The Corona Model for Matuwid na Daan

Kumander Dante “cried like a baby”. This was the revelation of Mario Miclat in his book entitled “The Secrets of the 18 Mansions”. Kumander Dante, Bernabe Buscayno in real life, was the erstwhile leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) before he was given amnesty by the Cory Aquino Administration sometime in 1986. This revolutionary peasant was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) together with author Miclat under the leadership of Jose Maria (Joma) Sison who now lives in the Netherlands.

This private experience of the author regarding Buscayno’s emotional episode showed the human weaknesses of people in the highest echelons of a well organized; strongly motivated; and highly dedicated, disciplined and idealistic group – the Communist Party of the Philippines. I am not however, just referring to Buscayno’s show of his emotions when he “cried like a baby” but more particularly to the circumstances surrounding the incident. Author Miclat narrates that the incident happened when he and Buscayno witnessed a quarrel between Joma Sison and his wife in a most unlikely situation and unexpected of the character of the very refined Mrs Sison. Accordingly, the trio (Buscayno, Sison and Miclat) had a meeting when Sison’s wife entered their meeting place and in a fit of anger pounded hard on the back of Sison. She allegedly learned that another woman just gave birth to a child by Sison. The author said that he had an inkling of Sison’s “indiscretion” having personally known Sison’s other woman and the latter’s husband (or partner), being both also members of the CPP. That recent incident only confirmed what he already knew of Sison all the while.

So why did Kumander Dante “cry like a baby”? Probably, he was stricken with great guilt and remorse for what he had done in the past. Probably it may also have been cry of resentment or a feeling of utter helplessness in the situation he was in. Realizing the fact of Sison’s grave violation of party policies, he cried and exclaimed, “… and to think that we have killed so many of our dedicated and good comrades in the past even for minor cases and sometimes unconfirmed acts of sexual opportunism!”

This glimpse of an inside story in the lives of “idealistic” people in the likes of Joma Sison brings to mind the political situation unfolding in our country today especially as an aftermath of the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona. We all know that this is part of the President’s program to run after grafters in government in his so called ”Matuwid na Daan” policy.

We cannot question the wisdom of the Senate Impeachment court for declaring the former Chief Justice as guilty. Nor could we also question the “other wisdom” of the dissenting opinions of Senators Merriam Defensor Santiago, Joker Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. They too had their brilliant justifications for declaring that former CJ Corona did not commit an impeachable offense. We can also commend the manner in which the proceedings were handled by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who had to tread a very fine line that spelled the difference between a political and a judicial exercise. Many would say that if the proceedings were treated as a purely judicial exercise former CJ Corona would have been exonerated. However, as history would have it, it was treated as a political forum where the impeachment court was not bound to follow purely judicial guidelines in their proceedings and subsequent judgment.

The impeachment of former CJ Corona is bound to set very dangerous precedents which may make or unmake our honest president. We have seen that there was nothing in that exercise that has proven that former CJ Corona was guilty of graft and that he stole from government or from other people; or that he indulged in anomalous or illegal personal or business transactions. All that the prosecution has proven was that, he has not declared his real assets, liabilities and net worth and as such he has betrayed public trust. For some members of the prosecution panel and sadly, for some Senator-Lawyers (one of whom was a former Secretary of Justice) to insist that Corona was corrupt was “unlawyerly” looking at it from a point of view of a non-lawyer like me.

If Corona betrayed public trust simply because he did not correctly declare his true SAL-N, would that policy or standard or general frame of mind also apply to the President, Vice President, the Senate President or the Speaker of the House? Would it also apply to Corona’s successor as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who would obviously be P Noy’s “man”? Would the latter undergo the same close scrutiny as was done on Corona? Would it also apply to all other top government officials who by virtue of their positions and responsibilities also require public trust? Let us hope that it would. Surely, it would ensure the realization of the “Matuwid na Daan”, a direction which many say is simply just wishful thinking of our honest president.

Corona’s challenge for high government officials to make transparent their assets and liabilities and to open for scrutiny all their peso and foreign currency bank accounts should not be taken lightly if our honest president is indeed honest in his words and deeds. Let it not be said that we have two sets of laws – one for “my” people and one for those that are not “mine”. There is a general belief amongst the Filipino people that the scrutiny of Corona’s SAL-N was only a way of getting rid of him because of his perceived closeness with former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The SALN angle was an obvious fishing expedition as shown in the haste and manner in which the prosecution conducted their business.

I commend the few senators who had the humility and honesty to say sorry to the former Chief Justice for their guilty verdict on the latter. They knew Corona as a good man who led a modest and frugal life. However, he had to be judged based on the specific charge hurled against him, not on the basis of the reputation that he has built for himself in his many years of honest government service.

