Beating around the bush, Kerry scored but Dubya’s still 4 points ahead

For the first time in months, we heard embattled US President George W. Bush mention the Philippines.

In his speeches since we abandoned the US-led "coalition" in Iraq to save Angelo de la Cruz from the terrorist headsman’s axe, Dubya had pointedly ignored our country and his ex-phone pal, La Gloria.

Last Friday morning (Thursday night really in Coral Cables, Florida) he blurted out during his debate with challenger Senator John Kerry that America is helping "the Philippines in its fight against terrorism", particularly in battling the surrogates of al-Qaeda and old Osama.

Yep. Like almost everybody else who had access to television Friday morning, this writer caught on CNN "live" coverage of the great first debate between a petulant but still forceful Dubya and his Democratic Party rival, the Massachusetts Senator Kerry. The debate turned out very well for Kerry – not only was he the smoother in debate, he looked like a page torn out of GQ, and appeared "Presidential". On the other hand, while he hammered away relentlessly, he failed to score a knock-out. Bush frowned, fidgeted, appeared irritated at times, mumbled and bumbled a bit, but he still came across as a President who, for all his missteps, did what he believed was right and what was best for the American people.

I called it a "draw", but in a CNN-sponsored Gallup poll, Americans surveyed gave Kerry a 46 percent to 37 percent advantage over Dubya. The poll added that 46 percent of those surveyed now have "a better opinion" of Kerry versus 21 percent for Bush. CBS network asked 200 voters, and came out with 44 percent for Kerry and only 26 percent for Bush. An ABC poll, as reported, gave Kerry 45 percent, Bush only 36, with 17 percent for a draw.

Bush, though, still has the support of 51 percent of voters for the November 2 election, against 47 percent for Kerry. That gap is narrowing – slowly. Will Kerry manage a rally that will propel him ahead of Dubya on election day? Let’s see what the crucial second debate produces.

This is, as in basketball, the Last Two Minutes in the American campaign.

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In the meantime, we may be in the Deep Freeze in the White House, but our relationship with the People’s Republic of China is on the upswing.

National Defense Secretary Avelino "Nonong" Cruz, Jr., told me Friday that he hopes to go to Beijing in the first week of November, with his back-up staff, and meet with President Hu Jintao, in the latter’s role of Chairman of the Central Military Commission, which he assumed when ex-President Jiang Zemin relinquished it to him last September 19.

The take-over of the Military Commission by Mr. Hu, who’s concurrently President of China and Secretary-General of the Chinese Communist Party, means that Hu is now undisputed leader of his country, since he now commands the People’s Liberation Army and all military agencies along with his civilian leadership posts.

In truth, Jiang was reluctant to give up his last finger-hold on power, but got the nudge (y’know) which said: it’s over, Jiang-Baby, go sing Red Sails in the Sunset and gracefully slide off over the horizon into your long vacation.

I also had a talk with Armed Forces Chief of Staff Narciso Abaya, but I can’t reveal the results of his just-concluded visit to China with a military delegation (and the concurrent visit here of ranking PLA officers) until he reports to the President, who, after all, is the Commander-in-Chief. I’ll be meeting with Abaya for more details about our pending RP-Chinese military cooperation plans tomorrow or Tuesday.

During a one-on-one luncheon-meeting I had with Secretary Cruz at the Makati Shangri-La a week ago, in which Nonong discussed some of his plans and projects in the DND and with regard to China with me, I was impressed with the blueprint he has drawn up for the department, and for modernizing and strengthening our armed for-ces.

He hopes to implement them more vigorously – after, hopefully, he is confirmed by the Commission on Appointments, possibly in early November shortly after Congress reconvenes following its break.

The Chinese, of course, are pursuing their national self-interest when they court the "friendship" and cooperation of the Philippines. In this world, there is only the Philippine Team, even though we try to build alliances for mutual benefit and progress. As with the US-RP relationship, now somewhat in disarray, it’s paramount that we deal with the giant in our neighborhood, Beijing, with sincerity – but with caution, as well.

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Why doesn’t Winston Garcia have the delicadeza to bow out of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)? Whatever the offshoot of the current brouhaha, his tenure there can only be uncomfortable to both the GSIS membership – remember, millions of employees, retirees and pensioners depend on the reputation for integrity of the system – and to the President. GMA, if truth be told, ought to give Winston a hint that "retirement" for him is in order.

