Too much ado about

There's been so much yakyak over the sarcastic May 29 TIME magazine article that people forget that almost everything which appeared in that piece, including most of the photos, already appeared long ago in the Philippine press. What annoys the President and his henchmen, obviously, is that "foreigners" are now reading about his shortcomings and the mishaps and misdealings in the government.

But they've already been hearing about those things since the beginning. So, what's new? TIME magazine's Terry McCarthy didn't even have to do any major research. All he had to do was consult an album of newspaper "cuttings" from local newspapers and magazines, including The STAR, and taaarang! he had lots to say. "Rebels, cronies, kidnappings -- What's a President to do?' That was the front cover subhead. Haven't those things been retailed in our media a thousand times before?

As for the magazine's cover blurb: "IN OVER HIS HEAD", gee whiz. Perhaps, in moments of private candor, Erap wonders whether this is true -- himself. So let's cut the ululating, the bitter threats of "boycott" (whatta laugh), the banging of our own noggins against the wall because that big bad TIME did an alleged hatchet job on President Erap. Why, Erap na naghihirap may even have provided the hatchet. So, cool lang. Don't refute TIME or the critical Filipino media by bombast, denials or bluster. The best refutation is successful action, reform (but first you've got to admit, even if only in pectore, that you need reform), determination and hard work.

Why, for instance, did Erap even have to speak out to "dismiss" rumors that ex-President Fidel V. Ramos had a hand in urging TIME to bash him and his regime? FVR didn't need to provoke McCarthy or his editors in New York; everybody in town has been saying what TIME magazine merely echoed.

In case the flatterers and sycophants told the President different, I'll have to state that most people "outside" the charmed Palace circle have been grumbling about his children, some of his "wives," his family members, the lavish mansions and gala parties, his Chinese cronies, his bibulous pals, while the torrid love scenes (plus his "MAD comics-type" Forrest-Gump-look cover photo in which he's made to appear like the Village Idiot), alas, were clipped from his own movies.

When you play Asiong Salonga, then you're bound to have Asiong Salonga-villainous-style photographs floating around in movietown vaults and newspaper "morgues."

As for his extra-marital affairs, didn't Erap's propagandists freely point out during his campaign that their hero was the last of the red-hot lovers? How can a campaign propaganda "asset" now become an embarrassing liability?

If the Estrada administration had delivered good government, and his kids and family members had kept their heads down and behaved humbly and decorously, nobody would have complained (except the pious, the religious, and the bishops who detested him anyway from the word "go").

Look at America's Bill Clinton. He lied, he engaged in steamy sex with a White House interpreter, left a trail of panting females and outraged femmes as well crying out "sexual harassment," put his Filipino cigar in the wrong place, confessed finally to his Monica indiscretion, and was humiliated on worldwide television -- but even a Republican-dominated Congress failed to oust him by "impeachment", and the American public forgave him obviously because the United States was enjoying prosperity and a balanced budget. Sure enough, an Arkansas court is moving to "disbar" from the practice of law, for having lied under oath and perjured himself -- but guilty or not, what the heck. Clinton has already been scarred, anyway, and -- as the return of the Marcoses and the rousing welcome given to the People's Republic of China by US Congress and the European Union despite the fading memory of the Tienanmen Massacre and the persecution of the Falung Gong dramatically illustrate -- history will probably be much kinder to Slick Willie Clinton than the present press. He might even -- who knows? -- get his playboy face sculpted in granite on Mount Rushmore in Dakota, alongside Abe, George, etc.

Instead of resenting and denouncing TIME, Newsweek, the Far Eastern Economic Review, and all those derogatory rags, it would be well for the President to meditate on what criticisms might be true in those controversial passages.

He can't perpetually be in the state of "denial," as when he fumes that nobody in his family is a thief (even in Jesus Christ's exalted, handpicked elite of 12 Apostles, there was a traitor named Judas, and the rest of his saintly crew proved to be cowards who ran away when He got arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane). As for bad "internationally-published" stories scaring away investment because, as the Malacañang cheerleading battalion mourns, the President is being made to appear like a buffoon and a Godfather who coddles and over-rewards his cronies and campaign contributors, it's too late to worry. Foreign investors have already -- long before TIME -- come to the conclusion that there's no level playing field.

