Cheating in Lanao? Hasn’t that happened before Gudani, etc?

Not to disparage the testimony of Marine Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani before the Senate, but when "Lanao del Sur" was mentioned yesterday, those old enough to do so did a double-take and recalled the tale from the era of the late Apo Ferdinand E. Marcos.

I’ve no intention of maligning the people of Lanao del Sur today, but when the late Marcos ran for reelection to the Presidency in 1969, the widespread story went that he wanted a smashing victory in Mindanao over his challenger, the late Senate President Serging Osmeña, Jr. Thus Macoy called up his major supporter, political warlord Ali Dimaporo. "I want to win big in Lanao, Ali," Marcos asserted.

"Yes, Mr. President," Dimaporo reportedly replied. "By how many votes?"

Apo Ferdie declared: "I want to win by 500,000 votes!"

"Yes, sir, if you wish," Dimaporo answered, but hesitated, then warned Macoy: "I don’t know how we can manage that, because we have only 300,000 voters in Lanao!"

Mind you, that was way back before Marcos imposed Martial Law and extended his term by totalitarian fiat.

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As for General Gudani, he might have been telling the truth about massive ballot-fixing and fraud in Lanao del Sur, but it was pointed out, also yesterday, that when he returned to Manila from Mindanao on a Philippine Airlines flight that crucial election period, he was reportedly in Seat 1-A. Beside him on the plane, it seems, was opposition Vice-Presidential candidate (FPJ’s pangkat) Sen. Loren Legarda. Is this true? And behind them was also opposition Senatorial candidate Jamby Madrigal. (Loren lost, Jamby won, incidentally).

When asked about this flight, the general replied: "It was just a coincidence." True, or false?

In any event, let the chips fall where they may in this Senate drama. Charging fraud is easy enough. Proving it is harder. Have Gudani, for violating orders and breaking military discipline, and fellow Marine officer, Lt. Col. Alex Balutan of the Philippine Military Academy, really been "sacked" by Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff, Gen. Generoso Senga? It’s clear that serving commissioned officers in the armed forces must follow the orders of the Commander-in-Chief, which, under the Constitution, is the President of the Philippines. I think that Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, himself a former commissioned officer and Philippine National Police Chief, from PMA Class 1971, knows this well enough.

In this light, both Gudani and Balutan took their chances in appearing to testify against President GMA in the Senate inquiry. Whether they turn out to be heroes or heels will depend on what happens next.

The military are not like you and I. They exist and must operate under the iron rules of military discipline. To break such rules represent mutiny, no matter how many thousands of lawyers may define it otherwise. If every soldier had to cast a vote to decide whether to follow his superior’s orders, or defy them, battles – and wars ultimately – would be lost before the first shot is fired. Perhaps Gudani and Balutan made their decisions, spurred on by conscience and their interpretation of what "duty" to country represents. Just like the Oakwood mutineers, however, they must be prepared to face the consequences of their action.

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This writer spoke before the Consular Corps of the Philippines yesterday noon at their monthly luncheon meeting in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Ballroom. I confess that I had, to invoke the old-fashioned, silly, Brit expression, "a ripping good time doing so."

I must say that those Consul Generals and Consuls, and honorary Consuls, may by virtue of their task, have hearts of stone and inquisitorial methods of interrogation, when they face applicants for "visas" for their respective countries, but when they get together informally, they’re a merry lot.

The meeting was presided over with appropriate aplomb by John Fielder, Her Majesty’s Consul and Dean of the Consular Corps. (Her Majesty, in this context, is Her Majesty Elizabeth Regina II of Britain, not our homegrown La Emperadora).

The Consul who introduced me was none other than our friend, Consul Tony Rufino, who’s Consul of Mongolia – Inner or Outer Mongolia, I’m still not sure, but Tony dines more frequently on caviar, then on the Yak butter you get from Ulan Bator. (Did I spell that wrong?) Rufino, who’s in waiting for appointment to Ambassador, hopefully not in vain, was generous, even lavish in the encomiums he heaped on me, but this is because he’s our "crony."

