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Words can indict with merciless clarity then convict
with the sharpness of a practiced guillotine. Or, they can be
soaring and majestic, expressing the noblest of human impulses when
they don’t try to inflict hurt or exact vengeance. And when they
do not express rage of the intemperate, unjust kind. The mood swing
of words covers a whole range, from elegiac resonance to the most
brutal commentary on society’s state of affairs. The letter
recently sent to former President Joseph Estrada by former senator
Francisco Tatad was a specimen of the latter—a brutal commentary
on the state of the Philippine political opposition—written by one
of the very few Filipinos who can adeptly turn words into
sledgehammers.
Voicing his opposition to the
plan to field three young men—JV Ejercito, Aquilino Pimentel III
and Alan Peter Cayetano—(already with next of kin in the Senate)
in the United Opposition senatorial slate, Tatad’s letter to
Estrada said:
Let them eat dung
The obvious assumption is that
the voters are so pissed off with GMA that they will eat any kind of
dung we give them. This is false. We cannot have a poor opinion of
our people. In the end, they will prove us wrong, whatever the paid
pollsters tell us. But should error and madness prevail, three
families would be holding six senate seats—one fourth of the
Senate—after May 2007. Thereafter, twelve or eight of six families
could end up controlling all 24 seats. Husband and wives, together
with sons and daughters, and uncles and aunties, why not, could end
up running as one big gang.
You, Mr. President, and we, your
friends in the UNO, have a special responsibility to make sure this
does not begin to happen. The Senate is a small body of 24 members,
representing a nation of 90 million people or about 18 million
families. No single family has a vested right to be represented
there. Membership in the senate is a privilege conferred by the
people. It is a gift from them.
A little transparency
Printed by the papers in full and
read by voters like myself who want to support the opposition
candidates unequivocally but are clamoring for a little transparency
in the selection process, Tatad’s letter was heaven-sent for those
who want the opposition to squander the present position of
near-invincibility. After reading Tatad’s letter, questions are
now being asked and doubts are now being expressed publicly. Would
the control by three families of six senate seats be a moral boost
to the nation?
Until now the immense popularity
of Estrada rests on the popular belief that whatever indiscretions
he had committed in his public life can be forgiven because whatever
he did, he did these without personal interests and a personal
agenda. His wealth was there to be shared with others. His
compassion was a wellspring that gushed into the direction of the
common man. His was the pulse beat of a nation. The Tatad letter
opened a window of doubt into the real character of Estrada, his
critical choices, his inner politics, his private motivations and
impulses.
Why would a leader as caring and
as compassionate as Estrada allow “error and madness” to take
chances with the institution of the Senate whose former greatness is
enough to offset present and future mediocrity?
Lift for ‘Third Force’
The administration, of course, is
still gloating over the crushing blow of the Tatad letter on what
used to be a near-invincible opposition senatorial slate. But the
political benefits from the Tatad sledgehammer would not really be
theirs for the taking. The administration ticket is doomed, unless
it gets credible names and outside succor. Its senator wannabes, to
use the word of Mr. Tatad, are “dung” in terms of popular and
electoral support.
An emerging “Third Force,”
which is about to unravel warm bodies used to winning in senate
races, is getting all the lift. The result of the 2007 senate
elections may turn out to be what decent Filipinos hope it to be:
neither Erap nor Gloria.
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