On Wednesday morning, the Internet news edition of a major network highlighted one of the “Three Stooges” of the now defunct Pancho, Villaraza, Cruz law firm, or “The Firm” as it was once called. This stubby fellow was quoted as urging the AFP to defy illegitimate orders and uphold the law, which are things he obviously forgot when he supported Gloria from the 2001 coup down to his last years in her Cabinet.
Without a doubt, “The Firm” has played beyond respectable bounds in the past two decades under every regime, except President Estrada’s, that yielded it untold power and pelf. So it isn’t anymore surprising to hear that this rotund fellow had the ultra-luxurious Amanpulo Resort, costing $3,000/room, all to himself for the exclusive use of his daughter’s wedding, with guests planed in from around the world.
Among political activists, there are plenty of such characters too. There’s even this prominent family that has attempted to ride every wave of “people power” to rake the benefits of each new regime in Malacañang, by fanning out to all Establishment factions while posturing as “change agents.” One ties up with Makati’s oligarch-patriarchs; another gets appointed to the civil service body; while another postures himself as consigliore of a major political opposition figure--all of them converging lately for the “Tindignation,” a thinly veiled front for Mar Roxas’ candidacy. And because of the shift in strategy of the true opposition figure as anti-Arroyo rallies wane, they had to drag some disparate groups of the Left to scrounge for political funds. But then, yet another member of this family sticks to this true opposition figure by using the Far Left as leverage to remain relevant.
These days, as the anti-Arroyo campaign reaches its crescendo, our Filipino version of “carpetbaggers”--opportunists ready to take advantage of the political dislocations to be appointed to positions in the bureaucracy (numbering at least 5,000)—start to re-surface as well.
“Carpetbagger” is a term used for US Northerners who rushed with their things in bags made out of carpet cloth to take over businesses and political positions in the Confederate South when the Northern “Yankees” won. Sadly, the
The Edsa II cabal is a case in point. While it took advantage of the abrupt regime change in 2001 to get their just rewards from Gloria, a number of them bolted, as typified by the “Hyatt 10,” after the drastic plunge in her standing in the eyes of the people.
It is thus the continuing tragedy of the Filipino nation that these carpetbaggers keep being restored to prominence after taking part in massive perfidy, corruption and treason. Take this plump former Defense chief: After having possibly committed all the possible transgressions for Gloria, he still remains in good standing--nay, even lionized by the legal community--because of his so-called “abilidad.” But another lawyer of the best caliber and integrity, Alan Paguia, continues to suffer for standing up to the Supreme Court’s (SC) “constructive resignation” travesty in 2001.
This tragic injustice is further entrenched, in the case of Paguia, by the fact that the SC even dilly-dallies, requiring him to seek endorsement from the IBP and other institutions to lift his suspension when it was the SC alone that decided on it. And so, as any principled man would, Paguia has rejected these conditions flat-out.
The Philippine Establishment is both at odds and in collaboration with Mrs. Arroyo at this point. Even as Gloria is already too much of a PR liability for them, there are still some who are making use of her to the hilt, such as in the Laiban Dam project or in the transfer of the tollways operations (which we just discovered cost more per kilometer than the Diosdado Macapagal Avenue). At the same time, the local oligarchy and the
Such was the occasion of Norberto Gonzales and Jesuit Archie Intengan’s visit to Bishop Tobias to broach their “transition government” trap. Tobias fortunately arranged for another meeting where other witnesses unknown to the duo would be present, paving the way for the exposé last Wednesday of the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomista (KME) on this, as carried by the Tribune.
Separately, the Gonzales-Intengan duo also “encountered” Chief Justice Reynato Puno on a plane to broach the idea, to which the CJ was said to be unflappable. In short, this, along with their other plots, have amounted to nothing so far. The only plotting that would matter for 2010 is that of Obama and Gloria’s on July 30 or, hopefully for the rest of us, a final consolidation of nationalist civilian-military forces made possible by the chaos that the parasites will stir up.
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