Too much loose talk about violence by contending sides - BY THE WAY by Max V. Soliven

Everybody’s shadow-boxing these days.

His Political Turbulence Jaime Cardinal Sin in a pastoral letter last Sunday renewed his call for President Estrada to resign even if he is "acquitted" and warned of a people’s revolution. Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo – who, if I’m not mistaken, hails from Caoayan, Ilocos Sur (hometown of the late Apo Pidiong Quirino, where the Q’s come from) – backed up the Cardinal’s call and asserted the Church will not oppose "extra-legal peaceful means of protests in terms of civil disobedience."

In short, our clerics have begun espousing defying the law. How many indulgences will they promise for each act of "civil disobedience"?

Other anti-Erap groups and indignant citizens are speaking darkly of disgruntled elements in the military "taking action" – a coup d’etat, or a military junta. The "Erap Resign" protesters are promising to take to the streets with "People Power II." The Left is pledging an unabated street "battle."

In retaliation, Malacañang is threatening to crush any "anarchy" that may arise as an offshoot of the coming Senate verdict – which many are beginning to suspect might be "acquittal" or "failure to convict" – invoking the President’s police powers vested in him by the Constitution to preserve peace and order. Since the statement came from acting Press Secretary Mike Toledo, who’s less prone to hyperbole than the other Spokesman, Ambassador-on-terminal-leave Ernie Maceda, we can only regard this declaration as official.

What are we talking about here? Civil War? An armed revolution?

I think it’s time for us to pause and think about the consequences of a violent konfrontasi. When there’s a violent clash, with blood on the ground, there will be no stopping the escalation of hatred and violence.

If this violence, inexorably, leads to death in the streets – on both sides – there will be no stopping our slide into mindless vendetta and bloodletting.

How glibly we talk about it, as if we were characters in a teledrama or telenovela. The difference is that you can switch off your TV set, but you can’t – just as conveniently – switch off passion, anger, bitterness, grief and resentment. The writer Gogol called the unbearable burden of strife which has claimed victims, "the weight of the dead souls."

Let’s get a grip on ourselves. As a former war correspondent and journalist who’s covered the Huk rebellion, the NPA rebellion, clashes in Mindanao, as well as wars, insurrections, riots and kudetas in other countries, I can tell you it’s a terrible thing. Do brothers kill brothers? Of course they do. The first recorded instance in the Holy Bible involved Cain and Abel. They’ve been doing it ever since.

There are only four ways in which a President can be ousted before the end of his term – an impeachment conviction, a coup d’etat or armed overthrow, assassination, or a heart attack. What are the "big talkers" in our society proposing to do? Talk is cheap – but too much talk can lead to tragedy.

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The peso has plunged further, from P52.40 per dollar last Monday to P52.78 yesterday. During earlier trading, the peso in fact sank to P52.95, but recovered slightly. This, however, still meant a fall of 38 centavos.

The more we talk, the more jittery the currency market becomes. When even the prelates of Holy Mother Church are forecasting doom and violence as the prospect of an "acquittal" looms, the market’s jitters deteriorate into fevered convulsions. People rush to convert their pesos into dollars, and other foreign currencies or valuta. The "capital flight" worsens.

During World War II, there used to be warning signs and handbills all over the United States saying: "Loose lips sink ships." Our own loose lips are contributing to sinking our economy. We can attempt to foist all the blame on feckless Erap, but we, too, are participating in this orgy of self-flagellation and, thereby, self-destruction.

Daily, we get text messages about this and that scandal – the texting brigades are going on overtime and overdrive. Cynicism, which is the real threat, is sinking in, inevitably.

As we watch the impeachment trial grinding on, either from the Senate gallery or on television, we’re seeing everybody on the floor getting weary – including the senator-judges (who’re growing waspish and snapping intemperately at witnesses) as well as the prosecution and defense panels. Even Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr., who’s doing his level-best (and is increasingly admired for his resolute attempt to remain impartial) is visibly sagging.

It doesn’t seem possible that the "deadline" for concluding the trial, set for February 12, will be met. Facing us, to further put the pressure on the situation, is the deadline for the beginning of the campaign for the coming May 12 elections – and, remember, the steadfast and trusted Chairperson of the Commission on Elections, Justice Harriet Demetriou, is retiring.

Once again: Let’s get a grip on ourselves. This is a test of our mettle. Out of this crisis, we can either emerge a stronger nation – or else, disintegrate.

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I’m appalled at the clumsy manner in which policemen handled a suspected "bomb" which passers-by reported to them "planted" beside a stall near the LRT station on Pedro Gil street, corner Taft Avenue, Ermita. Would you believe? The police tried to "detonate" it! If the object had been a real bomb, this move would, indeed, have triggered it off – and there’s no telling how dangerous and damaging the resulting explosion would be.

Bomb squads all over the world are trained to to cart away and defuse bombs. The brave policemen who tinkered with the bomb near a 5-star hotel in Makati last December 30, one of the five terrible bombs which wreaked such havoc, may have had the training (from experience in the US), but they didn’t have the proper equipment, either protective or technical. They were mangled in the resulting explosion. While we must commend them for their courage, we can only, sadly, decry the fact that they weren’t given the proper tools with which to work. In any event, that blast demonstrated the sophistication of the bomb-makers, since the explosive device might have had, even if the right wires were cut, a fall-back, booby-trap trigger.

While the attention of everyone is concentrated on the "impeachment" drama, alas, we’ve permitted peace and order, and the daily tasks of governance and daily-living to deteriorate. New People’s Army cadres insolently roam the streets of Pampanga towns, for example, instead of slinking around as they used to do "under cover." Employees in government offices, never hardworking and industrious at their best, are slacking off and ignoring their duties even more openly.

Can you imagine how disheartened our soldiers in the field must be? They continue to soldier on, combatting Islamic insurgents, NPA ambushes and assaults, dying or falling wounded – and nobody seems to appreciate their sacrifices and their plight.

More than 17,000 tons of garbage are rotting in our neighborhoods. We can’t blame the Antipolo barricaders and the Rizal townsfolk for trying to stop the "returning" caravans of smelly dump trucks which are, once more, offending their nostrils and sensibilities. We have the most primitive type of dump trucks and garbage trucks I’ve seen in all my travels – no machinery in them to grind and compact the garbage as the vehicles run or idle, merely wide-open, stinking, dump trucks which strew trash and detritus all along the way as they bump across city streets and provincial roads. And reckless truck drivers at that, careening without a care over hairpin curves, or else idling for four hours near private compounds and residences, awaiting their turn to get into the dumpsite.

This is a country where public servants don’t deliver public service to the people. Is there money in garbage? You bet. It’s a "business", for the contractor all the way down to the scavenger. But what of the public? Nobody seems to give a damn.

It’s fine to blame the President for a lot of things. But let’s save much of the blame for ourselves as well. Abraham Lincoln was right: "A people get only the kind of government that they deserve." We deserve the officials we elected. We, by a similar token, deserve the garbage in our lives, and all this mess. By the way, Lincoln having been right didn’t prevent him from getting assassinated. President John F. Kennedy said that "life is not fair." It wasn’t fair to him, either – as he discovered, too late, in Dallas, Texas.

Do you think we’ve got troubles? God’s little children, as the old ditty went, have troubles everywhere. It’s how we deal with them that counts.