A Desperate Solution?

By Antonio C. Abaya
Written on Dec. 22, 2008

“Just read your article No Better Idea and noted the last paragraph regarding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — you will surely be among the top of her hate list. Granted the futility of whatever she can do for the country or the people, is there no slim possibility of her ever rising from the ashes like the phoenix? There must be something she can do during her last year to save her governance/name and the legacy of her father. Can you in your astute mind, offer a solution, even a desperate act to enable her to do even one good thing so she can exit with grace?

” I do feel so bad as I have known her since she was a young girl, she treats me with affection as she knows my close relationship with her Dad and Mom especially, and her brother Arthur is one of my best friends. I so want her wrong to be rendered right…is that possible? Do you have it in your heart to recommend a desperate solution - to give her one last chance that she may have the wisdom to listen to, to consider to do? Why not help her? I don’t believe in too little, too late..

“Have a better idea?”

Because I respect the letter-writer’s opinions and judgment, I have to make public and seriously consider this plaintive cry for even a “desperate solution” to allow President Arroyo to “exit with grace.” Is there anything she can do to salvage her presidency and her name, and leave behind a positive legacy after June 2010?

I must preface my reply with the information that, like hundreds of thousands of other urban middle-class Filipinos, my late wife and children and I took part in the street protests of January 2001 that led to the downfall of Joseph Estrada and the rise to the presidency of then Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

(Even earlier, in February 1986, my children and I also took part in the demos that deposed Ferdinand Marcos and brought to the fore Corazon Aquino, while my wife was stranded in San Francisco.)

This is not to say that we were happy with the subsequent turn of events after 1986 and after 2001. But that’s another story.

In the presidential elections of May 10, 2004, after comparing the pre-election public opinion surveys conducted by Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations (SWS) with the results of the exit polls conducted by SWS, I was one of the few who came to the conclusion that President Arroyo had won those elections, but by a narrow margin of about 200,000-300,000 votes. (See my articles GMA by a Hair and Who Won? of May 13 and 19, 2004, both archived in www.tapatt.org .)

Economist Winnie Monsod, using the same reference data, came to a similar conclusion months later in her column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

That the Comelec subsequently came out with results that purportedly showed her winning by more than 1.1 million votes is, also, another story. But I do not break bread with the gibbering mob who maintain, without presenting any credible numbers, that she was not duly elected to that position.

However, President Arroyo has been a total disappointment in the months and years after May 2004. Her moral ambivalence, her deliberate evasiveness, her refusal or inability to confront the Evil of corruption in her government, the apparent involvement of members of her own family in sordid transactions, her insidious appointment of questionable individuals to key positions in the judiciary and the bureaucracy …..all contribute to widespread perception that not only is she indeed part of that Evil, but that she is laying the foundation for perpetuating that Evil beyond 2010.

President Arroyo has categorically denied that she is seeking an extension of her presidential term, which expires end of June 2010. But that is not reassuring enough. She has not categorically denied that she is seeking a new term as prime minister in the parliamentary order that her fawning sycophants are pushing charter change for..

I warned about this possible strategy as early as May 17, 2005 in my article titled Prime Minister Gloria? and subsequent articles, all archived in www.tapatt.org.

(As I wrote in an article in late 2007, she may follow the example of Vladimir Putin of Russia who was president for two terms (2000-04, 2004-08) and was constitutionally ineligible for a third term. In December 2007, while he was still president, Putin ran for a seat in parliament and, not unexpectedly, won. When his presidential term ended in March 2008, his hand-picked successor, Dmitri Medvedev, won the presidential elections and, to no one’s surprise, chose Putin to be the prime minister. The Big Difference, of course, is that Putin is genuinely popular in his country; Gloria is genuinely unpopular in hers.)

