With FPJ’s ‘protest’ nixed by the tribunal, can we please get to work?

It’s all over. The Presidential Electoral Tribunal, whose members are the same 15 magistrates of the Supreme Court, ruled yesterday afternoon on the electoral protest of the late Fernando Poe, Jr. By a unanimous 15-0 vote, the Tribunal: (a) denied the motion of Ms. Susan Roces to be substituted as "protestant" for FPJ; and (b) dismissed the main case which is the electoral protest of FPJ.

The issue, more than an emotional political issue is a legal issue – one which, whether we, like it or not, had to be decided in accordance with law and jurisprudence.

Even Opposition leader, now Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel and former Senate President Jovito Salonga commented yesterday that the 15-0 verdict is correct.

That ought to put the controversy to rest. Now, can we please get back to work?

These are trying and difficult times. We need to pull together. That’s the bottom line.

* * *

The National Security Council met yesterday and former President Fidel V. Ramos went on record as denying he had anything to do with any "coup" talk. FVR smoothly "handwashed" – I’m not saying he did a Pontio Pilato – himself of any responsibility for any personal actions taken by retired General and our 20th Secretary of National Defense Fortunato U. Abat (PMA ’51) and other "generals" who might be grumbling aloud.

Oh well. Abat fought bravely in the Korean War (PEFTOK) and the Mindanao wars – he even wrote a melodramatic book entitled, if I recall, The Day We Almost Lost Mindanao (we’re always "almost losing" Mindanao every year anyway). He served from 1976 to 1981 as Commanding General of the Philippine Army, and was even Marcos-time Ambassador to Beijing – a post he held for four years until the EDSA Revolution overthrew old Macoy. In short, Abat is Yesterday’s Hero. He’s expired like an old battery which has lost its juice. He can complain loudly enough. But how could he stage a coup?

Indeed, how could FVR himself stage a coup? He was never the most popular guy in the Armed Forces, and to the Oakwood Generation of young Mistahs, alas, he’s Ancient History.

I think President GMA, the current Commander-in-Chief, ought to relax on this score. If there are any messianic types left in the military, they’ll certainly be of more recent vintage.

The truth is, and I trust I’m not wrong, that everybody’s too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to think of rebellion, mutiny, or putsches.

We’re our own worst enemies. We talk too much, uttering dire prophesies, issuing "warnings" giddily which turn out to be mere bluff and buffoonery. After crying "wolf" too often, we’re disappointed that the wolf isn’t really at our door.

It’s right to worry about the "terrorist" threat, but, again, we talk too much about it – then are surprised that no investors, nor tourists come to our islands.

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Why don’t we do what the Thais and the Indians do? They always say good things about their country, their prospects (even to the point of being boastful), and their people. They exude optimism, even if there’s only a tiny ray of sunshine in a bleak sky.

Ironically, TIME magazine in its February 29th issue, frontpage headlined "The Science of Happiness," declared us Filipinos as among the happiest people in the world.

In a "viewpoint" article, Alan C. Robles who writes for the South China Morning Post and lectures at the International Institute for Journalism in Berlin, mused: "Despite burdens like poverty and pollution, Filipinos tend to be happy. Why?"

Don’t ask – just feel. And I wish we’d express this in speech more often, instead of the down-in-the-mouth reporting we daily dish out both in conversation and in our media. (Journalists, for that matter, seem to bad-mouth each other with special venom).

Robles revealed in TIME that The World Values Survey published by the University of Michigan last November "ranked 88 countries and territories according to feelings of ‘subjective well-being’ – which combined its happiness and ‘life-satisfaction’ scores – and the Philippines had one of the highest ratings in Asia . . ."

It was disclosed that the Philippines’ ratings were "above far richer locations such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea."

Robles added that "a few years back, a Hong Kong ad agency found the Philippines to be the happiest place among a group that included Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China."

Robles pointed out that "we Filipinos live in a country mired in poverty, political conflict, corruption and environmental destruction. On top of that, the Philippines is so regularly battered by typhoons, earthquakes, landslides, floods, volcanic eruptions, and other natural catastrophes that it’s been ranked the world’s most disaster-prone nation by the Brussels-based Center for Research and Epidemiology of Disasters. Yet last Christmas, toward the close of a particularly wretched year, eight out of 10 respondents told a local research firm that they felt ‘optimistic’ about 2005. No tropical depression here, folks."

This article has been quoted before. I know. But it needs repeating.

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I particularly like the fact that the "feel good" World Values Survey report, which ranked this country one of the highest in happiness ratings among 88 countries and territories worldwide, came from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

When I was enrolled there, in the English Language Institute (our dormitory was Taylor House, South Quad), we had an excellent campus newspaper going named The Michigan Daily. You could step off any sidewalk without fear of being run down by a speeding car or truck. If you walked on the "zebra" line, every vehicle – in those days – would politely stop to allow you to cross.

The laid-back, courteous pace of life in the Ann Arbor of that era was in sharp contrast to my subsequent studies in New York City. There, every car, bus, or vehicle seemed determined to run every crossing pedestrian down.

We had in Michigan the best marching band, and our football "cheering" song was Hail to the Victors Valiant, but, alas, we frequently lost in football to Michigan State University in East Lansing.

My most unforgettable experience then was when I ran for the presidency of the foreign "scholarship" students association. The Commonwealth bloc of students ganged up on me – from Britain and all the former British Empire (Commonwealth) countries, because my opponent was an Indian.

Fortunately, my roommate was a German student from Dusseldorf, so I got the German students’ vote. Then the Japanese students voted for me, so I could say I got the "Axis" vote. Finally, when I stood up for my campaign spiel, I recited our hero, Dr. Jose Rizal’s Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell – before his execution by the Spaniards) from the first stanza to the last verse. All the Central and South American students leaped to their feet and shouted, "Arriba!" The Spanish students, too, cried out, "Viva, Hermano!" They all voted for me.

Looking back on it, I can only say: How wonderful it is to be a Filipino. Our uniqueness comes from our Malay race, our intermingling with the Chinese, our Spanish heritage, our American period – and the occasional guilt the Japanese feel about having occupied and tyrannized us (if they even know about it).

We may be crazy, mixed-up kids – but it’s the "mix" which makes us strong.

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It’s a security nightmare.

Imagine 1,500 parliamentarians, legislators, etc., coming from 145 countries (to date only 40 countries, though have confirmed attendance) arriving in Manila for the 112th International Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly from April 3 to 8.

I spoke with Philippine National Police Director General and PNP Chief, Gen. Arturo C. Lomibao, about the risks yesterday. He said that 15,000 policemen would be fielded for security during that week – 11,700 from the National Capital Region, and the rest from Regions III and IV (Calabarzon), plus 200 Special Action Force police officers.

Last night, Lomibao organized "Task Force Parliament," under the command of Police Lt. Gen. Reynaldo Velasco, Deputy for Administration.

The truth is, with all those "warnings" and travel advisories about a terrorist "threat", I wonder how many, or how few will really come to our parliamentary shindig. Our Senators and Congressmen, who’re "hosting", are counting on the fact that no politician can ever resist a government all-expense-paid junket.

When legislators and parliamentarians congregate annually in some… well, pleasure spot, anywhere in the world to discuss the usual weighty political matters, it’s their governments which foot the bill. On the other hand, some of the would-be participants may have second-thoughts about the perils of the Philippines.

It’s important – indeed it’s vital – that we pull this off without serious incident. Can we do it? Of course we can. But we must expect the terrorists to try to disrupt the ball.