A ‘strange’ delay in the Comelec motion could junk FPJ’s run

Unless Chairman Ben Abalos of the Commission on Elections bestirs himself and stops dragging his feet on an urgently pending "motion for reconsideration", the next thing thrown at him will be in the form of J’Accuse.

Accused of what? Of partisanship in maneuvering, by his delaying tactics, the rejection of the candidacy of Fernando Poe, Jr. If this suspected "plot" succeeds, the credibility of the Comelec will go down to sub-zero.

Let’s review what is happening, and what’s not being done. A few days ago, five Comelec Commissioners voted categorically to deny a motion for reconsideration a petition of lawyer Victorino Fornier seeking the disqualification of FPJ from running for the Presidency on the allegation that Poe is not a "natural-born" Filipino. The five Commissioners voted en banc to deny that motion for reconsideration. The commissioners who turned thumbs down on Fornier’s motion were Rufino Javier, Luzviminda Tancangco, Resurreccion Borra, Ralf Lantion and Mehol Sadain. Why has the chairman not announced their decision yet?

What happened to this resolution? Instead of being immediately issued to set the FPJ question to rest, it’s still gathering dust on the desk of Abalos. To what purpose? Well, there may hang a tale.

Two Commissioners, namely Tancangco and Lantion, are due to retire TOMORROW, February 2, i.e. Monday. The two voted firmly with Javier, Borra and Sadain to deny the Fornier motion for reconsideration. Commissioner Florentino Tuason, for his part, is out of the country and is expected to report for work only tomorrow, Monday. Thus, he did not participate in the deliberations on the motion.

What’s the disadvantage to Poe of the delay? Comelec sources say that as soon as Tancangco and Lantion "retire", the President and Malacañang will reveal the appointment of two new Commissioners who will forthwith assume office. Opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel has already identified the two incoming Commissioners as very close to GMA-Arroyo lawyer Arthur "Pancho" Villaraza. Need more be said? Those two "new" votes on the resolution of the Fornier motion for reconsideration might spell a complete turnabout. Just look at the potential arithmetic. Since Abalos is the only one empowered by law to announce any decision he can smugly sit on the previous decision to deny the motion for reconsideration. The changed equation in the Comelec could then result in a "new" voting. The two GMA-named Commissioners could then vote to disqualify FPJ (as expected), thus – with Lantion and Tancangco gone – the new vote would be three to deny the Fornier motion, two to approve the motion – in short, 3 versus 2. What now if Tuason votes to approve, too – then it would be 3 to 3.

Finally, as Chairman, Abalos could cast the deciding vote, making it, 3 to 4. Depending on how Abalos votes, FPJ could be "disqualified".

Is this why Chairman Abalos has not yet promulgated the original 5-1 vote which rejected the Fornier motion? Is he waiting for the new "reinforcements" from GMA? Abalos’s inaction in this matter is already quite disconcerting.

I don’t want to ascribe the wrong motives to former MMDA Chairman Abalos who’s already being plagued with allegations on other scams. But this must be said: an apparently partisan Comelec is a surefire prescription for recrimination and chaos.

And what’s this? The Supreme Court is already looking at possible discrepancy between the amount actually disbursed by the national government and what was paid to the suppliers of those controversial automatic counting machines (ACMs). Since more than P800 million was paid post-haste, any discrepancy would go into the millions of pesos.

Gee whiz. In this shameless society, will we have another cause for shame?

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I spotted the banner headline in last Friday’s Financial Times which mourned the fact that "US Combat Losses Rise in Iraq".

Indeed, it is becoming a case of "a bombing a day in Iraq", as guerrillas and terrorists intensify their operation designed to disconcert the occupying Americans and discourage their Coalition allies. Hotels and other soft targets are being attacked, as well as military columns ambushed and aid compounds being harassed. As of last Thursday, the FT pointed out, 33 American soldiers and one civilian had been slain in Iraq by hostile fire, as compared with 24 US combat deaths in December, plus 32 coalition combat deaths for that same month.