If she is indeed sincere that she will step down from presidential power in June 2010 (and not return as prime minister later), all she has to do is tell her lackeys in the House and the Senate to cease and desist from further maneuvers to convene themselves into a constituent assembly (ConAss) so as to railroad a shift to parliamentary before her presidential term ends in June 2010, so that she can succeed herself, as prime minister..

It is as simple and categorical as that. It is not even a “desperate solution.” Why is that so difficult to do?

If she does not have the steely resolve to tell Prospero Nograles, Luis Villafuerte, Joey Salceda and Nene Pimentel and their cumbancheros to shut up about ConAss before 2010 – or if she tells them half-heartedly in public but they continue their covert and overt maneuvers - then it can only mean that this is her own “desperate solution” to her impending problem of losing presidential immunity from criminal suits after June 2010.

If that is so, then it may be the turn of the sovereign people to come up with their own “desperate solution” - legal or illegal, constitutional or extra-constitutional – to the recurrent problem of an unwelcome leader overstaying their welcome. *****

HOLIDAY GREETINGS. Unless President Arroyo surprises all of us with an announcement during the holidays that she will definitely not seek or accept the position of prime minister after June 2010 – her graceful exit, my dear friend - I will take a two-week break until January 6.

In that scenario, she could endorse the presidential candidacy of someone who she feels would be “sympathetic” to her situation, such as Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, nephew of her family’s business partner, Danding Cojuangco. And/or she and her family could fly off to, say, Portugal days or hours before her presidential term ends, where they could safely await the results of the elections. Declaring martial law and canceling the elections would be the least attractive and the most desperate solution and would likely boomerang on her..

A Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all. Or, as they say in Portuguese, Feliz natal e próspero ano novo.

Olé! *****

Reactions to tonyabaya@gmail.com. Other articles in www.tapatt.com and in acabaya.blogspot.com.

Why some Filipinos can be called idiots

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
Philstar

Time and again, your Chair Wrecker has made reference to the eminent Professor Emmanuel Q. Yap’s adopted term for one who does not know the truth — an IDIOT. Prof. Yap credits Webster for originally defining an idiot as one who does not know the truth.

One Chair Wrecker column reader who reacted to our Tuesday column on the Bush shoe throwing incident was taken aback when I called his attention to being an idiot, one who did not know the truth. He felt that I resorted to name calling after he wrote something I did not agree with.

He failed to understand that it is name calling when there is no justifiable context for using the term. If you argued with your neighbor and called him stupid for no reason at all — then that is name calling. But if your neighbor deliberately jumped out of an airplane without a parachute, then you are well within your right to call him stupid.

The Chair Wrecker column reader wrote: “The invasion in Iraq was not a misadventure! It was a move to free a people shackled by the brutality of dictator Saddam. What would the Philippines be today if the Americans did not return and shed blood to free the Filipinos from the tyranny of Japanese occupation? The Japanese would have invaded (the) PI (Philippine Islands) whether or not the Americans were there. They have expansionist aims in their minds.

The plague that Bin Laden started will continue on whether or not the US invaded Iraq. Their objective is world domination and there is no negotiating with them. Being nice with those terrorists will not stop them from their evil schemes. Do you have (a) better idea (how) to solve the problems in Mindanao? Maybe the US will learn from it when the insurgency in the south is settled peacefully by the Philippine government.

Many Americans today are getting tired of fair weather allies like the Philippines whose only interest in the US is what it can get economically. It would be great if America will wake up one day and declare a hands-off policy in foreign affairs — isolationism. All foreign aid will be terminated since they’re only wasted by corrupt governments. I think the world will be a better place for it and the Philippines will be finally freed of imperialism.”

It was so easy to see why the fellow did not know the truth. Up to now he buys the big lie that the Iraq invasion was to free the world of Saddam Hussein. He did not know that it was all about Iraqi oil. He also failed to realize that dictatorships per se do not bother the US. The US promoted many dictatorships in the 1970s including the Marcos dictatorship here.

