|
Jovito Salonga was the first Senate President of the
post-martial law Senate. He ran and topped the 1987 senatorial
elections and, considering his vast expertise, exemplary courage and
dedication in serving and fighting for the country, choosing him as
our leader came naturally for my fellow senators and me.
He was back at the Senate
recently to speak at its flag-raising ceremony, during the
Senate’s 91st anniversary. At 87, SP Jovi may be a bit stooped
physically, but still ramrod straight in intellect and spirit, full
of life and fired up by his ideals, as you can very well see from
this excerpt of his speech, which I had to abbreviate for lack of
space:
“It has been said that every
American cherishes the so-called American dream—the dream of
equality and opportunity available to every individual American who
has a good chance to move up and succeed for his personal comfort
and that of his family and children. Every aspirant for public
office, every congressional and senatorial candidate, and every
candidate for the presidency of the United States speaks of the
American dream and how it can be improved and advanced.
“I am tempted to ask—tayo
bang mga karaniwang Pilipino ngayon ay mayroon ding pangarap—the
Filipino dream? Marahil ay wala. Equality and opportunity are
limited to a few. There is massive poverty among our people. Our
cities are full of slum dwellers and squatters. Only a minority
control the wealth of the nation. As a result, only a favored few
are truly in power. Public schools, except for U.P. perhaps, are for
the great majority of the common schoolchildren, many of whom are
impoverished. High-quality private schools … are only for those
who can afford it—the affluent and the well-to-do.
“In my opinion, the unequal
distribution of wealth in our society explains why the Philippines
is one of the most corrupt nations in Asia. Japan, China, Singapore
and Taiwan have forged ahead. Tayo ang naiiwan at kulelat, katulad
ng Banladesh.
“We like to advertise ourselves
as the only Christian nation in Asia. If that is so, why is the
Philippines notorious for its graft and corruption? Christianity
which stresses truth and righteousness, on the one hand, and
corruption, on the other hand are clearly incompatible.
“How come Philippine newspapers
are replete with credible accounts of bribery? Bribery seems to be
everywhere—from the highest to the lowest places. . .
“In the October 20/07 editorial
of a major newspaper, it was the former Comelec chair acting as a
broker for a Chinese firm ZTE who had allegedly offered the former
Neda chief Romulo Neri P200 million as a bribe; then it was Joey de
Venecia III, the son of the House Speaker, who revealed that the
same Comelec chair had offered the mind-boggling amount of $10
million so he would give up his bid to bag the NBN project …
“To make matters worse, after a
very weak impeachment complaint was filed against GMA by a certain
Pulido to surmount the one-year ban, around 190 congressmen were
invited to the Palace and were given cash payoffs ranging from
P200,000 to P500,000. It turns out that a selected group of
governors and mayors had also been invited to Malacañang to receive
cash inside bags and envelopes—including Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio,
a priest who ran on an anticorruption platform. To his credit, he
told the truth and displayed to the broadcast and print media what
he had received.
“To extricate the Palace from
the payoff scandal, Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno of Kampi
and the adviser of GMA—first claimed that the money must have come
from the association of local officials—which the association
promptly denied (but later admitted-Ed). Then Ronnie Puno … said
it must have come from Speaker Joe de Venecia who immediately
rebuked Puno …
“In government and society, we
have our damaged institutions—among them, the presidency, the
lower House, the Comelec, and the Ombudsman, who under the
Constitution, must protect the people, not the personal interest of
the President. Our culture is also damaged—we seem to have lost
the capacity to stand up and express our outrage, inspite of all the
accounts of disgraceful corruption and scandalous bribery. Ayon sa
isang Roman Catholic bishop, para bang tayo ay manhid na.
“I hope not, at least insofar
as the Senate, which is celebrating its 91st anniversary, is
concerned. That’s why, in a deeper sense, you have this flag
ceremony—so you can remember from week to week that the Philippine
flag is the symbol of our aspirations as a people, and that if you
truly and honestly serve the least of our fellowmen, the poor and
the marginalized, in God’s own season, we can fulfill and realize
our collective dream—the Filipino dream—for the welfare and
happiness of the entire nation. Nasa kamay ng ating mga kabataan,
lalong lalo na sa ating Senado, ang pagasa at kinabukasan ng sambayanang
Pilipino. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat.”
|