Even without the "war" in Mindanao or the "bombings" in Metro Manila, the peso would have been under assault, investment would be down, the stock market kaput, and overseas "confidence" at a distressing low. But the Filipinos will survive. We always have, even under despotism and state terrorism, and we always will.

As for Erap, he must stop deluding himself that as long as the masa adores him, he'll be okay -- as in the 1971 movie, Okey Ka, Erap. In hard times, the masa who have no savings, are unemployed and underemployed, are harassed by robbers, rapists, and murderers, are the first to lose faith. Sure, Erap can say that the middle class, the upper class and the bishops never loved him. But that's what he should have set out to do from the first day of his Presidency: Earn their love, but even more essentially -- their respect. After all, love sometimes dies, but respect outlives love. Strange as it may seem, people can even learn to respect those they don't like.

Finally, Press Secretary Dong Puno had better not repeat the complaint that TIME reporter McCarthy was an ingrate, having cadged rides on government helicopters, and having had the "welcome" mat spread out for him by Malacañang and so forth. Ingratitude is a journalist's most important virtue, oftentimes his only virtue. Again and again, officials and bureaucrats think that by giving newsmen or media persons a "free meal" they deserve favorable media coverage, or can buy every journalist (as some brag), and sneer at everyone as a kumaintator. If they think so, they're riding for a fall.

A self-respecting, honest journalist can't afford cronies, much less can Presidents. As we've said frequently enough: Cronyism is the end of journalism.

Does this mean that journalism must be "adversarial"? On the contrary, it must be fair and even-handed -- rendering praise where it is due, but when the facts dictate, letting the chips fall where they may.

The clumsy, almost slapstick manner -- in which the Philippine Airlines high-jacking was conducted, and the ridiculous end of the caper with the culprit's makeshift "parachute" failing him and his plummet to a crushing and muddy death on a isolated upland patch of woods -- doesn't exonerate us from embarrassment. It even reinforces the widespread idea that we are knuckleheads and blunderers.

The high-jacker's mother has identified him as Reginald Chua, despite his various aliases, but that's not the point. The "suspect" Chua may have bungled his robbery-misadventure, but the fact remains that he managed to get aboard a commercial flight from Davao airport, which was supposed to be in a state of "red alert", bringing with him a gun, a grenade, and a parachute.

The heads of the Davao aviation security command and police security have been relieved, and a lot of people will be spanked -- but, I'm sad to have to say, NOBODY will really get punished in the end. That's our track record. Every dope, stupid non-performing ass, even felon, gets away in our "No Punishment" society. Even the naughty fellows who unleashed an "ILOVEYOU" virus on the world, causing $10 billion or even $15 billion worth of damage worldwide, can't be charged because, first, there's no law governing cyber-crime, and, second, they've trotted out the all-purpose Pinoy explanation: "I didn't intend to do harm" or hindi ko sinasadya, or whatever. The suspects didn't even feel that there was anything morally wrong with what was a fantastic example of hacker-buccaneering.

As for the fact that the X-ray machine at the Davao airport wasn't working and out-of-order, this should be racked up as another reason why we'll have to find ways and means of abolishing the Commission on Audit (COA). In our constitutional set-up, sad to say, you can't get a screw replaced or a toilet fixed, without the bureaucratic agony of getting every tiny item reviewed, inspected and approved by the government auditors -- otherwise, the official who goes ahead with the procurement and pays for the repair can get charged with "technical malversation."

Thus, our troops in the field fighting the New People's Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Abu Sayyaf, and any other rebel groups can't get their armored personnel carriers, their armored fighting vehicles (like the Simba), and other equipment in working order -- because, as the old nursery story went, "for want of a nail the battle was lost."

No security, no X-ray machines, and no dedication to duty? Then who'll dare use any of our airports? Let's forget about foreign tourists -- Filipino travellers are scared. As for that poor sod, Chua or "Augusto Lakandula," he was a loser indeed. Even if he had been able to successfully pull off his caper, the money collected on board the PAL plane from fearful passengers and crew, would barely have covered his expenses. Did he collect P10,000 or P100,000? We'll never know. When his corpse was found, eyes popped and mangled, of course the "loot" was gone. Passersby or nearby residents obviously got to the dead high-jacker first and stole the money.