He also thinks that the US liberated us from Japanese occupation instead of simply retaking their prime Pacific possession. He forgot or maybe never knew that General Douglas MacArthur argued with Admiral Chester Nimitz before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that the US must retake the Philippines which Nimitz proposed to bypass. When they were planning the Pacific Offensive against Japan in Hawaii, Gen. MacArthur posited that the push towards Japan cannot be accomplished while a major armed Japanese force remains operational in the Philippines.

The Chair Wrecker column reactor was so sure that Japan would have invaded the Philippines whether the US were here or not. He failed to realize that Japan respected Thailand’s neutrality. He thinks that the goal of the Al Qaeda terrorists is Islamic world domination and not the removal of oppressive US foreign policy. He does not even realize that promoting mayhem may be able to scare nations but will not be enough to dominate the world.

Prof. Manoling Yap is right when he says that the Filipinos can only be united when the Filipinos finally realize and understand the historical truth — what really happened to our country and who were really responsible for the pitiful state we now find ourselves in.

And I have not met anyone who can better provide the most insightful glimpse to the historical truth than Prof. Yap. Manoling Yap has not only researched the hidden truth about our history. He had the rare ringside seat to many of the important events that happened.

When Manoling Yap was a scholar (sponsored by the late President Jose P. Laurel) and studying in the US - he was able to read many rare books about the early years of US occupation of the Philippines. Manoling looked for these rare books following the specific instructions of former president Laurel who told him: “Pag-aralan mo kung paaano tayo linoloko ng mga Amerikano (Find out how the Americans are fooling us).”

Manoling Yap has been an adviser to Presidents Laurel, Garcia, Macapagal and Marcos. Manoling Yap was there when Marcos confided to former House Speaker Pepito Laurel that martial law was imposed on US insistence. It was Manoling Yap whom Marcos tapped to open Philippine relations with Socialist and Communist countries. Manoling had met and dealt with the then top leaders of China and the other Eastern European bloc countries.

Manoling Yap was there in Vladivostok to witness the accord that ended the Cold War in 1989. He saw for himself that it was not the Philippine Senate that kicked out the US from their bases here but the Russians who demanded that the US bases in the Philippines be dismantled.

Prof. Manoling Yap can tell you who among those we regard as heroes are actually quislings who willingly served a foreign interest — to the detriment of our national interest. And who among those we have been conditioned to regard as heels were closer to being heroes.

There are those who attempt to inform Filipinos about their history. Theirs is a noble attempt. However, what is very much lacking in what they share with us is the proper context with which we can form the big picture. Much of what are discussed fall under the category of mere data or sometimes — trivia.

Filipinos must adopt a positive attitude to being qualified to be called an idiot, one who does not know the truth. Instead of taking offense, Filipinos must strive to know the historical truth. Filipinos can really protest when they’re called idiots — only after knowing the historical truth.

Chair Wrecker website: www.chairwrecker.com

CLEAR THE TABLE FIRST!

December 21, 2008
by Cheryl L. Daytec

At this time, we need charter change like we need a hole in the head.

Whether the change is to be proposed by a constitutional convention or a constituent assembly, the result is the same: it will provide an opening for Gloria Arroyo to mess with the Constitution and consign the Filipinos to more years in the economic and political desert called the Arroyo Regime.

On the occasion of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines Alumni Association reunion last week, I had the privilege to chat with RFM Food Corporation President Jose “Joe Con” S. Concepcion, Jr. He said that if it is unavoidable to change the constitution, he prefers a Constitutional Convention to Congress acting as a constituent assembly. According to him, proposed constitutional amendments will be reflective of the people’s will when coming from a constitutional convention because the members are elected by the people.

But so are the members of Congress. Theoretically, they are representatives of the people. Perhaps, JoeCon did not tell me that he believes, as I do, that Congress, particularly the House of Representatives has long ceased to articulate the people’s issues. It chose to be Arroyo’s sycophant, her weapon against the Filipino forces out to dislodge her, her asylum from political doom. It is nauseating how its members can cavalierly throw out an impeachment complaint like it were some piece of trash. In 2005, some of the Representatives even had the gall to say they were voting against impeachment for the sake of their children and grandchildren.

