07/22/2011
“First they ignore it, then they laugh at it, then they say they knew it all along.” — Alexander Humbold
Such
was what the Edsa III masa and their populist supporters witnessed when
they said that cheating in the 2004 elections was massive and
incontrovertible. They were ignored. They were taunted. Rival candidate
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in trying to paint FPJ and his supporters as
sour-grapes, even said, “Those who can’t protect their votes don’t have
the right to run,” while others such as Akbayan’s Etta Rosales stood
idly by to acclaim Gloria Arroyo’s stealth congressional proclamation in
the dark, wee hours before dawn of June 23, 2004, as the nation
slumbered.
FPJ supporters rallied and demonstrated. A memorable
one was at the Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City, where we were dispersed
after being cornered at the nearby McDonald’s outlet. A long chase
ensued through the evening, ending up at Sto. Domingo Church, without
any of us having an inkling that the next time we would converge there
was to attend FPJ’s wake and kick-off the longest funeral queue in
Philippine history.
Where are the notorious names we exposed in
2004? Where are Generals Esperon, Kyamko, Quevedo, Tolentino,
Villanueva, Allaga, Pajarito, Habacon, Garcia; Rear Admiral De Leon;
Colonels Ortiz, Baclayon, Gapay, Ardo, Lucero, Lactao, Pangilinan,
Segovia, Gupana, Sumaylo, Capuyan; Majors Musngi, Masa, Nicolas, Sison;
Garci wiretappers Col. Sumalo and Capuyan; Maj. Teofilo; SG Sage; and,
of course, former Defense Secretaries (and retired generals) Hermogenes
Ebdane and Eduardo Ermita, who went around military camps while using
the military’s resources in campaigning against FPJ, telling soldiers,
“Of course you will not vote for an actor… we should vote for the
candidate who has the experience, appropriate academic background… etc.”
in support of their patron Gloria?
At the same time, we also
remember those servicemen with conscience who kept their integrity
whole, such as Gen. Frank Gudani who faced court martial for being a
so-called “erring personnel” as well as Col. Alex Balutan.
We also
remember with disdain those civilians and politicians who were involved
directly or indirectly, overtly or tacitly, in that dark episode by
their silence. People should be reminded of the complicity of both the
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and National
Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), which didn’t do anything but
cover-up for the massive electoral fraud. Same goes for others such as
“Mr. Noted” Kiko Pangilinan, Cory Aquino, Frank Drilon, “Hyatt 10,” and
other participants.
The cheating in 2004 didn’t just include the
so-called “Arroyo Generals” but the whole system that was established in
Edsa II to ensure the continuity of what was started in 2001, which was
to keep President Estrada in continued detention while averting the
scuttling of a fast-tracked era of globalization, privatization and the
corporatization of the Philippines, as well as the consolidation of
Epira and the privatization of TransCo, etc., with an FPJ sitting in
Malacañang.
After all, they must have known that FPJ’s first act
in signaling his candidacy was to attend the anti-globalization
conference of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) in UP.
But
even as things didn’t go the nation’s way, FPJ supporters, including
the most prominent of them all, President Joseph Estrada, who was
working behind the scenes despite his incarceration at Tanay, still did
not rest in their campaign to expose the truth.
Then, “Hello Garci” emerged.
The
link to the sources back then was not yet timely to reveal, as security
implications outweighed other considerations; but Samuel Ong and Sgt.
Vidal Doble finally surfaced the tapes that provided incontrovertible
proof of Arroyo’s direct hand in cheating operations. Subsequently,
cellphone videos of some of the military’s cheating operations also
emerged.
Scrambling to control the damage, GMA spokesman Ignacio
Bunye obfuscated by producing a fake version of the tapes, before the
issue went to Congress where, most significantly, then Rep. Noynoy
Aquino voted not to play the real tapes.
The involvement of the
military led to the Mayuga Commission which, to this day, has not been
allowed to release its full report to the public (perhaps to allow
Garcillano a chance to still preempt the Mayuga report?).
The
Comelec at that time was perceive to be among the most guilty; and that
was the root of the megalomania of Ben Abalos who allegedly said to the
Chinese ZTE officials, “I am the most powerful man in the Philippines,”
knowing that he could expose everything Gloria anytime did if he didn’t
get his way.
How correct Greek dramatist Euripides was when he
said, “Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.” It was
a mad era. The post-2001 Edsa II power grab and the 2004 election
cheating age was one when those in power believed they could manipulate
everything and get away with it forever. It was a time when black became
white, good became bad, and the cheats ruled the law. But one-by-one,
the Mad Hatters fell… (who next after Angie Reyes?)
A history of
the Mad Era of the Arroyo government obviously can’t be chronicled here
in full. We don’t even have enough space for the complicity of
mainstream media, including the iconic columnists of some major
newspapers.
But as this is only a gist, we will cap it off by
acknowledging those who fought for FPJ’s vindication when certain
quarters ignored and taunted them: The FPJ movements that are too many
to mention; the FPJ voters; President Estrada; the Bagong Katipuneros
(Magdalos) and the Para sa Bayan military groups; as well as those who
still suffer injustice for standing up against Edsa II, such as lawyer
Alan Paguia, still suspended by the Supreme Court when all that he stood
up for are now being vindicated. While we are sad about FPJ’s daughter
who apparently loves those who tormented her father more than those who
supported him, we finally have to acknowledge the late FPJ’s courageous
wife, Susan Roces, for continuing this fight, too.
(Tune in to
Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m., and Sulo ng Pilipino,
Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 6 to 7 p.m. on 1098AM; Talk News TV with
HTL, Tuesday, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11 p.m., on GNN, Destiny Cable
Channel 8, on “DoST Expo 2011: Ignite the Mind”; visit
http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com and
http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio)
(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel)
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL:
http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110722com5.html
