Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jul 2003
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2003
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Author: Teodoro C. Benigno

DRUGS AND HYPOCRISY / DECIDE NOW, MA'M

Here's The Score

As I figured, the government's "all-out" war against drugs would start with 
a big bang, end with a whimper, slink into a hole and blame somebody else. 
It's actually buck-passing. The whole thing sucks and the whole thing 
sickens. Now the government line is like this: "We can't go very far in our 
war against drugs. We find out the communist New People's Army is heavily 
involved in the drug trade. Well, we all know they are terrorists, almost 
impossible to catch and arrest. They fight on the sly. They are elusive and 
we can't even get their leaders to resume peace negotiations. Hell, they 
are narco-terrorists."

I say this is bunk. I say this is pastrami.

Yes, it could be true the NPA is into the culture of marijuana. Nothing 
novel about this. Rebellions and revolutions the world over, particularly 
in Latin America and Central Asia are into drugs one way or the other, as 
are their governments. The drug trade in Afghanistan is virtually 
monopolized by the government. The Taliban got by largely because of lush 
drug proceeds, and this trade was in the open. It's really possible Muslim 
terrorist groups in Southeast Asia, including the Moro Islamic Liberation 
Front (MILF), have their hooks on this evil weed or substance.

But having said that, the awful truth is that narcotics planted their 
tentacles in the Philippines because our military and police establishments 
played major roles. I have some close friends in the Philippine National 
Police, several generals among them. Whenever I bring up the matter of 
shabu or narcotics in general, they change the subject, pretend not to have 
heard it, then whistle wistfully. Two subjects are generally taboo. First, 
drugs and police involvement; second, Sen. Panfilo Lacson. I am not stupid. 
I understand.

Now no less than President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo plays the role of 
coloratura soprano in accusing CPP-NPA leaders of digging their hands deep 
into the cookie jar of marijuana and shabu. This early, the government is 
seemingly admitting defeat in their "all-out war" and washing their hands 
off. That was a big blunder, the president saying even the "rich and the 
powerful" would be flushed out, arrested, arraigned, convicted and jailed. 
Come again?

All it took was about a week of theatrical pomp and empty bombast.

The names of Sen. Bobby Barbers, Fred Lim, the so-called "four aces" were 
bandied around. The appellation "Anti-Drug Czar" went up the marquee. The 
criminals were warned their days were numbered. The drug lords were 
supposed to shiver in their timbers. They didn't. They knew everything was 
palabas. And so after a week of hauling in hundreds of seedy characters, 
street rogues, squatter suspects, lowly neighborhood thugs, the flotsam and 
jetsam of society, the whole war against drugs went down to a piffle. Not a 
single police general was caught in the government dragnet, not a single 
drug lord, not a single cigar-puffing Malacanang biggie.

The war against prostitution is never won because police squads stage 
raucous raids, arrest hundreds of misbehaving girls half-nude, and forcibly 
drag them into wagons. The dirt-poor prostitutes most of the time are 
largely the sorry and pathetic victims of this vile and vicious racket. The 
ringleaders are never caught; the real white slave traders, the pimps, 
escape in a jiffy. In due time, the girl prostitutes are released. But 
hardly ever the big-bellied bosses, the mama-sans. They fork over scads of 
money to the police. And everything starts all over again.

The whole thing reminded me of a similar operetta early during President 
Fidel Ramos' administration.

FVR had appointed then Vice President Joseph Estrada as head of the 
Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC). Big, burly, his words angry 
mortar bursts, Erap Estrada tried very hard to look the part. Crime was 
then rampant as it is today. Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez and his police 
thugs had just been arraigned for the rape-murder of Los Banos coed Mary 
Eileen Sarmenta. And so Erap erupted the only way he knew, buffo, 
theatrical, a laughing Buddha in reverse. I shall always remember those 
words which thundered approximately: "As for you, criminals, your days are 
numbered. There will be no mercy." Hah!

