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WHAT will the Former Senior Government Officials do today? Five days
have passed since they gave their ultimatum to President Arroyo to
do these five things in five days:
(1) Order former National Economic and
Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri to resume his
testimony at the Senate “without any restrictions or
limitations.”
(2) Order the release and delivery to the Senate
of all public records pertaining to the NBN-ZTE deal, chiefly the
minutes of the NEDA board meetings on the project.
(3) Suspend Transportation and Communications
Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso
III. The aim of the suspension is to prevent Sec. Mendoza and A-Sec
Formoso from impeding their subordinates from telling the truth.
(4) Suspend Environment Secretary Lito Atienza,
Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon, Deputy
Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, assistant airport general manager
Angel Atutubo, Police Supt. Paul Mascariñas and all officials who,
in their effort to obey some higher-ups’ order about Rodolfo
Lozada Jr., caused and contributed to the abuse of the human rights
of whistleblower upon he arrived from Hong Kong.
(5) Stop any state agencies from further
harassing Lozada and other witnesses.
There is no sign that Mrs. Arroyo has begun to
do any of these things.
No John the Baptist
“The President must do these, or the people
will make their judgment and act on the basis of their
convictions,” the FSGO’s memorial says. This sentence
sounds as if the authors of the memorial had suddenly lost their
nerve. Instead of doing to Mrs. Arroyo what John the Baptist
did to Herod, the FSGO shifted the burden to “the people.”
What they should have said is: If President
Arroyo ignores the FSGO ultimatum, we, this the band of 80-plus FSGO
prophets, will join the clamor for the President’s resignation or
ouster.
We will be effective. We will persuade other
forces in our society to act and get Mrs. Arroyo to work more
zealously against corruption in her administration—or else.
Self-incrimination
Some people think the FSGO’s five do’s for
Mrs. Arroyo are a veritable suicide call.
If she does all those things, she would be
incriminating herself.
That’s why GMA’s ally, Sen. Juan Ponce
Enrile, is reported to have told her, “Don’t give up power or
you’re dead!”
So who’s going to be John the Baptist?
Spirit of Edsa
There’s someone has been that to Mrs.
Arroyo’s Herod all along.
But we Filipinos don’t pay much attention to
his words. Probably because he likes to clown a bit. We Filipinos
are suckers for those who never stop putting on an act of taking
things seriously and being deeply in thought.
I’m thinking of President Fidel V. Ramos.
The speech he gave last month, at the official
EDSA 1 celebration at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, was a John
Baptist message to President Arroyo. She and her key Cabinet
members, representatives of the diplomatic corps and of course the
top AFP and PNP brass were there to hear FVR say:
“The Spirit of EDSA compels our unswerving
opposition to injustice, greed, corruption and apathy . . . Whoever
today treasures the Spirit of EDSA must first internalize it by
taking some positive action to uplift the common life. This means
taking actions that enhance, not diminish, our democracy; curb
corruption and cronyism; implement poverty alleviation and social
reform; and insure justice is delivered to the long suffering and
powerless.”
Every time some threat of a people power revolt
or a military mutiny happens the Palace shoots out angry words
against destabilizers. President Ramos, on the other hand, delivers
the John the Baptist message—Repent and reform!—and talks about
these as “wake-up calls” not just for Mrs. Arroyo (whom he loves
to call “PGMA”) but also congressmen and senators and the rich.
President Ramos has been telling his
interlocutors “PGMA has wasted the two years” since that Marine
stand-off in Fort Bonifacio. FVR says President Arroyo should
have used that time to respond to the clamor for transparency,
accountability and good governance.
Today, will the ladies and gentlemen of the FSGO
follow up last week’s full-page ads, Club Filipino memorial and
ultimatum? Or will all that end up signifying nothing?
rq_bas@yahoo.com
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