Thursday, December 31, 2009

Rage against the dying light - 12/11/09

First, there was the Maguindanao massacre that hogged the headlines before it escalated into a martial law declaration. Now comes the unseating by the Comelec of Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, a known crusader for good government who was a Ramon Magsaysay laureate in 2008. Already, militant groups are warning that martial law in Maguindanao may just be a prelude to a nationwide declaration that can impair the holding of free elections in 2010.

The roots of decay may be founded in the weakness of our institutions. Recall the celebrated ‘Hello Garci’ scandal that exposed the possibility that, indeed, his main adversary may have cheated Fernando Poe, Jr. out of the presidency because of the flagrant abuse of authority. Even after President Arroyo said “I am sorry” in an apparent admission that she had, indeed, instructed a Comelec commissioner to “enhance” her vote count and advantage, many citizens simply shrugged their shoulders and sneered at her detractors: ‘Sino ba ang ipapalit ninyo?’ (Whom do you wish to replace her with?)

It was a weak Comelec that meekly bowed to presidential pressure in 2004. Again in 2007, this same institution looked the other way when the ruling warlords in Maguindanao boldly produced a 12-0 result in favor of the administration’s senatorial slate that lost badly in the nationwide count. Recall that provincial Comelec supervisor Lintang Bedol went missing and could not produce the certificate of canvas for the province.

This confirmed earlier findings of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) that there was a failure of elections in Maguindanao. Recall news accounts of school children being asked to fill out ballots days before the elections took place.

Was the Comelec ever held accountable? When Mr. Bedol went missing, then Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos himself went to Maguindanao and came back to Manila with a certificate of canvas that eventually resulted in administration candidate Juan Miguel Zubiri edging out Aquilino (Koko) Pimentel III being eased out of the winning column.

Just over a year later, this controversial Comelec Chairman was at the center of another controversy that was totally unrelated to his duties as a head of a constitutional body. He was tagged by another presidential appointee (then CHED Chairman Romulo Neri) as being a broker for the ZTE-NBN deal. In the heat of the scandal, he was forced to resign.

The filing of a certificate of candidacy triggered the Maguindanao massacre. Was it because the ruling clan could not even tolerate the idea that the incumbent governor would have an opponent in the 2010 elections?

Incumbent Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, a retired Supreme Court justice, was appointed in place of Benjamin Abalos. He is, of course, responsible for seeing to it that the Comelec performs its constitutional duty without fear or favor.

When interviewed by ABS-CBN in the wake of the Comelec second division’s ruling against her, Governor Padaca intimated that her erstwhile lawyer (and now Commission on Human Rights Chair) Leila de Lima passed on to her a message purportedly coming from President Arroyo’s election lawyer, Atty. Romulo Macalintal. In the message, Atty. Macalintal is said to have expressed disappointment and concern that the integrity of the Melo Commission (in reference to the Comelec) may have been compromised.

If it is true that even the President’s lawyer is entertaining doubts about the integrity of the Comelec, then, perhaps the citizenry will really have to brace for the worst in the coming 2010 elections.

Let it not be lost on anyone that the Edsa Uno People Power Revolution was triggered by massive electoral fraud perpetrated by the Marcos regime. Recall, too, that a week prior to the onset of Edsa Uno, former Antique Governor Evelio Javier was killed while protecting the ballot box.

A chronically weak institution like the appointment of upright men and women of integrity could only strengthen the Comelec, like former Chairpersons Ramon Felipe, Christian Monsod and Haydee Yorac. It was weakened further by this administration when it appointed people of lesser mettle to this lofty public office.

Electoral fraud in Maguindanao and other parts of the country that was not checked --- but, in fact, at least tacitly tolerated by a subservient Comelec --- has transmogrified into a massive national dysfunction.

We as a people did not allow Ferdinand Marcos to impose his will in February 1986. We rallied behind Cory Aquino’s clarion call from the snap election: Tama na, sobra na, palitan na! (We’ve had enough, let’s change this system!)

But it’s still six long months before the May 10, 2010 elections. What are we going to do while the dysfunctions of our weak institutions --- abetted by a corrupt and decadent regime --- continue to wreak havoc on the fragility of our weak state?

This should be a massive wake-up call to all Filipinos. Now is the time to stand up and be counted on the side of those who will rage against the dying of the proverbial light. Even if we want to be optimistic and say that the darkest night is just before dawn, we must vigilantly defend ourselves from the rapacity of our tormentors.