In sum, there have been 300 Americans killed since US President George W. Bush cheerfully announced that the "war" was over in May 1 last year. In the same period, there were 295 coalition troops killed, and 300 Iraqi policemen slain in shootings, bombings and suicide attacks. Should these casualty figures be terrifying? If you think so, you must be kidding.

In the Vietnam War, between March 8, 1965 when the US Marines first "stormed" ashore at Da Nang (I was there) – and the withdrawal of the last American troops in 1973, within that period no less than 43,370 US servicemen died in combat, another 10,000 of non-combat-related causes, while another 300,000 were wounded. (The Brits, by the way, lost 20,000 men in one day, the first day of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, during the First World War).

The ARVIN, the Army of South Vietnam, lost 184,000 soldiers killed between 1961 and the January 1973 "ceasefire."

The attacking Viet Cong or COSVN, the Communist guerrillas, lost any estimated 900,000 men killed between 1961 and 1975.

That was a real war. Iraq is a mini-conflict.

In Viet Nam, the civilians suffered the worst of all. At least 250,000 died and 900,000 were wounded.

In the Korean War, the Americans lost more than 50,000 who were killed in combat.

In Iraq? How many Americans have died? 500? 600? During the battle of Vicksburg (Mississippi) the Union forces lost seven thousand men in a single day, on May 19, 1863 trying to wrest the heights from the defending Confederates. In the battle of Gettysburg, which began on June 30, 1863, the Confederate forces in turn lost 3,903 dead, with 18,735 wounded, mortally wounded, or captured, and another 5,425 reported "missing". The Union, which had fielded 88,289 men at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), lost 3,155 killed, another 14,529 wounded, mortally wounded or captured, and 5,365 "missing in action."

In one single charge on the last day of the three-day battle, ordered by General Robert E. Lee, Confederate Gen. George Pickett threw three brigades, a total of 15,000 men, into a vain attempt to break through the Union lines. Ten thousand Confederate soldiers were cut down in that assault alone, known to history as "Pickett’s Charge".

In war or peace, of course, every death is heartbreaking. Every bereaved family feels the grinding pain. Every loved one lost is irreplaceable in the hearts of those who cherished them. As one who’s covered several wars, both here and abroad, I can only affirm that, truly, war is hell. But wars will forever be waged. It’s the human condition.

America, for one, may always be at war. It is a nation built on war – not for imperialism’s sake primarily, but for its own sake. The cruelty, pity and trauma of the American Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865, and in the end, literally "took the life" of the greatest American President, Abraham Lincoln, forged the American character. Americans fought and killed Americans in a conflict to determine whether their Union, the United States of America, would disintegrate or endure. It’s said that in the Philippines, we would rather fiesta than fight. Someday, however, we’re going to have our own demons, and defeat them. As the comic strip character Pogo said (paraphrasing Julius Caesar’s Gallic War quip), "We have met the enemy, and they are us."

The painful night, after his hopeless charge, in which so many of his brave men perished, Gen. George Picket disconsolately wrote his fiancée, on July 3, 1863:

"My brave boys were so full of hope and confident of victory as I led them forth! Over on Cemetery Ridge the Federals beheld a scene which has never previously been enacted – an army forming in line of battle in full view, under their very eyes – charging across a space nearly a mile in length, pride and glory soon to be crushed by an overwhelming heartbreak.

"Well, it is all over now. The awful rain of shot and shell was a sob – a gasp.

"I can still hear them cheering as I gave the order, ‘Forward!’ The thrill of their joyous voices as they called out, ‘We’ll follow you, Marse George, we’ll follow you!’ Oh, how faithfully they followed me on – on – to their death, and I led them on – on – on – Oh God!

"I can’t write you a love letter today, my Sally. But for you, my darling, I would rather, a million times rather, sleep in an unknown grave.

"Your sorrowing soldier,

"George Pickett"