More pots, more kettles
More pots, more kettles
Updated 00:28am (Mla time) Nov 01, 2004
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 1, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
WHAT is Angelo Reyes doing telling the congressmen to leave his mother alone? Who dragged his mother into the picture in the first place? Didn't he tell the Inquirer his sudden increase in bank deposits over the last couple of years owed to his converting his mother's assets into a joint account? He should thank the Inquirer it did not interview his mother who might have asked who gave him permission for it.
But the people in this government aren't just jacking up the ante on corruption, they're jacking up the ante on bad manners and wrong conduct. Even brothers and mothers are now fair game.
Comes now Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, the Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, telling the world also to leave the AFP well enough alone. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's expose on the Mafia-like "Gang of 12" that's ripping off P2 billion a year from his favorite institution, Adan says, is hurting the institution itself, quite apart from the generals' wives whom Santiago has implicated in the scam. The accusation, he says, "only strengthens the enemies of the state and poisons the minds of the soldiers. It's as if the sacrifices they made for 30 years or so in the service went for naught. For a soldier, that hurts."
Not at all. It's not the minds of the soldiers Adan should worry about, it's their feet. It's their feet that are being poisoned-from wearing worn-out boots. That's what the Oakwood mutineers at least were saying, which was why they mutinied in the first place: the corruption on top was hurting the foot soldier where it hurt most-his feet. The Oakwood mutiny itself or its aftermath must suggest that Adan's worries come too little too late. The soldiers' minds have long been poisoned. The young officers may now only dream of becoming old officers and turn from mutinous to rich. The rank and file may now only burn with envy.
As to the institution being damaged beyond repair, that is not the fault of Santiago, or those who exposed Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, it is the fault of Garcia and ilk. The messenger is not to blame for the bad news, the makers of the bad news are to blame for the bad news. In fact, the expose of shenanigans in the AFP shouldn't strengthen its enemies, it should strengthen the AFP, by ridding it of scoundrels. It's a fallacy to imagine an institution is saved by covering up its stench, as Emile Zola showed with dazzling clarity in the case of the French military, which sought to preserve its honor by condemning one of its officers, Alfred Dreyfus, to rot in jail rather than admit it wrongly accused him of treason. Of course, GMA likes to do it too-she tried to jail Acsa Ramirez instead of admitting she made a mistake-and gets away with it.
What hurts the soldier is not having his superiors exposed for corruption, it is having his feet exposed to sharp stones. What hurts the solider is that after 30 years in the service, all he has to show are blisters on his heels.
But while at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't turn the tables on their civilian tormentors. And for the same reason: to strengthen government by ridding it of its dregs. Whatever happened to its intelligence funds? The generals ripped them off too to a point the AFP has no intelligence left?
Santiago herself has a husband and brother who are not beyond suspicion. And she presents a spectacle not unlike that of Iggy Arroyo when she thunders forth against corruption. Wasn't she the same person who most ardently defended Erap from charges of it, despite a pile of evidence that would drown the tallest basketball player in the country? She even ordered three spectators in the gallery out for distracting her from that folly. I know the pot is right to call the kettle black-the kettle is black-but surely there is such a thing as looking at a mirror?
While at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't turn the tables on the very people prosecuting them, who are the congressmen. It's almost incredible how this country's spin doctors are able to spin the public's head around in less time than it takes to say Jose Pidal. It wasn't too long ago when the country's attention was riveted to the congressmen's pork, as a result of warnings about an impending collapse of the economy. The beleaguered congressmen then were crying, "Why only us, why not look at GMA's pork, too?" And they didn't mean her husband. How could we have allowed them to slip away in the night?
Still while at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't train its guns, figuratively speaking, of course, on GMA herself. Quite incidentally, the reason I'm not so sure the leak on Garcia was made by the CIA is that if the Bush government was pissed off at GMA, why did it rake muck on the AFP? It diverts attention from GMA, who has yet to answer for the queen's ransom she spent to get reelected-the generals should know something about that-which makes the "Gang of 12" look like a ragtag gang of hoodlums compared to the real Mafia. How many times will she get away with murder, figuratively speaking, too?
None of this, to repeat a point I've made before, means Garcia and ilk should not be put behind bars. It means all the other guilty parties should too, in proportion to their crimes. Justice is universal or not at all. That doesn't mean turning all the guilty free, that means turning all the guilty in.
The spectacle of Erap only languishing under house arrest for thievery has already become a travesty. It is no longer inspiring, it is depressing. It doesn't say, "be honest," it says, "be careful." It doesn't say, "don't get loot," it says, "don't get caught."
