TRULY, this country has no end of monumental ironies to offer. Last Tuesday I saw a most astounding sight. Two people who had lost a presidential election before and had railed bitterly at the cheating done to them were now defending, or ignoring, a breathtaking case of it with breathtaking ease. Those two were Corazon Aquino and Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Well, I wasn't completely astounded that Miriam did so. That is one person God gave a head, if a much-unhinged one, but not a heart. That is one person who has developed a capacity to quote law but not to glimpse justice. She it was who also defended Joseph Estrada to high heavens during his impeachment trial, using her lawyerly skills and apparently constitutional expertise to hide the truth rather than burnish it. No, I am not surprised that she should now reprise the same role with much the same passion in much the same circumstances. With probably much the same results, which is only to see her patron ousted by an angry populace.
Miriam
was telling TV channel ANC that she saw nothing insidious in the drift of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's conversation with Virgilio Garcillano. She singled out the part where the President was telling Garcillano that Rodolfo Biazon was threatening to expose fraud in Tawi-Tawi and elsewhere and was asking if it would affect her adversely ("baka madale ako"). What's wrong with that? Miriam asked. All that showed was that Ms Arroyo was anxious that none of the intramurals below would affect her.
Now, assuming there is nothing criminal in the simple fact that Ms Arroyo was having a conversation with a official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) about election results during the actual counting-and you would imagine a constitutional expert would know better-had Miriam gone on to read further, she would have come to the point where Ms Arroyo expressly tells Garcillano: "Hindi kaya pwedeng ma-delay 'yung senatorial canvassing... [Can't we delay the senatorial canvassing]?" I mean, Ma'am, that is not directly interfering with Comelec work?
Indeed, had Miriam gone on to read further, she would have come to the part where Garcillano says: "Dun naman sa Basilan at Lanao Sur, ito ho yung ginawa nilang magpataas sa inyo, maayos naman ang paggawa e.... Sa Basilan, alam nyo naman ang mga military dun eh, hindi masyadong marunong kasi silang gumawa e." I cannot imagine that it is merely Miriam's being an Ilonggo that makes her fail to grasp the atrocious meaning of that statement. That is something by the way Franklin Drilon shares with her: He too is an Ilonggo, and he too finds nothing wrong with Ms Arroyo's exchanges with Garcillano. Poor Ilonggos, to be represented by people whose powers of comprehension are severely limited.
Though I am a Bicolano, I can at least assure them that by "magpataas sa inyo," Garcillano was not talking about increasing Ms Arroyo's height. I can assure them that by "yung military dun hindi masyadong marunong gumawa," Garcillano was not talking of a military contingent not knowing how to make the right kind of elevator shoes to make Ms Arroyo look tall.
As I said before, the hardest person to wake up is the one who is pretending to be asleep. The hardest lawyer to convince to see the truth is the one who is determined to prove the lie. But that Miriam should claim to have been cheated by Fidel Ramos during the 1992 elections and shout her head off for years over it with no more proof than her say-so and now deny cheating when hearing the words straight from the horse's mouth, not entirely figuratively -- well, they call her "Brenda."
But Cory Aquino is the real disappointment. She didn't exactly defend Ms Arroyo but she did ask us to just resort to prayer and move on. Didn't Cory protest bitterly that she was cheated blind by Ferdinand Marcos in the "snap election" in nearly exactly the same circumstances? Marcos refused to step down as president to run on an even field, Ms Arroyo refused to step down as president to run on an even field, the latter notwithstanding the Constitution's ban on an incumbent running, which was tacit in provision for a president holding only a single term. Marcos owned Leonie Perez, Ms Arroyo owned Benjie Abalos, or as turns out now to be the real power in the Comelec, Virgie Garcillano. Marcos unleashed guns, goons and gold in that order, Ms Arroyo unleashed gold, goons and guns in that order. Marcos rigged the counting, which led to principled Comelec people staging a walkout. Ms Arroyo rigged the counting, which led to -- well, Cory saying let's pray for those who sinned and get on with our lives.
How can any life go on that is weighed down by injustice? When Ninoy Aquino was gunned down on the tarmac by soldiers shouting "Pusila! Pusila!" did we say let's forgive and forget, the dead can't be brought back to life, life has to go on? No, we said, "Hindi ka nagiisa [You are not alone]," your death is the death of all of us, finding justice for you is resurrecting all of us. No, we said, "Tama na, sobra na, palitan na [Enough already, too much already, replace already]," we've had enough of corruption and rottenness and indecency, it's time we stopped it, life cannot go on with it. Is there any difference between the murder of a man and the murder of a nation? Is it viler to gun down a man while he walks in the sun than to strangle the nation while it sleeps in the night?
The equation is never "first the economy, then justice." It is always "first justice, then the economy." At the very least that is so because you can never have economic progress with crooks. The people who are messing up the economy are not those who are protesting the iniquity, they are those who are ruling iniquitously. At the very most that is so because before you can eat, you have to breathe. Justice is the air we breathe.
But that the symbol of the struggle for justice should now urge us to just struggle to subsist-that is the most unkindest cut of all.
Well said. The stuff on Miriam is hilarious too.
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