Even a Constitutional Convention may turn out to be Arroyo’s lapdog. What guarantee is there that elections for Concon members will float up the people’s will? In this country, elections are sham proceedings. Were they free, clean and honest, Arroyo would not be calling the shots in Malacanang. With the desperation with which she wants charter change, she can field candidates as she fielded party lists of her political mold. Then she can just make a call to COMELEC Commissioners. And many of the COMELEC commissioners are not exactly above question. But again, that is precisely why they were appointed. The Arroyo Regime can survive when the moral fiber of the institutions in this country are weakened. And it has so far flourished because the courts, the House of Representatives, the COMELEC among others have been morally debilitated by electoral fraud and political appointments.

Charter change is neither about solving the Mindanao crisis, nor about boosting the economy as House Speaker Prospero Nograles claims. Didn’t his boss boast not more than once that the Philippine economy has never been better? Stripped naked, the “cha- cha” moves are about Arroyo’s obsession to cleave to power. And she has reasons to extend her term, not the least her desperation for impunity. Her crimes against the Filipino people are myriad and power is her only shield from prosecution. She believes that while President, she is immune from suits even if the Constitution, unlike the previous ones, has no provision to this effect. There is a Supreme Court all too willing to sustain this illusion of hers. The surest buffer from old age in prison is a lifelong claim to the presidency. That requires charter change, unless she declares martial law as some fear.

I have another reason to believe that “cha-cha” is about impunity. The Philippines already signed the Rome Statute which established the International Criminal Court. All that is left to make the Philippines a party to the treaty is for Arroyo to indorse it to the Senate for ratification. Deliberately, she is sitting on it. Why? She is succumbing to US pressure, some quarters suspect. George Bush, to dodge liability for the terror acts he committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, unsigned the treaty. But I suspect that the US pressure is not nearly as important as Arroyo’s selfish reasons. Under the treaty, she may be held liable for the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances committed under her watch, even while she is sitting President. Before the ICC, the Arroyo Supreme Court cannot come to her rescue to cloister her from criminal suits. She cannot invoke immunity. The thick shield of impunity with which her government is committing human rights violations will be smashed once the Philippines becomes a party to the Rome Statute.

Desperately, Arroyo has contrived every situation possible to justify charter change. The worst is the failed memorandum of agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. She dangled some promises that not only she could not keep but also she would not keep. The MILF, driven to extreme anger, ran amok and massacred people.

The mass slaughter fitted well into Arroyo’s plans. At last, an excuse for charter change was delivered to her in a silver platter, never mind if it was drenched in the blood of the innocent. And she said, “The problem in Mindanao justifies the need to shift to federalism.”

You do not just shift to federalism at the snap of Arroyo’s finger. The country’s fundamental law which provides for a unitary government has to be amended. When Arroyo preached on the merits of federalism as the solution to the Mindanao question, she was campaigning for charter change. She wants it so much, and when she wants it so much, it must be bad for the nation.

I heard the arguments for charter change and I must admit that some are worth pondering. But before we talk about charter change, let us first clear the discussion table.

While the clutter called Gloria Arroyo is all over the table, the discourse cannot begin.

(This article also appears in the Northern Dispatch Weekly.)
–
Cheryl L. Daytec
Associate Professor
St. Louis University

Why GMA must fire DAR Sec. Nasser Pangandaman Sr.

AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR
By William M. Esposo
Philstar: December 30, 2008

We were rudely interrupted from enjoying the Yuletide season when the STAR announced on the front page the following rather disturbing piece of news last Sunday, December 28, 2008.

“Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. and his son Nasser Jr., a mayor of Masiu town in Lanao del Sur, were tagged as part of a group who allegedly beat up a 56-year-old businessman and his 14-year-old son at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City last Friday,” the STAR news report penned by Rainier Allan Ronda opened.

“Delfin de la Paz said that more than his physical injuries, he was concerned about the psychological trauma to his son Bino Lorenzo, a first-year high school student at the Ateneo de Manila, who recently participated in a junior golf tournament in Thailand as part of the Philippine team, which placed second,” Ronda’s news report added.

Later that Sunday, I read the entry of Bambee de la Paz (one of the daughter’s of Delfin de la Paz, the complainant) in her blog which she titled “The world has gone crazy.” Bambee de la Paz recounted the traumatic experience she and her family had just suffered.

She describes the violent episode: “The mayor of Masiu City, Lanao del Sur (Nasser Pangandaman Jr.) talks with my dad. Things get heated up. Voices were raised. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever imagine that someone would pull out a punch.

She continued: “He attacks my father. His flight mates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father. My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight.”

“My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop. His words still ring through my head…“Sorry na po, sorry na po…tama na…tama na po.. (Sorry, please stop it sir, please stop it, please stop it sir).” With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face. My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were 4 or 5 of them attacking now,” Bambee de la Paz wrote.

She added: “Someone breaks up the fight. I thought it was all over. The mayor shouts to his caddy: “Hindi nila kami kilala! Sabihin mo nga sa kanila kung sino ako! (They don’t know who we are! Tell them who I am!)” And believe me, I had no idea who this person was. But now I know. He’s the person who, with 4 other men, beat up my 56-year-old father and my 14-year-old brother. He’s the person who sacks a pleading 14-year-old kid in the face.”

Bambee continued: “I lash out, but my dad held me back. I was screaming my lungs out, shouting to this mayor, telling him about what he had done. I said: “Nakakahiya kayo. Singkwenta’y sais anyos ang tatay ko. And kapatid ko kakatorse anyos. Anong ilalaban nila sayo? (Shame on you. My father is already 56 years old. What can he fight you with?)”

The mayor looks at my brother, point to his face, and says, “Tatandaan kita (I will remember you!)!”

This took place in a golf course where a gentleman’s sport is played. My Scottish grandfather, Ian Trotter-Macgregor, the 1919 and 1920 back to back Philippine Open Champion, would have turned in his grave over this incident which he would surely consider a sacrilege committed against the gentleman’s game of golf. He revered golf almost to the level of a religion. My mother used to tell me that our grandfather often said that in golf you play against yourself, your own character and you tracked your own score.

Sec. Pangandaman Sr. claimed in a subsequent phone interview with the STAR, which was published yesterday, that it was Delfin de la Paz who started the fight and that he will file counter charges in court.

Sec. Pangandaman is entitled to his day in court but GMA does not have to wait for a court judgment in order to fire him. Sec. Pangandaman is a cabinet appointee and he serves at GMA’s pleasure. Having just watched the incident and not exercised his official and moral authority are more than enough reasons for the DAR secretary to be fired.

Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) should simply fire Sec. Nasser Pangandaman Sr. for public scandal and loss of confidence. She should also order Local Government Secretary Ronnie Puno to start proceedings to investigate Mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr. and impose the proper penalty.

In the case of Pangandaman’s son who is an elected public official, Ronnie Puno will have to process his suspension or expulsion depending on what the department probe discovers and in accordance with what the law allows.

GMA cannot just shrug off this incident because this underscores the arrogance and abuse of power and authority under her regime. There has been too much publicity and public attention generated and perceived injustice will add to the many factors already destabilizing her regime.

Filipinos will be asking just what exactly does GMA owe her DAR chief. Is Nasser Pangandaman Sr. an architect of the 2004 election operation in Lanao del Sur?