Updated 00:28am (Mla time) Nov 01, 2004
By Conrado de Quiros
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the November 1, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
WHAT is Angelo Reyes doing telling the congressmen to leave his mother alone? Who dragged his mother into the picture in the first place? Didn't he tell the Inquirer his sudden increase in bank deposits over the last couple of years owed to his converting his mother's assets into a joint account? He should thank the Inquirer it did not interview his mother who might have asked who gave him permission for it.
But the people in this government aren't just jacking up the ante on corruption, they're jacking up the ante on bad manners and wrong conduct. Even brothers and mothers are now fair game.
Comes now Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, the Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, telling the world also to leave the AFP well enough alone. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's expose on the Mafia-like "Gang of 12" that's ripping off P2 billion a year from his favorite institution, Adan says, is hurting the institution itself, quite apart from the generals' wives whom Santiago has implicated in the scam. The accusation, he says, "only strengthens the enemies of the state and poisons the minds of the soldiers. It's as if the sacrifices they made for 30 years or so in the service went for naught. For a soldier, that hurts."
Not at all. It's not the minds of the soldiers Adan should worry about, it's their feet. It's their feet that are being poisoned-from wearing worn-out boots. That's what the Oakwood mutineers at least were saying, which was why they mutinied in the first place: the corruption on top was hurting the foot soldier where it hurt most-his feet. The Oakwood mutiny itself or its aftermath must suggest that Adan's worries come too little too late. The soldiers' minds have long been poisoned. The young officers may now only dream of becoming old officers and turn from mutinous to rich. The rank and file may now only burn with envy.
As to the institution being damaged beyond repair, that is not the fault of Santiago, or those who exposed Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, it is the fault of Garcia and ilk. The messenger is not to blame for the bad news, the makers of the bad news are to blame for the bad news. In fact, the expose of shenanigans in the AFP shouldn't strengthen its enemies, it should strengthen the AFP, by ridding it of scoundrels. It's a fallacy to imagine an institution is saved by covering up its stench, as Emile Zola showed with dazzling clarity in the case of the French military, which sought to preserve its honor by condemning one of its officers, Alfred Dreyfus, to rot in jail rather than admit it wrongly accused him of treason. Of course, GMA likes to do it too-she tried to jail Acsa Ramirez instead of admitting she made a mistake-and gets away with it.
What hurts the soldier is not having his superiors exposed for corruption, it is having his feet exposed to sharp stones. What hurts the solider is that after 30 years in the service, all he has to show are blisters on his heels.
But while at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't turn the tables on their civilian tormentors. And for the same reason: to strengthen government by ridding it of its dregs. Whatever happened to its intelligence funds? The generals ripped them off too to a point the AFP has no intelligence left?
Santiago herself has a husband and brother who are not beyond suspicion. And she presents a spectacle not unlike that of Iggy Arroyo when she thunders forth against corruption. Wasn't she the same person who most ardently defended Erap from charges of it, despite a pile of evidence that would drown the tallest basketball player in the country? She even ordered three spectators in the gallery out for distracting her from that folly. I know the pot is right to call the kettle black-the kettle is black-but surely there is such a thing as looking at a mirror?
While at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't turn the tables on the very people prosecuting them, who are the congressmen. It's almost incredible how this country's spin doctors are able to spin the public's head around in less time than it takes to say Jose Pidal. It wasn't too long ago when the country's attention was riveted to the congressmen's pork, as a result of warnings about an impending collapse of the economy. The beleaguered congressmen then were crying, "Why only us, why not look at GMA's pork, too?" And they didn't mean her husband. How could we have allowed them to slip away in the night?
Still while at this, I don't know why the AFP doesn't train its guns, figuratively speaking, of course, on GMA herself. Quite incidentally, the reason I'm not so sure the leak on Garcia was made by the CIA is that if the Bush government was pissed off at GMA, why did it rake muck on the AFP? It diverts attention from GMA, who has yet to answer for the queen's ransom she spent to get reelected-the generals should know something about that-which makes the "Gang of 12" look like a ragtag gang of hoodlums compared to the real Mafia. How many times will she get away with murder, figuratively speaking, too?
None of this, to repeat a point I've made before, means Garcia and ilk should not be put behind bars. It means all the other guilty parties should too, in proportion to their crimes. Justice is universal or not at all. That doesn't mean turning all the guilty free, that means turning all the guilty in.
The spectacle of Erap only languishing under house arrest for thievery has already become a travesty. It is no longer inspiring, it is depressing. It doesn't say, "be honest," it says, "be careful." It doesn't say, "don't get loot," it says, "don't get caught."
posted by Dante at 9:50 PM
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