I was happy to see that Japan’s Ambassador, our friend, Ryuichiro Yamazaki, attended the luncheon-meeting to listen to my assigned talk on how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – which is holding its first-ever Asian summit of leaders in Kuala Lumpur this December, will fare. The K.L. summit will bring together not just the chiefs of state of the 10 ASEAN members, but the leaders of China, Japan, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

I told the group that the ten ASEAN chiefs will, as usual, get along very well with each other (with, possibly, the exception of Myanmar – a.k.a. Burma – whose generals were compelled by "pressure" to yield their round-robin chance to preside as Chair of ASEAN, and cede it to the next in alphabetical order, the Philippines). What is more critical, I pointed out, is how the dialogue partners, for instance China and Japan, which are at loggerheads, verging on hostility, as well as India and South Korea, would relate to each other in the Malaysian capital.

* * *

In truth, those ponderous questions set aside, we had a livelier time in the Open Forum. There were many foreign Consuls in attendance, including Counsellor and Consul General Guo Shoachun of the People’s Republic of China. (My wife, Ambassador Preciosa S. Soliven, STAR Columnist and STARGATE President Babe Romualdez, and myself, had tendered a very well-attended farewell dinner in the O.B. Montessori Hall Tuesday night in honor of his Ambassador, the Hon. Wu Hongbo, who’s returning to Beijing in mid-October).

Consul General Guo revealed yesterday that the incoming Chinese envoy, Ambassador Li Jinjun – at this moment Ambassador to Yangon (Myanmar) – would be arriving here, possibly, in November. As tradition dictates, the turn-over ceremony from Ambassador Wu to the next Ambassador, Li, would be held in Beijing, not in Manila.

Space and time don’t permit me to discuss the farewell dinner for Ambassador Wu – hopefully I’ll tax your patience by talking about it tomorrow – but it was enlivened by a Broadway-quality show, called Pinoy Pride, put on by the wonderfully talented younger Faculty members and Staff of the O.B. Montessori Center.

We’re delighted everybody came for that occasion, and I mean everybody.

We had, of course, Foreign Affairs Secretary Bert Romulo and his lovely wife, Lovely. We got Speaker Joe de Venecia, and his "speaker" of his House, Gina; Executive Secretary Ed Ermita, Presidential Management Staff Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao, Senator Mar Roxas, Senator Fred Lim, Senator Manny Villar, Justice Art Panganiban, and AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Gene Senga. (We had more people, I might remark there, thankfully, than the Senate hearing).

There, too, was Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin, and Ambassador Jose "Toto" Zaide, DFA Chief of Protocol, who’s hurting, like a plucked Blue Eagle, over the defeat of the Ateneo by De La Salle University – in basketball.

Toto Zaide was cheered up, though, Tuesday night, by the disclosure that he will be the next Ambassador to Paris. (The incumbent envoy, our very able Ambassador Hector Villaroel, is slated for retirement, having been extended to enable him to deftly supervise the coming UNESCO conference this October, with Secretary Bert Romulo leading the RP delegation).

Among the envoys who attended our dinner were, of course, Ambassador Yamazaki (again); Ambassador Ignacio Sagaz of Spain; Ambassador Mohammed Ameen Wali of Saudi Arabia; Ambassador Dr. Salem M. Adam of Libya (who’s Dean of the Arab ambassadors); Ambassador Mario Schuff of Argentina; Ambassador Erendera Campos of Mexico; Ambassador Lisse Favre of Switzerland; Ambassador Khen Hua Lim of Singapore; Minister Pairoj Vikiniyantakee of Thailand. And, of course, as already mentioned the day before, the new Consul General of the United States Richard Dale Haynes (whose last posting before Manila had been Chennai – the old Madras – in India), as well as Consul Joseph F. Tilghman, Jr., chief NIV of the US.

Forgive me for the listing. It’s hastily done, and our other friends may not have been mentioned. What’s important is that we managed to show our appreciation for the work in building friendship accomplished by Ambassador Wu during his short stint of one year and five months in the Philippines. Mabuhay to him!