I frankly cannot understand, for that matter, why La Presidenta has been acting like a politician running for re-election (she’s got a guaranteed six years, and is Constitutionally banned from seeking re-election, anyway) and thereby paying off "political debts".

Nothing was more dismaying, among her recent appointments, than her designation of just-retired Senator Ramon Revilla Sr., all of 77 and having recently undergone an operation in the USA, as head of the already controversial Public Estates Authority (PEA). Gee whiz. I was on vacation when old RR was appointed, and I wanted to jump back into this column space to ask why a fellow who’s been bragging about the 80 children he sired out of wedlock was among the "best qualified" to spearhead La Emperadora’s touted "strong Republic". Aren’t her spearbearers supposed to be strong against temptation?

I’m not entirely convinced by Palace denials that appointing Nora Aunor and Elizabeth Oropesa hadn’t been contemplated.

The old adage still holds true: Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you what you are. By whom she appoints, the President will be judged. By posterity, at least, if not by her current, disappointed supporters and the Filipino people.

If she is to save us from fiscal ruin, as she pledges, GMA must first save us from moral ruin – and the demoralization which goes along with it.

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Since I wasn’t writing a column at the time, I find myself (forgive me) having to play catch-up in this corner.

One of the last public functions over which I presided as Chairman of the Manila Overseas Press Club was the MOPC Congressional night, starring Speaker Joe de Venecia and Senate President Frank Drilon. Everybody else, of course, did all the talking, since the function of the Chairman is mostly to sit in the chair.

It was a gala night, indeed, with the Inter-Con ballroom packed with celebrities from every sector, including politics, business, and the diplomatic corps. However, at the very last minute, it was Madam Imelda Romualdez Marcos who stole the show. Rising ostensibly to ask the final question in the open forum, Imeldific – in her elegant widows’ weeds – tearfully lunged into a plea for closure on the Marcos issue. She declared it was time people stopped attacking and "maligning" the late Apo Macoy, and her, and challenged the Speaker and the Senate President, and the government, to audit the performance of Marcos in his 20 years of rule, against that of Cory Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos in their 12 years, etc. Then she dumped a huge bound volume, containing xeroxes of documents and clippings, into our hands.

Susmariosep, that was a dramatic prepared speech in which Imelda tried to sound extemporaneous but, if you ask me, must have memorized it, since she repeated most of the spiel word for word when we were chatting after the dinner-forum, in the lobby of the hotel.

Why, Meldy was convincingly tear-eyed – it is her gift – while delivering that appeal. (Waterproof, non-running mascara was a heaven-sent invention for her!)

However, those of us who lived through the injustices, the violence, and hardships of martial law (especially those in prison, like yours truly), who endured military bullying and supervision, and those who saw the lives of their loved ones snuffed out so mercilessly, cannot buy the idea that there were no proven human rights violations.

The former First Lady was correct in citing the maxim, "Justice delayed is justice denied."

She said there had been no conviction, ergo (she implied), the Marcos regime ought to be cleared. Here I am, she intoned, "when all this began, I was only 57 years old, now I’m 75 and it’s still not resolved!" Or words to that effect, since I rely on recollection.

Unfortunately, there’s some truth to the fact that the "liberating" Cory administration, after the Marcos hegemony was toppled, failed dismally to resolve the issue of the dictator’s depredations, that of his conjugal "monarchy", and his court jesters. Alas, many of the reformers themselves grew corrupt, the crooked bureaucracy spawned by two decades of Marcos rule instead of being punished was incorporated into the new order to be used by some of the new masters for the same fell purposes. The Revolution was not just "unfinished", it was derailed.

As for the Marcos regime, it was not the treasure stolen from our people that was our greatest loss. Money can be earned anew, more gold can be mined from the ground, fortunes can be restored. On the other hand, the evils and habits formed from 20 years of misrule cannot be erased so easily. Under the two decades of the Marcos dispensation and its kleptocracy, Filipinos got the impression that crime not only paid, it paid very handsomely – and that it went unpunished. The moral rot inflicted on us, like a chronic ulcer, has proven close to impossible to cure. The long dark night of Marcos and what it spawned continue to afflict us still.

Justice delayed? Justice denied? You bet. But not in the way Madam Imelda intended to demonstrate.