Seeing the truth
By Carlos Isagani Zarate
Inquirer News Service

THE SITUATION is serious. Wala lang ma-realize pa sa ubang mga tawo na serious kaayo ang gihimo sa presidente (Some people just haven't realized yet the seriousness of what the President did)," commented Fr. Albert Alejo, rector of the Ateneo de Davao University, during a recent forum in Davao City.

President Macapagal-Arroyo, he claimed, has badly damaged the presidency. "Dili puedeng ibalewala lang nato (We cannot just take it for granted)."

Indeed, the dizzying events of the past week clearly howed how seriously the Gloriagate scandal has damaged the Arroyo presidency. The political fallout from the scandal has so spun out of control that any attempt by the administration to contain the inevitable would be futile.

The signs are ominous. Ironically, while Ms Arroyo thanked the Visayas for "giving" her the winning edge in the 2004 elections, Mindanao, where some of its provinces prominently figured in the "Garci tapes," might in the end cause the unmaking of her presidency.

Contrary to the threats of politicians loyal to her that Mindanao will secede if she is "forced to resign from office," many in the South believe that her stepping down is the only immediate solution to arrest the country's economic and political downslide.

Claims that the calls for the President's resignation are orchestrated only in "Imperial Manila" is to gloss over the fact that several people's organizations, civil society groups, the middle class and other groups elsewhere in the country, including in Mindanao, have concluded that Ms Arroyo has lost the moral authority to govern the country.

The Coalition of Dabawenyos for Truth (CD Truth), a grouping of NGOs, civil society groups, as well as religious and middle-class forces in Davao City, has this to say:

"We ask, what would be a worse fate than to be condemned [to] having a president, who, in her actions and in the eyes of the people, clearly has lost the morality and decency needed to lead our country? By her logic, she would rather condemn the Filipino people to five more years of illegitimate, fraudulent and corrupt governance, rather than heed the people's call!"

President Arroyo has shown neither compunction for what she did nor resolve to end the crisis caused by that act. Her plans for Charter change will only prolong our people's agony. She continues to evade the truth and culpability by defending herself as a mere part of a rotten political system. Indeed, Philippine politics is riddled with corruption -- the elections are a mockery of democracy; the Manila-centered governance discriminates against and inadequately responds to regional needs. But to suggest Charter change at this time of turmoil, when the public anger needs to be appeased in the face of scandals involving massive corruption in government and election cheating (as proven by the Garci tapes), is clearly an attempt to subvert the people's will.

Sadly, Ms Arroyo is the wrong person to oversee the "fundamental" changes in the Constitution and in government management. She has failed to live up to the spirit of Edsa II to uphold, at all times, morality and honesty in governance. She has failed to uplift the lives of the poor by imposing policies that only worsened unemployment, landlessness and poverty in our country. Her actions, from the day the Gloriagate controversy broke out, only showed how she would manufacture the truth at the expense of our people.

The sad state of Philippine affairs needs a comprehensive solution, one that will necessarily take into consideration the aspirations of our people: immediate economic relief and a government that truly serves the majority and not the few elite. As a first step, the disgraced President should remove herself from power.
Last Friday, while former President Aquino was calling for the resignation of President Arroyo, Palanca awardee and poet Don Pagusara was reciting, at a forum in the Ateneo de Davao University, his poem titled "Ang Babayeng Salamangkera ug ang Lalaking Tagolilong" (The Lady Magician and the Invisible Man). Here are some excerpts:
"A crisp whisper escaped from the tight sealed lips / a voice from a woman garbed in textiled ballots / rent the awesome silence within the Ballot Box: Hello Garci!, a call promptly returned with Yes Ma'am? / by a man rendered invisible because donning an RTW with the signature brand name COMELEC....And.../ right there and then began the tale of ignominious crime / ever yet told in the history of democracy in the Philippines, / whereby the Lady Magician willfully stole and trampled the sacred ballot of the Filipino people, and made of / our national elections despicable farcical exercises...../

"The ballot is the last remaining card of the ordinary citizens / to exercise in level field with the rich their democratic rights./ If this be wrested from them, what other weapon can the poor / people resort to in order to uphold the ideals of democracy / and advance their dream for the future of their society? / .... Flashfloods of people's protests have grown bigger by the day, / the whirlwinds of anger getting fiercer by the hour, because / of the Lady Magician's adamant and intransigent stance / to remain in power. But these whirlwinds will sweep away / all the litter and dirt along their vigorous paths, while it has become clear to everyone the Lady Magician is a fake president. /

"Oh Lady Magician! The only redeeming act you should do now is to make a staircase which you will use to step down from / the helm of power you have arrogated unto yourself by fraud. / You have lost the high moral ground to rule. No amount of / cosmetics can mask the ugly countenance of our regime, nor / can any perfume deodorize the rotten smell
of your governance."