Ever since Gloria Arroyo called on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to keep quiet against the Department of Justice (DoJ) while the so-called Senate hearings continue, and as she took over as Czarina of the anti-drugs campaign, the House hearings have become so muddled and murky with charges and countercharges. The DoJ partisans made a mockery of the hearings by cheering their side against the other, as if justice was a partisan matter now. The law and its procedures are being used to tie themselves up in knots, and it’s a perfect scenario for the guilty parties in the bribery and illegal release of the suspects to get away with the crimes.
What has happened to the Alabang Boys’ case happens to so many other cases and the rot ends up staying where it has festered ever since, to grow and eat up the rest of society in its cancer. It’s the same thing that happened with the ZTE-NBN case, as it is happening too in the Fertilizer Scam case as well as in the “Hello Garci” case. The highest authority in the land where the rot begins steps into these lower cases to interfere and intervene, if not to stop the cleaning out process. With almost clockwork predictability another atrocity will occur in Mindanao or other parts of the country, with the Abu Sayyaf or the MILF, as in the Marines’ beheadings or the Ayala “methane gas” bombing to distract the public, or in the current kidnapping of the Red Cross workers.
The PDEA under General Santiago has been given good and well-deserved public approval when it defied the DoJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez’ attempt to bully the anti-drug agency in the indictment of the Alabang Boys. But following the order of Gloria Arroyo and retreating now from the challenge to see to the enforcement against the Alabang Boys and the DoJ to its logical conclusion erases every merit the PDEA has earned. In other words, General Santiago copped out and in doing so he failed the idealist young officers and others like Major Marcelino who are under his command. He succumbed and maybe now joins the conspiracy to cover up the comedy of crimes of the government institutions charged with the administration or justice but ends up as part of the syndicates of crime.
Gen. Dioniso Santiago just isn’t cut out to be a genuine hero as Gen. Danilo Lim, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the Bagong Katipuneros are. Genuine heroes, especially among officers of the Armed Forces, stand their ground and do not give an inch to anything that will violate their sworn duty. So, General Santiago and the PDEA have acceded to let the DoJ and Gloria Arroyo have their way, stepping aside from the criminal conspiracy.
The rot, the cancer in our society continues to fester and grow because too many refuse to join the resistance when the moment offers itself. I am waiting for Major Marcelino to deliver on the promise he showed when he stood up to the badgering of Secretary Raul Gonzalez. Is Major Marcelino going to prove the Filipino people right, that on that day they saw the young officer stand up for integrity and dignity they saw hope shine forth. We understand that great pressure has been placed on his shoulder.
In the meantime, the country is falling over the precipice. Job losses now expected from the global and national financial and economic collapse. Admitted officially is some local 300,000 jobs. This was the figure we wrote last year when Gloria Arroyo was still telling the world that the Philippines had survived the crisis. She ain’t seen nothing yet. The OFW sector sees as many as 150,000 coming home by the middle of 2009. This is the sector that will provide great impetus for activities towards regime change as they demand jobs and Gloria comes before them empty handed. At this crucial stage of the crisis the Arroyo regime still cannot present any coherent and rational “stimulus” plan for the economy. It keeps touting its “infrastructure investment” plan without showing knowledge of what infrastructure would be productive and not just “white elephants.” The rot continues, until The Last Revolution comes — by election or otherwise.
(Tune to 1098AM, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 9 a.m.; Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 6 to 7 p.m.; Destiny Cable, Channel 3, Tuesday, 8:45 to 9:30 p.m.: http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com)
