Gloria’s predatory urges

Man at the Market

Jesse E.L. Bacon II

08/15/2008

Will it still be rational for the people to insist that Mrs. Arroyo is not bent on extending her stay in Malacañang beyond 2010 in light of current developments and the exposé recently made by this paper regarding her having given her imprimatur to have the Constitution mangled to suit her ends?

This columnist believes it will already be pure stupidity if the people continue to believe otherwise.

It has been admitted by Malacañang no less that it is out to mangle the Constitution at the soonest time possible. So, it would be pure naiveté if not stupidity for the people to continue lulling themselves into believing that Mrs. Arroyo is not out to make a mockery of the fundamental law of the land. Of course, the reason put forth by the Palace spinmasters is that the mangling of the Constitution is meant to bring about peace in troubled Mindanao.

The official line peddled by Malacañang is that for the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity to succeed, the Constitution has to be mangled first to suit such agreement. In this regard, Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia Sr., a noted legal expert, quipped that you do not change the Charter to suit an agreement, rather, suit the agreement into the provisions of the Charter, or words to that effect. Malacañang’s insistence to pursue peace with our Muslim brothers in Mindanao through the constitutionally-infirmed BJE defies even the simplest rules of logic.

This insistence by Malacañang only gives credence to a text message circulating all over the country purporting a whopping $3 billion funding given by the Organization of Islamic Countries for the creation of a separate government for our Muslim brothers but with the bulk of the funds going into the pockets of whoever is vigorously pushing the BJE now. Perhaps, this is one loose talk that the Senate may secretly look into for there might be truth to it.

This columnist shares with Garcia in his query on why change the Charter to suit an agreement instead of the other way around. And it is for this reason that we strongly believe that senators like Manuel “Mar” Roxas II are right in their fight against the BJE, which is patently a sellout of the country’s sovereignty and a sellout of our own brothers in Mindanao who are not amenable to this agreement.

But as the resulting events have proved, this BJE thing is just a ploy, a cover-up to the real intention of the Palace occupant which is to open the Charter to possible mangling to enable her to push her political agenda. And what is that political agenda? To remain in office even beyond 2010 despite the unresolved issue of her having coveted the presidency without the mandate of the people in 2004. This fact is very clear in the “Hello Garci” controversy that the Palace occupant and her minions did their best to prevent from having a formal closure.

The question at this point, however, for every Filipino to answer is whether we will still allow Mrs. Arroyo to have her way again by through the simple expedient of flooding the country with money to buy the support of the senators, congressmen and local government officials. The challenge, in fact, is for the people and other social institutions such as the Church and the media to come up with a concerted effort at preventing this sinister plot from coming to fruition.

The first step toward this effort at preventing this evil design from succeeding is to recognize that this move of the Palace to mangle the Constitution is premised not on the welfare of the people but to serve the interest of Mrs. Arroyo to have her glued to the presidential chair. Without the people realizing this presidential move as motivated by evil intentions, the people cannot muster that rage.

Even during that “burning bush” experience, Moses realized the bankruptcy of his freedom from slavery given the fact that his fellow Israelites were suffering from the bondage of slavery in Egypt and were crying out for liberation. It is only the people’s realization of the evil that is going on that they’ll have that “burning bush” experience that will never be consumed until they do the positive act of correcting what is patently evil. Are the people prepared for this? This columnist believes so if the modern-day Pharaoh in Malacañang continues to push for self-serving proposals.

(jelbacon@yahoo.com for reactions)

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