As for the PAL steward who earlier boasted that he "pushed" him, he's slightly altered his story -- because this is an archipelago infested with heat-seeking lawyers. We've got terrorists, people say, worse than the Abu Sayyaf, and they're called Abu-Gado. (What about those other Abu's, like Aburrido, Abu Sado, Abu Nado, and so on? One thing is both alleviating and deplorable -- the Filipino laughs at everything and at himself.)

I went to the Megamall yesterday and found it full of people -- although fewer, by a bit, than the usual horde of gawkers and shoppers. Filipinos are fatalistic, and their bahala na attitude is bringing back business to the earlier deserted malls and the Glorietta.

As for the instigators of the bombings, military intelligence directly contradicts the earlier wild speculation of Philippine National Police Chief Panfilo "Ping" Lacson that rightists kuno had planted the Megamall "bomb" in the ladies' room of Cinema 6. (Did they want to disconcert Joe Almonte?) The cell of Muslim "rebel" bombers has been pinpointed and quiet arrests are being made. (Don't expect those cases to be brought to trial -- at least not yet).

The negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf regarding the 21 foreign hostages have been "postponed," the reports say. Those negotiations and their preliminaries have gone on for too long. It's the politicians who have held everything back, including our Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo "Jun" Siazon who doesn't want to displease any foreign government (apparently, he's obsessed with running for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations, an organization famous only for having its own UN "peacekeepers" captured and taken hostage, as in Sierra Leone or, in the past, the Balkans).

I don't want to sound like an armchair general, who pontificates from the safety of hundreds of kilometers from the war front, but a "quick-in/quick out" commando operation could have smashed the Abu Sayyaf and rescued some, if not all, of the hostages.

After so much hesitation, delay, and to-ing and fro-ing, and the mucking about of foreign emissaries and media, everything is not a mess in Patikul and the surrounding Sulu countryside. The President may have had his own reasons for not ordering a "strike" from the first week of the month-long hostage moro-moro (as we used to call our old comedia), but letting matters drag on and on -- with every cameraman and gung ho foreign correspondent mixing in, and the local governor and local politicians, who have their own priorities and warlord armies, contributing to the confusion, as well as loudmouthed Cabinet members who've been grabbing for their share of the limelight -- has brought up the plaintive question: Who's in charge here?

The Chief Executive is the worst served of all. It has been made to appear that he's lost control of the situation. And where, oh where is Defense Secretary Orly Mercado? Modulating his voice to sound basso and profundo?

Strangely enough (despite the rumors, being spread by those wannabes who are praying for a "coup"), armed forces morale is high.

The Army and Marines have sustained losses in fighting, for example in the battle to drive the MILF away from the Narciso Ramos highway -- there are 101 known dead, and a dozen or more "missing", almost presumed dead. But the military know they can move in and crush both the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF, if given the command to attack. Don't believe the doomsayers: Our armed forces and PNP can do it.

In Sulu, special forces and SWAT teams, and intelligence teams have been in place for weeks. They await a "GO" signal. Will they get it? That remains IFFY.

As for the MILF, whatever you may hear, their morale is at an all-time low. They know they're in the bull's-eye. Of their 15,000 cadres, the bulk have been withdrawing to their main redoubt, Camp Abubakar, and to the supporting camp, Camp Busra, both in Maguindanao.

They smell a coming general offensive in the air. (After May 30, the deadline -- or before?). There's already grumbling in their ranks, as, for instance, why the Maranaws are always kept in the front, while the Taosugs, the privileged elite, are kept in the rear.

The Imams and Mullahs, the prayer leaders and preachers -- who are the most fundamentalist and fanatic of all (fed with the pap of pan-Islamism by their mentors in Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan) -- are themselves beginning to lose confidence. This doesn't mean that the MILF won't put up a stiff fight, but the two camps can be overrun, particularly when our remaining F-5 jets in Mactan start their bombing runs.

In the meantime, everything is held back. Only God or Allah (they're the same) knows the date of the day of reckoning.

In ancient times, the Arabs composed a Victory Sura reiterating Muhammad as "the messenger of God." It contained the words: "God has promised those of them who believe and do deeds of righteousness, forgiveness and a mighty wage."

The jihad conducted by the MILF has brought only misery and death, not the mighty wage their preachers hymned. It's time to move to the final act of what the Hydaybiyah really envisioned.