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With the first-quarter Social Weather survey giving
him a net satisfaction rating of +53, Senate President Manuel Villar
Jr. knows that all he needs to do now until May 14 is just coast
along. Even his detractors concede that reelection is in the bag for
this realtor-turned-legislator.
No wonder then that when he made
a rare appearance at the Kapihan sa Sulô last weekend, Villar oozed
with confidence. So self-assured was he that he felt no need to
engage in antiadministration bombast, which Villar’s GO teammates
regularly resort to if only to draw media attention to themselves.
One of two “guest candidates”
in the Genuine Opposition, Villar has apparently decided to avoid
any head-on clash with the administration. So evasive was he that
observers were led to forget what it is that Villar stands
for—other than himself, of course.
For one, Villar skirted a
question on the revelation that GO senatorial bets have signed a
covenant to support yet another attempt to impeach President Arroyo.
In two previous bids the
opposition failed to unseat Mrs. Arroyo—but that has not stopped
its leaders from trying. Former senator Tessie Oreta, now part of
the administration’s Team Unity senatorial slate, revealed that
the goal to impeach the President is contained in a GO manifesto.
At the Kapihan, Villar claimed
ignorance of the GO covenant.
Even if it were true, he added,
it is improper for any senator or senatorial candidate to comment on
a putative motion from the House of Representatives accusing the
President of wrongdoing. Senators, after all, will have to sit as
judges should the House transmit the articles of impeachment to
them.
Villar has a lesson or two to
impart to his GO colleagues who continue to vow to get the stuck-up
wheels of impeachment going again if voters elect them to the
Senate.
The problem is that the
opposition has painted itself in a political corner—leaving its
candidates nothing else to talk about save for their wish to see
Mrs. Arroyo removed from Malacañang.
Yap acts on GMOs
The March 21 edition of this
column tackled the genetically modified corn marketed by the
multinational Monsanto, MON 863 YieldGard Rootworm.
MON 863 is corn genetically
manipulated to produce its own insecticide called “modified
Cry3Bb1” that kill rootworm insects in the soil. It was approved
for local distribution by the Bureau of Plant Industry in October
2003.
Independent scientific studies in
France, however, found signs of “hepatorenal toxicity” in
Monsanto’s GM corn.
According to Greenpeace, the MON
863 case is the first time that a GMO product authorized for use as
food for humans and animals was shown to have adverse effects on
internal organs. “It is a clear warning of the inherent risks of
GMOs,” the environmental group added.
In a chance meeting last Friday,
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap told this writer that he has
ordered BPI to withdraw its approval for MON 863. “There are
other, less controversial seeds in the market,” he added.
Yap has never given this corner
reason to doubt his word—and his decision on MON 863 will probably
be welcomed by Greenpeace and others.
HEART campaign
Ferdinand Marcos cultivated the
myth of the Solid North, which depicts the Ilocano-speaking voters
of Northern Luzon as voting along regional lines. This was the
excuse the dictator trotted out to explain the lopsided election
results during his regime.
The myth was exploded at the
height of EDSA 1 when defense minister-turned-mutiny leader Juan
Ponce Enrile confessed to manipulating hundreds of thousands of
votes to favor Marcos in the February 7, 1986, “snap”
presidential election.
But the notion that certain
ethnic groups tend to behave like a herd come election time
persists. Take the case of Bicol where a text campaign for HEART has
been launched to generate Bicolano support for five senatorial
candidates with roots in the region: Honasan, Escudero, Arroyo, Roco
and Trillanes—HEART, for short.
As of last count, Bicol was
estimated to have less than a million voters. However, hundreds of
thousands of Bicolanos have migrated to Metro Manila where their
word-of-mouth campaigning can boost the chances of their fellow
oragon.
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