I think MABINI (our human rights group, formed when few, dared oppose Palace terrorism, so fierce and fearsome that in the end, it drove Manong Eddie and Manong Johnny, and Gringo, et al. to defect, armed to the teeth, awaiting the seemingly inevitable; the people rescued them) — qua MABINI, is against the burial of Macoy in the Libingan. It would reverse People Power ’86 reached in 1986, to world acclaim. We did not oust a “hero.”

VP Jojo Binay has reportedly urged burial in the north with full military honors. Maybe Jojo should not have labeled his opus as Solomonic. In an anti-Marcos letter I read in the PDI last week, I saw again the expression that one may not have his cake and eat it too. I have always wondered: what’s a cake for then, if not to eat? I prefer George Herbert’s 1633 rendering: “Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?” Sorry for the excursus. King Solomon reminds us of many things, like concubines, and in Jojo’s case, the revelation that he was a chick-boy enabled him to shoot past Mar Roxas in the poll surveys last year. Non-issue hereabouts, and could even be a plus. Machismo.

Jojo’s reported recommendation to bury Macoy with military honors reverses the July 15, 2003 Supreme Court ruling that Macoy and Imelda are kleptocrats, forfeiting in favor of government billions of pesos stolen by William Saunders (Macoy) and Jane Ryan (Imelda) beginning in 1968. It nullifies the Seattle, Honolulu and Switzerland determinations of gross human rights violations and kleptocracy of the Marcoses. We learn no lesson from Petain of WWI fame in Verdun, but collaborated with the Nazis n WWII and died in prison in 1951.

For MABINI not to object is in effect to apologize for having fought a “hero,” all prudential considerations factored in. Jojo should have consulted the Senate, FVR (not on kulasisis, problema ng mga pogi) and the military, for a more balanced recommendation. Do we cheapen military honors?

As the proposal reverses the judgment of the people in 1986, why a mere Reso then? Let its intent be expressed in law, starting with a bill, with public hearings, full plenary debate and recorded voting. Did Jojo consult our military? Does it have a Bushido or Samurai tradition? What about Manong Eddie, who, as far as I can see, has not commented on the controversy? We have heard from Manong Johnny, the other Edsa hero. Is the military not only about martial arts but also of personal rectitude? Do we need a RAM II?

Someday, I wish Jojo could find the time to tell us in MABINI the methodology he used in reaching a result that Bongbong said he could live with. Politics is addition? Many of us beg to differ with Jojo in fraternal discourse. We have a lively noisy democracy in contrast to the brutal dictatorship of Marcos, silencing us, leading only to Jackson’s compulsory unification of opinion achieving only the unanimity of the graveyard. Now we have democratic space; we want leaders, voices, not echoes conducting governance by surveys. Else, the US military bases would arguably still be with us today, had we voted per Political Weather Stations. (Bases back with us, through the VFA? Restoring our status as America’s last plantation?)

I may say or sound like I represent MABINI, now TGIF (Tigulang Gurang Ingkong Federation). The only young ‘uns are Attys. Abigail and Rebo of the Binay and Saguisag Dynasties. My other recruit, Claro Mamaril, is with the TGIF. We should have another meeting, after lining up the tablets on the table, and discuss the future of MABINI, and, of Jojo. Jojo, Jojo, tahan na! A serendipitous vehicular incident in New York burnishes the legend.

Anyway, Jojo, a respected Star columnist wrote Anding Roces turned down the offer of lawyers to defend him when charged with an election offense. Jojo, you were with Sen. Tanny, Joker Arroyo, Bobbit, Bobbit Ed Araullo and me in defending Anding in a long trial before courageous Municipal Court Judge Elo Ynares-Santiago, who acquitted him in October, 1982, the first trial judge to defy the Dictator, pre-Ninoy salvaging on August 21, 1973, when millions were aroused to protest. (Elo retired a couple of years ago as a Justice of the Supreme Court (SC), three of whose current members, I see, correctly see no constitutional role in the appointment process assigned to the Judicial and Bar Council. Tradition? Well it has been said that a tradition is a vice that has become incurable. The SC’s only duty is to decide cases, not its membership. Following tradition could be a foolish inconsistency, the hobgoblin of little minds. (Emerson)

Another bruited Prez material, Rep. Manny Pacquiao, in 2022, when he would have retired from the Manly Art of Modified Murder, should be urged to resign now so someone with time and interest can regularly and quietly attend to congressional duties. Let him run next time for Governor and Mayor, with a Vice.

On requiems for heavyweights. There must be some Code of the Samurai going beyond the military. Honor and personal rectitude above all. Anyway, the choice seems reduced now to 1) MABINI’s (no LMB, no military honors) or 2) MABINAY’s (no LMB, but with military honors in the north) supported presumably by Abigail, ulirang anak, bunga ng pagmamahalan nina VP at Doktora, and certainly Bongbong M. Hmmm.

But, but as a man of the law, administratively changing the name to LMB at mga Pangulo, I can live with; better would be a statute, freely discussed, debated, and voted on, not a mere toilet-paper Reso, authorizing the nullification, reversal or annihilation of the universally acclaimed verdict of People Power ’86. BTW, where is Prez Cory buried? El sitio nada importa. So we may ask affable amiable Sen. Bongbong Marcos and Rep. Sonny Escudero: Quo usque tandem abutere patientia nostra?


[Editor’s note: My tocayo, Rene A. V. S., does not give a translation of the last sentence. So here goes: It is from the famous opening lines of Cicero’s oration against fellow politician Catiline, who was conspiring to abolish the Roman Senate. “Quo usque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quam diu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?” (How much longer, Catiline, will you abuse our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end will your unbridled audacity hurl itself?”)

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