12 Things that the Valley Golf mauling effectively proved

Kurot Sa Puso
30 December 2008
Dennis Garcia of “Hotdog” shares…

12. The pen is mightier than the biggest PR or crisis management budget (Tons of cash cannot buy minds with unwavering conviction – for further validation, go ask several Senatorial bets who spent a fortune in 2007… for nought)

11. The noisiest screw gets oiled first

10. Most of our politicians – from the most lowly to the most high – are guilty of hubris

Hubris denotes overconfident pride and arrogance; it is often
associated with a lack of humility, not always with the lack of
knowledge. An accusation of hubris often implies that suffering
or punishment will follow, similar to the occasional pairing of
hubris and nemesis in the Greek world. The proverb “pride goes
before a fall” is thought to sum up the modern definition of hubris.

9. Filipino government officials – even when caught red-handed doing ‘bad’ things – never resign… because, they serve “at the pleasure of the President”

8. It pays to have writing skills when you’re up against abusive, ill-educated powerful people

7. At least, for a while, we may hear less and less of this line: “baka hindi mo kilala me…”

6. Golfers should make a canister of mace and a baseball bat standard golf accessories

5. People who work in golf courses do not see or hear very well

4. Being seen playing golf with the First Son, after a barrage of negative press, is not a very smart move

3. Filipinos will never be docile again because of the internet

2. Technology can be put to good use – especially when exposing misdeeds and scandalous conduct

1. The Pangandamans are in deep shit

BREAKING NEWS: GOV. PANLILIO TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IF GOD WILLS IT

FORMAL STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR ED PANLILIO

I never  had a liking for partisan politics.  Priesthood and pastoral ministry has always been my life for 28 years.  And I love this life.

On the evening of May 18, 2007, I was proclaimed governor of Pampanga.  On that same night I said I would only be in public service for 3 years.  That was my promise and I intend to keep it.

However, we have a saying that goes, “Man proposes, God disposes.”

Hence, if the Good Lord wills me to run for a second term or a higher office, let His will be done.  After all I have stopped living for myself.  My agenda has therefore been to be submissive to His design.

I have been approached by a number of groups prodding me to aspire for the presidency.  I replied  let us make a collective discernment to know whom God really wants for this job.  If we find a person or persons that best embody good governance, effective and ethical leadership, let us support such leaders and make them win.  I too will support them.

I will not volunteer to run.  But if God tells me to run through this collective process, so be it.
I will also come to a personal discernment.  Whatever is the decision that brings peace to my heart, then that must be His will.

Governor Eddie T. Panlilio
Pampanga

Glo and Blago

PerryScope
Perry Diaz

Glo and Blago

The lives of Philippine President Gloria “Glo” Arroyo and Illinois Governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich have, in so many ways, ran parallel — but similar — courses in the way they governed the people whom they swore to serve. Today, the Philippines is the most corrupt country in Asia and Illinois is one of the most, if not the most, corrupt states in the United States.

The similarities between Glo and Blago are striking. Hey, they even coif their hair the same way. Both practice “pay to play” politics. Both are corrupt kleptocrats. Both have been called “liar, thief and cheat.” Both have illusions of grandeur: Glo wanted to be Prime Minister for life and Blago wanted to be US President in 2016. And both refused to step down from their positions. In 2004, Glo claimed, “The Lord put me here.” Last week, Blago defiantly said, “I will fight this thing every step of the way. I will fight, I will fight, I will fight, till I take my very last breath. I have done nothing wrong.”

Gloria Arroyo, her husband and a legion of government officials and business cronies have been implicated in at least 30 major corruption cases including the IMPSA deal, “Hello Garci” scandal, fertilizer scam, ZTE/NBN bribery scandal, North Rail and South Rail overpriced projects, Spratly sell-out to China, and Jose Pidal kickback accounts.

Rod Blagojevich has been accused of shaking down people and corporations for campaign contributions in return for government contracts or favors. In a wiretapped conversation, he said, “I want to make money,” as he demanded $50,000 campaign donation from an official at a children’s hospital and threatened to withhold $8 million for pediatric care if the official failed to donate.

