Just Wanted to Say...
Yesterday, the front page headline on the Philippine Daily Inquirer read, "Ex-gov't officials tell GMA Cabinet to quit."
Those in the cabinet have no plans of quitting.
The call for GMA and her cabinet to quit came from a group that chooses to call itself the "La Salle 60." They released a statement at the gate of La Salle Green Hills and in their statement charged GMA with impunity and mentioned a systematic destruction of our democratic institutions and the systematic nature of our problems. I will definitely agree with the latter, but I also pose some questions: What will GMA resigning do? Does her position as executive in the government lasting only until 2010, just 2 more years, mean anything? And what's all this trial by publicity regarding the infamous NBN-ZTE deal? Isn't there already due process being conducted by the Senate? As Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, the Cabinet believed that Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.'s allegations should be tackled in court, which is the proper venue in accordance with due process of the law.
Besides, the Senate happens to be expecting a new witness in the NBN-ZTE deal. As Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, the chair of the committee that is investigating the controversy, said, he [the new witness] will come out to further link high government officials... he is someone who supposedly knows the link of Malacañang to all of this.
I only hope this process of seeking the truth will be fair.
And regarding the whole noise about how GMA should step down, let me simply quote two statements that I very much agree with (thus, I have more or less nothing more to say because these statements just said it all):
There has been an e-mail circulating with an exhaustive statement entitled, "What is Neri afraid to say and Why?" To quote a part of that statement,
"He [Romulo Neri] is afraid that the public may not know the extent of corruption in this country and may wrongly believe that they can cure corruption by simply replacing Arroyo with another person. He is afraid that the public may overlook the systemic and institutionalized nature of the source of corruption in this country, he is afraid that the people will again opt for a regime change without concern or a plan to correct the root causes of corruption in the country. He is afraid that people may not realize that it is not bringing Arroyo down that is difficult, it is establishing a new order that is the difficult task."
Also, today's editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled "A History of Scandal" provides valuable insight:
"Change did come through People Power during the EDSA Revolution, but what it accomplished was just a change of the dramatis personae and not of the flawed political system. After some cosmetic changes and the utterance of the usual political platitudes, it was back to the same old ways of traditional politics."
Now it should be clear where I stand. I really wonder what all these noise-makers propose be done. That Vice President Noli de Castro take over since he's a legitimate replacement for Gloria anyway? I won't be surprised if he ends up becoming a "puppet" like what FPJ would be have been had GMA not allegedly cheated him in the polls. Anyone who says Gloria and her Cabinet should step down should also have an effective and feasible alternative to the status quo. So what if Gloria steps down (which with she, being firm in her stand, is unlikely)? That just puts a new face in the government. Oh, that changes everything. What we need is reforms in our government. Changes in our system. All the corruption has tainted the institution that was in the first place supposed to be a service to the people. No one is perfect, but when it comes to what will affect millions of citizens, the government officials' consciences should be clear. Just like what President Ramon Magsaysay used to ask when he was about to make a decision on a government transaction or project, "Can we defend this in Plaza Miranda?" I'll leave it at that.
To undermine corruption in the government and enforce/establish reforms are most certainly difficult to do, but with how much this country has suffered and because the people deserve much better, all the difficulty will be worth it.
In other news, Kosovo is now independent from Serbia! But as Russian President Vladimir Putin argued, independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Chechnya and Georgia are agitating for independence.
Those in the cabinet have no plans of quitting.
The call for GMA and her cabinet to quit came from a group that chooses to call itself the "La Salle 60." They released a statement at the gate of La Salle Green Hills and in their statement charged GMA with impunity and mentioned a systematic destruction of our democratic institutions and the systematic nature of our problems. I will definitely agree with the latter, but I also pose some questions: What will GMA resigning do? Does her position as executive in the government lasting only until 2010, just 2 more years, mean anything? And what's all this trial by publicity regarding the infamous NBN-ZTE deal? Isn't there already due process being conducted by the Senate? As Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, the Cabinet believed that Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.'s allegations should be tackled in court, which is the proper venue in accordance with due process of the law.
Besides, the Senate happens to be expecting a new witness in the NBN-ZTE deal. As Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, the chair of the committee that is investigating the controversy, said, he [the new witness] will come out to further link high government officials... he is someone who supposedly knows the link of Malacañang to all of this.
I only hope this process of seeking the truth will be fair.
And regarding the whole noise about how GMA should step down, let me simply quote two statements that I very much agree with (thus, I have more or less nothing more to say because these statements just said it all):
There has been an e-mail circulating with an exhaustive statement entitled, "What is Neri afraid to say and Why?" To quote a part of that statement,
"He [Romulo Neri] is afraid that the public may not know the extent of corruption in this country and may wrongly believe that they can cure corruption by simply replacing Arroyo with another person. He is afraid that the public may overlook the systemic and institutionalized nature of the source of corruption in this country, he is afraid that the people will again opt for a regime change without concern or a plan to correct the root causes of corruption in the country. He is afraid that people may not realize that it is not bringing Arroyo down that is difficult, it is establishing a new order that is the difficult task."
Also, today's editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer entitled "A History of Scandal" provides valuable insight:
"Change did come through People Power during the EDSA Revolution, but what it accomplished was just a change of the dramatis personae and not of the flawed political system. After some cosmetic changes and the utterance of the usual political platitudes, it was back to the same old ways of traditional politics."
Now it should be clear where I stand. I really wonder what all these noise-makers propose be done. That Vice President Noli de Castro take over since he's a legitimate replacement for Gloria anyway? I won't be surprised if he ends up becoming a "puppet" like what FPJ would be have been had GMA not allegedly cheated him in the polls. Anyone who says Gloria and her Cabinet should step down should also have an effective and feasible alternative to the status quo. So what if Gloria steps down (which with she, being firm in her stand, is unlikely)? That just puts a new face in the government. Oh, that changes everything. What we need is reforms in our government. Changes in our system. All the corruption has tainted the institution that was in the first place supposed to be a service to the people. No one is perfect, but when it comes to what will affect millions of citizens, the government officials' consciences should be clear. Just like what President Ramon Magsaysay used to ask when he was about to make a decision on a government transaction or project, "Can we defend this in Plaza Miranda?" I'll leave it at that.
To undermine corruption in the government and enforce/establish reforms are most certainly difficult to do, but with how much this country has suffered and because the people deserve much better, all the difficulty will be worth it.
In other news, Kosovo is now independent from Serbia! But as Russian President Vladimir Putin argued, independence without U.N. approval would set a dangerous precedent for "frozen conflicts" across the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Chechnya and Georgia are agitating for independence.