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POLITICAL WILL Casting
an image of a Magsaysay as a former Philippine congressman and later
Defense secretary will not cut it for Defense Secretary Gilbert
Teodoro, who associated himself with incumbent President Arroyo.
By
Joseph G. Lariosa
JGL Eye
September 18, 2009
Posted by CenPEG
 CHICAGO,
Illinois (JGLi) – The truism that politics makes strange bedfellows
has been turning to become a norm in Philippine politics, instead
of an exception.
In
the run-up of every election, spin meister of every presidential
candidate or presidentiable sometimes comes up with campaign strategies
that try to separate their client from the rest only to be adopted
by their rival presidentiable.
As
a result, actions of presidential candidates during the campaign
season give credence to the observation that different political
parties in the Philippines are not really driven by ideologies,
like the two-party system in the United States, but are defined
by personalities.
This
phenomenon makes it harder for the voters to choose the best-qualified
presidential candidate, who needs the support of his allies in his
party in promoting his objectives, to lead his country.
A
week before his anointment by the administration party of Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo”
C. Teodoro, Jr. was in Washington, D.C., where he let a cat out
of the bag that could be music to the ears of his upcoming rival,
President Joseph Estrada.
Gibo
was purportedly in D.C to seek the blessings of the CIA to pick
him as candidate for president in the Philippines. He has no idea
that the CIA, like the Chinese, supports every viable presidential
candidate, so anyone, who wins the election, is a CIA or a Chinese
lackey.
FIRST
AMONG EQUAL
Perhaps,
Mr. Teodoro wants to be the “first among equals” among
presidentiables.
Without
mentioning Mr. Estrada by name, Mr. Teodoro telegraphed his message
that in case Mr. Estrada or Sen. Panfilo Lacson are issued warrants
of arrest for the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby”
Dacer and Dacer’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito, the two powerful
Filipino figures may get a kid gloves treatment from the arresting
officers because one of them might become a presidential candidate.
His
reconciliatory statement endorses the fictional belief that campaign
season invests candidates with certain immunities not available
to an ordinary voter, who has no millions of pesos to run a campaign.
According
to Mr. Teodoro, if and when, a warrant ensues when probable cause
is established in the re-opened preliminary investigation of Dacer-Corbito
murders, the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may
run into “political difficulties” in effecting the arrest
if one of the suspects happened to be a presidential candidate in
the 2010 elections.
It
was obvious that Mr. Teodoro, who is doing a Ramon Magsaysay, was
sending a signal to Mr. Estrada that if Mr. Estrada supports Gibo’s
candidacy, Mr. Estrada is free to run a campaign even if a warrant
of arrest is hovering above Mr. Estrada’s head.
WISHY-WASHY
Of
course, Mr. Teodoro “wishy-washy” attitude will end
up hurting his campaign because the family of Dacer and Corbito
will certainly be going to court to compel the government to exercise
its “political will” by implementing the warrant of
arrest for Mr. Estrada. If this happens a big chunk of voters, who
adhere to the rule of law, will be deserting the Teodoro camp.
It
all started when Mr. Teodoro was sought for his opinion by Arnedo
S. Valera, the United States-based lead counsel of Cezar O. Mancao
II, if the Philippine government has a “political will”
to “arrest Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former President Estrada”
if warrants of arrest are issued based on “probable cause”
on the double murder.
Mr.
Teodoro answered that “should warrants of arrest are issued,
there will be an arrest. Although election season is coming, if
one of the potential suspects is running for president, (serving
the warrant) will face political difficulties.”
Teodoro’s
answer must have left a sour taste in the mouth of Mr. Valera, who
did not get a satisfactory explanation behind the “political
difficulties” statement last Sept. 10 at the Allison Auditorium
of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Mr.
Valera even put Mr. Teodoro more to task when he (Teodoro) refused
to investigate the “7th Infantry in Nueva Ecjia,” which
is believed to be the site where his client, Filipino American Melissa
Roxas was tortured after being abducted early this year.
The
evasive messages sent by Mr. Teodoro on his answers during the open
forum must be very hard for him to swallow given that he was attempting
to wrap himself up in the American flag by supporting the controversial
Visiting Forces Agreement.
WORDS
ARE NOT ENOUGH
Citing
the “Balikatan exercises” as “an essential joint
operation of all security operations in the Philippines for counter-terrorism,”
Mr. Teodoro never recognizes the fact that the VFA is an agreement
that tramples on the sovereign right of the Philippine government,
which could not even put in its own Philippine jail an American
soldier charged with and convicted of raping a Filipina.
I
am sure any Philippine presidentiable, who can assure the Filipino
voters that if elected, he will not hesitate to issue an arrest
warrant to anybody, even those running for public office, and would
review, if not abrogate the VFA, would have an edge over other candidates,
who could only promise to alleviate the economic plight of the people,
without unveiling any specific and workable plans.
Casting
an image of a Magsaysay as a former Philippine congressman and later
Defense secretary will not cut it for Mr. Teodoro, who associated
himself with incumbent President Arroyo, who could not account for
the arrest of the suspects behind the disappearance and killings
of hundreds of journalists, civil rights advocates, lawyers, priests,
etc. during her watch while dodging numerous charges of high-level
graft and corruption.
If
Mr. Teodoro wants to improve on his rating, he can start with a
vow to arrest anybody, including such big fishes as Lacson, Estrada,
Arroyo, etc., if warrants ensue. No, if’s and but’s.
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