Indecent Political Affair and Injustices to Remember

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By Toto Onato advertisement

“To implement the law without fear or favor … and do justice to every man” is an inspiring articulation of purpose that formed part of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s pledge before the Filipino people on two occasions when she had assumed office as President of the Republic of the Philippines. Very unfortunately, however, not only had she failed twice, but worse, her nine (9)-year old governance, with its inherent infirmities had ravaged the nation’s political, social and economic lifeline.

Forced upon the Filipino people in 2001 “power grab” by society’s elite, vested interest groups and military clique, the Arroyo regime became a willing hostage of patronage politics in its ugliest mutation. It kept wallowing in the mud hole of indecent political collaboration with its ill motivated and self-centered cohorts and patrons for mutual gain. Such a hideous situation turned out to be the foundation of a detestable kind of political impropriety and devious machinations in the furtherance of its continued political existence and in so doing, prostituted our cherished democratic processes.

In a very shameless fashion, the Arroyo administration was into creative, systematic and well organized methods of graft & corruption in trying to satisfy its insatiable economic and political greed. Consequently, many high profile corruption cases (Fertilizer Fund Scam, ZTE-NBN botched deal, North Rail Project, NAIA Terminal 3 Project and many others) involving top officials were unearthed. In all those cases however, the primary suspects (FG, Jocjoc Bolante, Romulo Neri and many others) are coddled and secured. On the other hand, witnesses and whistle blowers (like Jun Lozada, Gen. Gudani, Ador Maoanay, and others) were silenced by way of bribery, threats and some other possible means. These were then common knowledge known to Filipino people who were responsible for giving GMA a shameful negative fifty four per cent (- 54%) satisfaction rating, the lowest in the history of Philippine presidency.

Foremost among Arroyo’s political investors was the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) of the Manalo family who supported her during the 2004 election for the presidency. The event marked the beginning of the Arroyo’s political indebtedness to Manalo family notwithstanding her “winning” the presidency, not through the votes of INC but by way of her strategy known as “Hello Garci”.

Thereafter, the political clout that this administration had bestowed upon the INC together with other similarly situated coteries (as gesture of political payback) was cleverly capitalized in the furtherance of devious motives. The political whims and caprices of INC and other political investors were usually accommodated. Consequently, the grave abuse in the exercise of shared political power had contributed immensely to the propagation of selective administrations of justice, socio-religious discriminations, extra-judicial killings and forced disappearances.