If we are to use the Corona case as a model for good governance in the future, we can be truly proud to say that we are now moving into the right direction of the “Matuwid na Daan” that we have been dreaming of. Otherwise, our honest president may simply “cry like a baby” as Kumander Dante did because he cannot apply the same brand of justice to his close friends and associates. Maybe he won’t even cry at all. He may just look the other way and even come to the immediate defense of his friends and associates as he had done many times in the past.

The North Star and the Matuwid na Daan

A retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, well known for his integrity and independence condemns the misuse of the pork barrel funds. Ex-Chief Justice Reynato Puno speaking on September 21, 2013 before a gathering of Methodist Churches at the Good Samaritan Church in Quezon City denounced the pork barrel as an evil that people should fight to abolish. He added that the “pork barrel scandal is all about abuse in the exercise of powers of government over the money of the people”.

In his speech, Puno used the “North Star” to illustrate the unchanging and unchangeable position in the abuse of governmental power. “Our North Star has always been and will always be the Word of God. We maintain that government derives its power from God; that it is the sovereignty of God that counts, it is the sovereignty of God that controls. It is the sovereignty of God that should dictate the direction of human destiny”, Puno emphasized.

Instead of using the President’s slogan of “Matuwid na Daan” (Straight Path), Puno used instead a different battle cry in urging the Filipino people towards moral regeneration. Why the North Star then? The North Star or Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor or the Little Bear. Since it steadily appears in the northern hemisphere, it is often used by navigators since ancient times in determining directions. One who follows directions based on the North Star never gets lost along the way. Many believe that the Divine Wisdom created the North Star as a never failing beacon that would guide all his creations in all generations towards the right path.

What about the “Matuwid na Daan”? Many would say that it is just like one of the many empty political slogans of previous administrations such as the “New Era” (of peace and prosperity) of President Diosdado Macapagal; “Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa” of President Ferdinand Marcos; or the “Walang kamag-anak, Walang Kumpare” pronouncement of President Joseph Estrada in his inaugural speech.

There had been a lot of criticisms lately on the so called “Matuwid na Daan” because of its selective application. The President is observed to immediately condemn and will go out of his way to remove an official that he dislikes or those who were closely identified with his predecessor as in the case of former Chief Justice Renato Corona and former Ombudsman Merciditas Gutierrez. There were allegations that he released some PHP24 Billion to “bribe” congress to impeach Corona (and another PHP25 Billion for the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill).

Many people wonder why the congressmen came up with a verdict in the Corona impeachment proceedings so fast and within a record time that it would have been impossible for them to read the voluminous documents relative to the case. It did not also give them enough allowance to weigh out their decisions on such a very important matter that would destroy the career and life of a high government official.

The most damning of all these accusations/information was that of former Senator Kit Tatad, who is a journalist by profession. In his September 23, 2013 article with the Manila Standard Today, he claimed that the bribe money of PHP 24 Billion for the Corona Impeachment were coursed thru Janet Lim Napoles and were facilitated by House Majority Floor leader Nepthali Gonzales II for the Congressmen and by two Cabinet Secretaries close to Napoles for the Senators. This report was earlier bared by another columnist of the same paper although the amounts were not divulged.

Since the start of the pork barrel scandal, several groups advocating for change in our government have sprouted. The North Star was one. Another such group is the United Front for Good Governance (UFGG) which started as a discussion group but has transcended into a solid front with its first organizational meeting on September 21, 2013 in a restaurant in Malate. The group is a hodgepodge of former RAM members, Marcos Loyalists, coup plotters against the Arroyo administration, members of the academe, active and retired soldiers, the judiciary, student groups and the business and the religious sectors. The group advocates peaceful and non-violent ways of reforming our government but a lot of things can happen if these methods would not work as they appear at present.

A more radical group called the Reformist Officers Union (ROU) has replaced the Young Officers Union (YOU) of the 80’s fame which figured prominently in several bloody coup attempts against the Cory Aquino administration that almost toppled her government. This group of young officers are not happy with the manner in which the present President is running the affairs of the country especially in his obvious double standard application of his “Matuwid na Daan”, his penchant for fault finding amongst those identified with former President Arroyo and his mishandling of the peace efforts with various groups such as the MNLF. The ROU has gained momentum when senior non-commissioned officers of the AFP signed a manifesto supporting the objectives of the organization. From here, we do not know what would happen next. A few of its members are agitating the group by chiding them members of NATO (not referring to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of the same acronym) to mean “No Action, Talk Only.” As to the of actions they would undertake no one can say. The fact remains that the already passive members of the AFP are now again restless with the political situation in our country.