Unforgettable words these for their pretense, their hypocrisy. And it takes 
an Erap to duplicate Erap. During his inaugural address as president after 
the 1998 elections, Mr. Estrada unburdened himself of another lulu: "Walang 
kumpadre, walang kamag-anak, walang kaibigan!" Oh, Mother of Mercy, will 
the time ever come when we Filipinos will be spared of shameless 
demagogues? GMA has gotten into the same act -- promises, promises, 
promises. Welsh, welsh, welsh. And this defies explanation because she was 
unto the manor born, her father was president, and we all presumed 
Christian culture and upbringing would make a difference.

I have often been asked why can't I take it easy on GMA.

My answer has always been that I would like to but I can't. I have to judge 
her the same way I have judged past presidents. We Filipinos are stuck in a 
sinking world, and I would be the first to exclaim: Mirabile dictu! If GMA 
would change, backtrack and reform. Then we can be friends again. But 
somehow, the outer world escapes her. Maybe she tries, but the people 
around her gum her up. The 20th century sped past her. And now the 21st 
century comes at her with even more speed, more problems, more headaches -- 
a holocaust of what to do, what to say, where to go.

Honestly, I hope she can find her way. * * * And while I am on the subject 
of the president, I might as well unwind with two pieces of unsolicited 
advice. Ma'm, if I may, get off your grey palomino and state clearly and 
candidly where you stand on Cha-Cha and Con-Ass. These are fire-engine 
national issues deeply affecting the future of our republic. Are you for 
constitutional change? If no, why? If yes, why? If yes, by what mode? A 
constitutional convention after the 2004 elections? Or a Constituent 
Assembly as proposed by Speaker Jose de Venecia and his cohorts? This means 
the Con-Ass comes to life this month or the next. This means the 2004 
elections will be for a unicameral legislature, where your presidential 
term will be extended. This is where the term "transitional president" 
comes in. This also means that national patrimony provisions of the present 
constitution will be vandalized.

You can't be neutral or silent, or non-committal on the issue. You occupy 
the most pre-eminent position in the republic, that of president. You 
decide, whatever the outcome might be. And you decide now, not tomorrow, 
not next week. You can't let the Republic dangle on a shoestring.

Oh yes, the next issue. Are you or are you not going to run for president 
in 2004? You've played it cute and very smart so far, clinging to your Dec. 
30, 2002 pledge renouncing the presidency in 2004, but allowing many of 
your constituents to clamor with more stridency each day that you run -- oh 
by golly you run -- because the nation needs you more than ever. In 
fairness to yourself, in fairness to one and all, in fairness to the 
nation, you have to do an Archimedes and bellow your decision to run or not 
to run.

If you do not make a decision now, many will conclude Malacanang is 
manipulating the citizenry, and certainly all organs and institutions of 
the government to go for a "Run, Gloria, Run!" clamor. The clamor can also 
be manipulated by pouring massive resources into media so media will make 
it sound deafening, irresistible, irreversible. The clamor will be made to 
sound like an "act of God" beseeching La Gloria to fare forth. The surveys, 
of course, will play a major role but the surveys can also be nudged here 
and there subliminally to favor a GMA candidacy.

This is the time to stand on the hill, Ma'm, and show them what stuff you 
are made of.

If indeed, your mind has never changed since Dec. 30, 2002, then for 
chrissakes say it, shout it, belch it. Say something like this: "I stand by 
what I said Dec. 30 last year, while our greatest national hero was 
listening. It was to Jose Rizal and all of you that I vouchsafed that 
pledge. I shall not run for the presidency in 2004 for reasons I have 
explained time and again. That is my word of honor. That is as final as 
final can be."

Or if circumstances have changed radically, and now you wish to run, we the 
citizenry will appreciate your saying the following: "A president's 
responsibility to lead his or her people is the loneliest in the world. The 
world whirls and despite my pledge to stand down, the enemy -- terror -- is 
at the nation's neck. Shall I cower and flee? Or shall I continue to fight 
at the urging of the citizenry? I have a covenant with the people, I shall 
heed that covenant. I shall run."

You can't go on with two horses in midstream, Mrs. President. Whatever you 
decide, you and you alone, will be responsible for the results. The 
presidency is always a gamble, like throwing dice at the stars. And often 
the presidents who gambles when the stakes are highest, turn out to be the 
greatest presidents.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens