government would rather have it their way and this is undertaking the project on a government-to-government negotiation with China and for the later to provide a soft loan however given the option to name who will undertake the project.
It's a judgment call on the part of the administration. They insist that G2G arrangement is more advantageous to the government. This aspect should have been amply explained but the Blue Ribbon Committee stonewalled it. The committee would rather hear the story of Jun Lozada.
Joey de Venecia is hurting because his BOT offer was thrown in the garbage bin. What is kept from the public is that his firm, capitalized only for less than a million pesos could not have qualified any way. It will be foolhardy for him to say that he can muster enough capital or even invite new investors to his firm just so he can undertake the project if at all it is awarded to him.
Joey de V, Jun Lozada, Ben Abalos, Romy Neri and then later the big hulk FG Mike Arroyo were all playing golf at Wack Wack. They were there plotting the next course agreeing on who will get handicap 5, 10, 30 and so on and so forth.
What other truths are we talking about? Why not let the court try the suspects and convict the guilty? Why fan the ember and set on fire this fragile republic, which has managed to post respectable growth despite the tumults within and outside its shores?