Other than the three groups mentioned are about 6 or more loosely organized ones, all advocating for reforms in government. These include the Filipinos against Corruption; Filipinos for Better Philippines; North Star Movement for the Youth; Ulat sa Bayan, Una sa Mamamayan; Defenders of Freedom and Democracy; the Philippine by Jury Trial Movement; and the Plunder Watch Group.

From this unfolding scenario, Juan dela Cruz would ask. “Where do we go from here?” Do we continue following the so called “Matuwid na Daan”, rough and rugged one beset with ruffians that would make travel uncertain and whose direction is unknown? Or should we follow the path that is illumined and guided by simple truth and morality devoid of all hypocrisy that appears to be the mode of the day? Should we be guided by the North Star as former Chief Justice Puno subscribes or should we just sit and watch our country going towards damnation?

Reminiscence of an Old Soldier

Student activism in the fiery brand of the 70’s was never heard of in our old high school when I was a student of the then Central Negros Institute (CNI). Being young, and therefore typically restless and adventurous, many of my peers and me were also activists in a way. We were activists yet in a different way as we were not inspired nor were we part of any of the many leftist student groups that were organized on a national scale at that time. We only wanted to find expression of our sometimes radical ideas, albeit simplistically, about local issues such as high tuition fees; unnecessary and expensive examination booklets; unqualified and inefficient teachers; and inadequate school facilities, among others. Bureaucrat capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and other “isms” that were shouted on the streets in the big cities were strange concepts that we hardly understand nor were we interested to know about either.
The most common expression of our objections to the ills of the school was to boycott our classes especially of those teachers who cannot or did not do justice to their jobs of “educating” the students. Each time this scenario happens, the school authorities would reluctantly meet us for a dialogue. The school director and the principal would then be placed on the “hot seat” and forced to listen and respond to the students’ issues. The boycott would eventually fizzle out when the school administration gives assurances of preferential action on our concerns. Most often, those promises were repeatedly forgotten and remain without any action. Thus, we also resume our mass actions especially during their periodic collection of fees that were conveniently camouflaged as the school periodical examinations.
On many occasions, my father, who was a part time teacher in the school’s night high school department, was advised of my “misbehavior” and role as the leader of the many class boycotts. In return, he would caution me about my actions but always without success. Hence, he threatened that he would not send me to college if I continue with what I was doing. He told me that he was not willing to invest his hard earnings on a rebel of a son whom by all indications would do nothing in college except joining mass actions and demonstrations instead of preparing himself to become a teacher, an engineer or even a lawyer. Moreover, sending two children (my elder sister was already in Silliman University then) to college at the same time was a gargantuan task.

To end my story short, I ended up entering the Philippine Military Academy as a full government scholar. I also learned that I could have the chance to earn a baccalaureate degree for free as long as I pass the competitive entrance examination. While studying, I would also receive a stipend amounting roughly between the pay of a master sergeant (the highest ranking non-commissioned officer) and that of a 2^nd Lieutenant (the lowest ranking officer) and other allowances for my meals and my military uniforms, among others. The best part of it was that I was assured of a well paying decent job right after graduation with great chances of promotions over other military officers who did not go through this military institution.

As a young teenager of 18 summers at that time, becoming a soldier was farthest from my mind. I wanted to become a lawyer but I was forced to embrace the profession of arms due to economic considerations. Moreover, it not only saved my father from the parental obligation of giving his prodigal son a good education but also solved the problem of swaying him away from becoming a full pledged rebel later on.
Many summers have passed since I first stepped into the hallowed grounds of the so called premier military institution of the Philippines. Yet, I didn’t take even a little time for reflection as to how I did as a cadet and later on as an officer rising through the hierarchical ladder until I retired. I believe that I have not done anything extra ordinary that is worth crowing about. I simply played a role that fate has assigned to me ever remembering that each one of us has a specific but equally important role to play in life which is incomparable with that of others.
As a young boy, I also role play-acted as a soldier as many young kids do. I was also fascinated with guns and smart men in uniforms. I loved to watch war movies, too. In reality though, I did not want to be a soldier when I grow up. I did not like to die like a hog and sometimes buried in unmarked graves, the way it happens in the many war movies that I watched. Yet, fate had its way. One day, I woke up and found myself as a soldier.
They say that the life of a soldier is not an easy one. It is true. The life of a soldier is not difficult, too because it is VERY DIFFICULT! It is the difficulty that one encounters during entry and training to become one and later on in coping with the day to day rigors as a regular soldier. However, it is also the difficulty that one experiences that makes it rewarding after hurdling the challenges at the end of each day. I can not nor will not claim to be more nationalistic than others because I was a soldier. I would rather say that I am proud to have been a soldier who was given the rare opportunity to serve our country in a difficult and challenging way!