Longer, tougher fight has just begun -GOTCHA by Jarius Bondoc

Congratulations to all who fought the good fight. How we’d like to relax now, trade stories on EDSA-2001’s behind-the-scenes and the last remaining Erap jokes. (Text: Wala na si Erap. Wala na ring Erap jokes, hu-hu-hu. Mag-rally uli, Erap balik, Erap balik.) How we’d like to savor just a bit longer the thrill of sparking pocket noise barrages into People Power-2. But there’s no time for that. Perhaps later, when grandchildren already clamber up our laps. For now, there’s still work to do.

With Joseph Estrada’s fall, the longer, tougher fight has just begun. For one, there’s the job of bringing him to justice. It looks simple on paper. He’s sulking in his San Juan home, where People Power can keep him under house arrest. By today the Senate impeachment court can transmit its transcripts and records from which the Ombudsman can establish a prima facie case for plunder. The case may then elevate to the Sandiganbayan, which will issue an arrest warrant for the nonbailable crime. Trial can proceed while Estrada plays pusoy-dos with the likes of his kanto-boy defenders at Mendiola – in the city jail.

But it’s not that easy. Not with the convoluted rules of court that can be twisted any which way, as we all witnessed in the impeachment trial. Not with the Ombudsman’s odd interpretation of plunder. He said on radio last weekend that it should be marked by a series of criminal acts, already apparent in Senate testimonies but which he somehow didn’t see. And he’s quibbling over whether Chavit Singson can turn state witness. Gosh, by the time he starts moving, Estrada would have flown the coop.

Then, there’s this seemingly orchestrated attempt to associate justice with vindictiveness. While Estrada was leaving Malacañang Saturday, he was being pictured as a man terribly wronged by the millions at EDSA. And the same media propagandists who rooted for him during the trial are now calling for forgiving and forgetting, in the guise of healing the nation’s wounds. There is no healing without justice. Justice is the salve that will heal the nation’s wounds.

And then there’s Estrada cohorts. They’re flying out ostensibly for short Hong Kong vacations, but with dozens of suitcases in tow. Nobody stays that long in Hong Kong. Jaime Dichaves, Atong Ang, Yoly Ricaforte are leaving for good.

Tightly tied up with justice is pursuit of good governance. We cannot just let pass what the 11 infamous senator-judges did at the impeachment court on that fateful night of the 16th. No matter what they yak now about voting with clean consciences, they quashed the Truth against our people’s expectations. It’s poetic justice that Robert Jaworski and Miriam Santiago were barred from or booed at EDSA, along with balimbings Alfredo Lim, Gemma Araneta and Noli Fuentebella. But there’s more to it than just that. Lim, for one, has some explaining to do – not with press releases but in court – about his attempts to prevent Chavit from blowing the whistle on jueteng payola. There’s something to be said and done about Juan Ponce Enrile taunting the EDSA crowd to bring out their knives and guns and start a revolution. Even Senate President Nene Pimentel has to tell all about advising Estrada, when he thought he could still halt the inevitable last Friday, to call for snap presidential elections.

Good governance is all about transparency, accountability and honesty in public service. We must ensure these of our legislators and justices, Cabinet men and judges, governors and mayors. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised good governance and leadership by example during her Saturday inaugural. Let us vigilantly keep her to such promise.

The longer, tougher fight is for reforms. For that’s what we promised each other at EDSA. Natauhan na tayo. Never more shall we allow a rotting system give rise to officials who take advantage of people’s ignorance and apathy to steal, to spread their immorality, and to mess up our lives.

Let me turn personal for a while, to unburden my generation’s angst.

I’m 45. One EDSA Revolt in a lifetime is already too much. Yet I’ve gone through grave political upheavals, every 15 years or so, that ended up empty. I was 15 when I marched with hundreds of thousands to Congress and Malacañang and Plaza Miranda in what is now known as the First-Quarter Storm of 1970. I was 31 when I left my government job to join the people at EDSA in 1986. Last week, I – we – had to it all over again.

This has got to stop. Things have got to change. If we do nothing about it here and now, the system could turn so unstable that our children will have to go through similar upheavals every five years. By then, they’d have nothing to look forward to in RP. They might as well all migrate to lands where their training and talent would be truly appreciated, where they can enjoy the fruits of their labor and live happily ever after. Yet only a few of us can afford to send our children to good schools as passports to greener pastures. The vast majority of our poor countrymen can’t. They just hurry their kids through free but defective public high school, the quicker to return to till the farm or strike out in the big city as unskilled workers. Their pasture, if we can call it such, is the slum where they live and the dump where they scavenge.

There’s a big difference about EDSA-2 compared to 1986. This time around, nine out of ten protesters were youths in their teens and twenties. That’s probably why it was truly bloodless. That’s why the character, while grounded on the lessons of 1970 and 1986, was vibrant yet technological. (Another cellphone text message: Erap, alis na. Sige ka, we’ll party here till you get out.) That’s why it brings more hope of better things to come.

Arroyo also promised boldness in national ambitions. Immediately, she wants moral renewal in government and society. Eventually, she sees victory in the fight against poverty. She will do this, she said, by forming a youthful Cabinet.

With these huge tasks ahead, the older generation cannot just sit back and watch. Those of us in our 40s to our 80s have done so much, yet failed too much. If only to make up for the needed changes that didn’t come in our time, we must sacrifice even harder so the youth can attain their desire for any manner of reforms. So help us, God.

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INTERACTION. Thank you, Antonio Q. Castro, Wesner M. Almin, G.L. Inocencio, Mario Valderrama, Marcia Noveloso, Blessie Abad, Ma. Bergita Asuncion, Edgar Uy, Dr. Benjamin Garcia Azcue V, Leila Barona, Joel Bernasor, Benjamin F. Morales, Frank Rodino, Willie Vicedo, Anna A., Boy Ner, Mel Reyes, Michael Rayel, Ike Santos, Manny Duguies, Vic Monroy, Butch Tan, Angel Sievert, Edward Chua Cham, Jorge Reyes, Jun Manzano, Noel M. Reprado, Bridget Lee, Billy Esposo;

George Pilapil, Lorenzo Raule, Ferdie SIbal, Kerwin Cheng, Marie de la Rama, Gil Licad, Eduardo dela Cruz, Samia Georges, Dax Garcia, Cesar Francisco, B. Golla, Wilfred C. Derequito, Danile Manalo, Juan Ventura, Jo Lumawig, Mattie Gazulo, Rolly Amaranto, B.J. Sebastian, Ernie Roque, Rodney Rafols, George Canada, Geraldine Samson, Gerry Javellana, Lito de Leon, Larry Refugia, Olive Fornoles, Alan Raymond Zorilla, Natividad Pille, Gerry Vergara, Juan Ong;

Tita Tolentino, Leon Hernandez, Tanya Lat, Patrick Michael Balo, Hansen Dy, A. Cordero, Cyril & Armi Alaras, Lino Eballe, Gerry Vergara, Boy Gaa Jr., Bobby Tordesillas, Adelbert Batica, Ramon Maglalang, Ed & Bing Joaquin, Andre de la Cruz, Romeo Mamisay, Dennis Lao, Marcial Bonifacio, Willie Manalang, S.G. Bolanos, Teresita Ubiadas, John Lisboa, Jackie Arambulo, Ma. Norma de Jesus, Juris Soliman, Gracita Bucad, Lito Matias, Defaro of NJ, and to the many readers who took time out to write before rushing off to join or cheer last weekend’s final push.

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