Symbols of democracy - JAYWALKER by Art A. Borjal

Senate President Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. has issued what many claim as a strange call for an end to street rallies and protest actions, while the Impeachment Trial is going on. Nene’s call has stirred up a deafening outcry from various sectors that are determined to pursue their mass actions. "Pimentel’s call is virtually a violation of the people’s right of free speech and assembly," the critics have shouted out.

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It is not hard to decipher why civil society wants to go on with their street marches and rallies. Trust is behind the outcry against Pimentel’s appeal. Many do not trust a good number of the senators-judges. Which is why they want to keep up the pressure to virtually force the senators-jurors to use their conscience. "If we and the general public remain silent, some monkey business will happen," the defiant protesters said. In other words, the mass actions are designed to be some sort of insurance that no monkey business is going to happen.

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If you kept a close watch of the presidential election contest in the United States, through CNN, you must have noticed the street demonstrations that raged in Florida, Washington D.C., and even in front of the US Supreme Court, when the celebrated hearing was conducted by America’s highest court. No leader in the US asked the street protesters, either for Al Gore or George Bush, to go home, and wait merely for the court contests or vote recounts to be concluded. Street protests and carrying of placards are part and parcel of democracy. Yes, that is what democracy is all about.

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What Nene Pimentel is asking – that mass actions be suspended in the meantime, while the Impeachment Trial goes on – is so vastly different from what is happening in the US. There, America’s political leaders see in the street rallies the face of real democracy. Probably, it would be best for Nene Pimentel to view the protest actions raging in our own streets in the same way.

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Dr. Felipe Miranda, head of Pulse Asia, has very good credentials in the poll surveys business. There is, therefore, very little reason to doubt the veracity of his public opinion findings, particularly his firm’s latest survey report dealing with the popularity ratings of President Estrada and other personages involved in the Impeachment Trial and the "Erap Resign" movement.

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But then, what left a sour note and seared a bit the reputation of Dr. Miranda was the well-orchestrated, well-publicized "survey presentation" at Malacañang, with President Estrada and almost all of the President’s men in attendance. This presentation, given much media hype, naturally created the impression that Pulse Asia is part of a psywar ploy aimed at brainwashing the general public.

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Note, the timing of the presentation; it came right on the eve of the Impeachment Trial. Note, too, how the special effects – a giant demo board, a full Cabinet in attendance, with several government television cameras twirling – were used to the hilt, just to dramatize the results of the survey. It is also noteworthy that in previous survey presentations given by Dr. Miranda, the venue would be the University of the Philippines campus, with various media personalities invited to the presentation.

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What happned? Why did Pulse Asia have a special audience for its December 6 presentation? Some observers have opined a reason why. They say that probably, the latest public opinion survey was commissioned by Malacañang or some other government agency. Which very well explains why the survey presentation was given under such special, extraordinary circumstances.

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I must repeat, though. I personally have no doubts about the veracity of Pepe Miranda’s findings on the "trust" or "popularity" ratings of certain personages. Why? Because in almost all of his past commissioned surveys, Dr. Miranda has come out with figures that turned out to be credible.

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What raises doubts, however, are the explanations given for the mysterious trip of Police chief Director-General Panfilo Lacson to the United States. One explanation is that he is on official trip abroad, reportedly to follow up a donation of the US government to the so-called PNP Fund, a fund-raising project that was initiated about a year ago, in a grand affair at the Manila Hotel.

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But then, the PNP Fund is a private undertaking aimed at generating funds for the Philippine National Police. It cannot, in the strict legal sense, thus be used as reason to make Ping Lacson’s trip to the US as official as "official." The mystery deepens.

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Makati Rep. Agapito "Butz" Aquino’s privileged speech in the House, saying that President Estrada is a "mirror" of the Filipino people was apparently ill-advised. It will certainly draw a lot of hoots and jeers, from many sectors that believe that Filipinos, as a whole, are inherently good. The gamblers and womanizers and drunkards are, to many observers, the exception rather than the rule.

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What will alarm parents and teachers, whose main job is to mould the country’s youth into model citizens, is that Butz Aquino’s thesis – about Erap being a "mirror" of the Filipino people – might send the wrong signal to the Filipino youth. The youngsters might be demoralized to believe that they, and most other Filipinos, are inherently bad. This, definitely, will be a big setback to the lofty, noble effort of both parents and teachers to inspire our youth to become model Filipino citizens.

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Lest we completely forget that this is the Yuletide season, let me report that yesterday, December 7, the Good Samaritan Foundation launched "Operations Christmas Joy" at the children’s charity ward of Quezon Institute. There, we distributed Jollibee snack packages, toys, and other food items to the poor, sick children confined at QI. This is the 7th year that the Good Samaritan Foundation has been spreading some shafts of Christmas joy to the children confined at QI. Thanks a million, and God bless the generous individuals who made "Operations Christmas Joy" this year possible, despite these hard and trying times.

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My e-mail address: <[email protected]>