The need for the UN to overhaul itself

By now, the whole nation already knows that the Fall of Baghdad coincides with the Fall of Bataan or our Araw ng Kagitingan. Yes it took only the American coalition forces 21 days to achieve their ultimate goal of what they dubbed as a "Regime Change" to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein and his murderous Baath Party and what do you know? Dictators all over the world seem to have one commonalty… their love for opulence (strangely Erap who is not a dictator shares this passion) such as luxurious palaces and ego boasting statues all of which fell down dramatically before the eyes of the free world.

As we all saw on satellite live television as US troops entered central Baghdad those jubilant Iraqis hammering the base of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Paradise Square thinking that they could topple it down with a sledge hammer. Realizing its futility, the Iraqis asked the American marines for help. That help came from a Marine M-88 Tank Recovery Vehicle, which the marines use to pull out bogged down or disabled M1-A1 Abrams main battle tanks. They tied the vehicle to Saddam’s bronze statue and toppled it down in a scene the world saw repeated so often when dictators fall.

Three weeks ago when this war started we asked a question in this corner whether the United Nations would survive this conflict. After all, America and Britain went on to war without the clearance of the UN Security Council. Well, I got this e-mail in response to that article from Chicago;

" .... a good article about the UN role. If the UN had only acted (still pending since 1960s) on RP’s claim on Sabah, Borneo there would be no problem in Mindanao now. And the NPA problem was created by the Brussels (UN sponsored) agreement. You are absolutely right to question whose running the UN. Their agenda in the guise of human rights... remember Libya is the head of the human rights group now. What a bunch huh? And our country is suckered into surrendering our sovereignty. More power to you." Fernando Yap - Chicago, Illinois

So what’s the role of the UN in a new Iraq? Right now, if you ask me, the UN has lost all its credibility for not being able to stop an unauthorized war by the US and its allies… the fact that the US and Britain are winning this war makes it even more embarrassing for the UN and those who refused to join the US like the French who now insist that they too should be allowed to partake in the rehabilitation of Iraq.

But rather than fall apart like what happened to the League of Nations after World War II, the UN will go about its usual role of concentrating on distributing humanitarian aid, spending billions of dollars for this activity when in fact, a new UN should emerge in this day and age whose role should be to prevent dictators from grabbing political power and making themselves extremely rich while the rest of the people live in abject poverty.

Now would be a great time for the UN to create what I would call the United Nations Election Commission (UNEC) which would have the authority to conduct elections anywhere in the world… so that countries like the Philippines whose finding difficulty in conducting a peaceful, orderly and most importantly, an honest elections wouldn’t any need for a homegrown COMELEC anymore. Just let the UNEC handle it! This way, it is the UN that certifies the elections of the country’s top leadership was peaceful and reflected the true will of the people. Incidentally, Saddam Hussein 99.96 of the votes in the last Iraqi elections, which obviously proves that the electoral process

Our final question is, what about the other dictators… is the US telling the world that Pax Americana means no more dictators would be allowed to stay in power on this planet? Well, not far from here is North Korea’s Kim Jong Il whose political power was transferred from his father Kim Il Sung to the son. North Korea has spent vast fortunes for military hardware, yet it could hardly feed its people.. Again, let me reiterate that the Korea Peninsula was divided into North and South because of the indecision by the UN. So what’s the next war game plan for the victorious Americans?

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Talking about elections, a year ago, barangay captains allied with defeated Cebu City Mayor Alvin Garcia called a Preparatory Recall Assembly (PRA) against then newly-elected Mayor Tomas Osmena… just days before the 2002 barangay elections. A few days later elections were held and the majority of those barangay captains seeking reelection lost in a very humiliating defeat. From then on, the PRA against Mayor Osmena was doomed. Actually, the loss of the majority of the barangay captains allied to former Mayor Garcia also meant another stunning defeat for his political group.

We’ve said before that the PRA was nothing but another venue designed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for sore losers like former Mayor Alvin Garcia to get back at Mayor Osmena for defeating him in the last mayoralty elections. So he made sure that the COMELEC would settle this issue once and for all.

Meanwhile, the Senate moved to have the PRA scrapped and too many people just don’t believe that we should have recall elections in-between general elections… after all, we’re not a rich country and elections means… public money would have to be spent for recall elections… just to shore up the bruised egos of politicos like Garcia who just can’t accept that the Cebuanos weren’t amused by his running Cebu City plunging it from its prestigious spot as the 8th Best Place to live in Asia, down to the 14th a year later and 20th the following year behind Davao City.

So for those who are wondering whatever happened to that recall move against Cebu City Mayor Osmena… we just learned from COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos who revealed that even if the COMELEC en banc grants the recall petition against Mayor Osmena, they cannot schedule a special elections in Cebu City because there’s simply no funds for it! Abalos said, "I don’t think Mayor Osmena would provide the funds to recall himself!" How true… but this got me into thinking… what if the COMELEC ask this request from former Mayor Garcia himself… would he oblige? I think he would… for sure, he has the money to throw away… just don’t ask me where he got it!

With that piece of news, you can expect a return engagement for the mayoralty seat of Cebu City with incumbent Mayor Tomas Osmena and Alvin Garcia. Remember, the 2004 elections is a Presidential elections and a lot of politicos who lost in the last polls are certainly running for their prized positions even if for the "funds" of it!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, "Straight from the Sky" shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8 p.m.