When President-elect Barack Obama resigned his Senate seat upon his election, Blagojevich immediately put up a “For Sale” sign on the vacated Senate seat which he as governor has the sole authority to appoint. On another wiretapped conversation with a subordinate, he said, “I’ve got this thing, it’s [expletive] golden, and uh, uh, I’m just giving it up for [expletive] nothing. I’m not gonna do it. And, I can always use it. I can parachute me there,” which means that he can appoint himself to the vacant Senate seat.

While Arroyo had survived four impeachment petitions in the last four years, Blagojevich might not survive an impeachment petition filed recently because even his fellow Democrats in the state legislature want him out. He has been known to use bully tactics to persuade legislators to support his pet bills. But in one bill — a $7 billion tax increase on business– which he actively lobbied for, he was repudiated when the bill lost 107 to 0.

Illinois and the Philippines have long histories of corruption. Corruption in the Philippines started during the more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule which ended in 1899 with the arrival of the Americans. During the half-century of American administration which followed, corruption was at a minimum. But as soon as the Philippines gained its independence in 1946, corruption started to increase and reached its highest level during the Marcos dictatorship. The People Power revolution of 1986 ousted Marcos and brought in a relatively peaceful era in which corruption decreased for the next 15 years.

In 2001, when then Vice President Arroyo was catapulted to the presidency in another People Power revolution, corruption increased dramatically. Within four days of her takeover, the first corruption scandal erupted: the controversial IMPSA deal which Arroyo’s newly appointed Justice Secretary Hernando Perez signed. Six years later, Perez was indicted for allegedly extorting $2 million from former Congressman Mark Jimenez in relation to the IMPSA deal. However, the charges were dropped by the Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez when Jimenez executed an affidavit of desistance. It is interesting to note that Gutierrez was appointed by Arroyo to the job and was also a law school classmate of the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo.

Last December 17, 2008, Gutierrez ordered the filing of graft, extortion and falsification charges against Perez, his wife, brother-in-law, and a business associate. However, it was immediately ridiculed by the opposition as a farcical show — “moro-moro” — to dispel allegations of “selective prosecution” by the Ombudsman.

Illinois has a notorious history of crime and corruption. Chicago was one of the bloodiest and corrupt cities during the Prohibition era when Al Capone’s criminal and bootlegging empire ruled. Politicians, judges, and police officers were in his “payroll.”

Corruption became the rule rather than the exception. During the 21-year reign of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley which ended in 1976, he built a powerful political machine. Although he was never indicted of corruption, a lot of his underlings went to jail.

Since 1971, more than 1,000 people have been convicted for corruption in Illinois. From 1997 through 2006, the state had 524 federal corruption convictions. Since 1973, three governors have been imprisoned: George Ryan (Blago’s predecessor) convicted in 2006 for racketeering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice; Daniel Walker in 1987 for savings and loan fraud; and Otto Kerner, Jr. in 1973 for bribery, conspiracy and perjury. If convicted, Blagojevich would be the fourth of the last eight governors to be jailed.

In the case of Arroyo, since she cannot be prosecuted while she’s still in office, she may eventually have to face the music when she steps down from the presidency in June 2010. Unless, she finds a way to extend her term of office beyond 2010, she could — like her predecessor Joseph Estrada — be charged with plunder. However, Gutierrez, whose appointment as Ombudsman is a fixed term of seven years, will still be around until December 1, 2012. The question is: Would she prosecute Arroyo at the end of Arroyo’s term of office? Debt of honor — “utang na loob” — goes a long way in the Philippines. However, should Gutierrez decide not to prosecute Arroyo, she’ll live out the rest of her life in ignominy.

At the end of the day, Glo and Blago would probably have to deal with their own conscience. And sometimes one’s own conscience could be very unforgiving and could be tormenting to one’s sanity.

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)