GMA’s wrath

The old saying "Hell knows no fury like a woman’s wrath" is finally showing in GMA’s latest tirade against her enemies. She described them as people with an "unquenchable thirst for power." Them are fighting words. After almost a year of being attacked left, right, front, and center, she is now fighting back. The Department of Agrarian Reform – which is now known as the Dept. of Land Reform – suddenly recommended the junking of the stock distribution option in Hacienda Luisita. No matter how much Mike Arroyo’s cousin Bomboy Araneta denies that the estafa case against Brother Eddie had nothing to do with politics – many still believe the Administration is getting back at the Jesus Is Lord leader. And now even Makati Business Club’s Bill Luz has been ruled by the Commission on Elections to be an alien thus making him criminally liable for his participation in the last election. Even his brother Juan Miguel was taken out of the Department of Education. If you don’t call it a woman’s wrath, then we don’t know what is.

People familiar with GMA’s background say she’s exactly like her mother. Some even say that she’s a stronger version of Doña Eva. Just as she was determined to win in the last election, she is now determined more than ever to remain president. In her words, she’s merely "protecting the Presidency." She has definitely vowed not to go the way of Erap Estrada. There is a strong possibility of Emergency Rule if there is a clear threat of anarchy, but definitely not Martial Law. First of all, it is very difficult to declare Martial Law because the Constitution has so many provisions limiting it. The Cory Constitution made sure of that. However, the government should rightly prepare for anarchy if it really does happen. A government does not deserve to call itself a government if it does not have contingency plans.

The trouble though is our government officials are engrossed in political combat with the Administration focused on protecting its power while the Opposition is intent on grabbing it. So now the question is – Who’s minding the store? People shouldn’t forget that this country has to continue with the business of business and allow the economy to grow with our population growing at four babies a minute. Unfortunately, even some businessmen are getting themselves unnecessarily involved in politics. Just the other night I was telling Tito Yuchengco, a former board member of the Makati Business Club, that it was unfortunate to see the club throw away the influence they had with GMA. She listened to the Makati Business Club but it totally alienated her when its board impulsively asked her to resign without consulting the general membership. How do they expect her now to listen to their demand for reforms when they want her out? She feels that they were all Judas Iscariots stabbing her in the back like the Hyatt 10 and Frank Drilon. As far as she’s concerned, it was the lowest act of betrayal. Businessmen should confine themselves to economic matters and just leave politics and the legalities of impeachment to lawyers and constitutional experts.

It may be nice to hear we have a democratic system of government, but is it really working with the checks and balances? The Senators insist this is part of their job while the Palace maintains this is executive privilege. But is it really working? It seems there are more checks and no balances left. In the meantime, 200,000 garment workers are losing their jobs and life is getting more difficult for workers in this country with higher prices and low wages. It’s also been reported that the crime rate has increased with more carnappings and holdups occurring everyday. All these because the Executive Branch and the Senate want to protect their turfs and rights? What about the protection of the public?

We have everything to blame on politics and the thirst for power. We have not moved for more than a decade now from where we were. And it is so depressing to see this because China where I just came from has gone so far economically from where it was just a decade ago. A Filipino entrepreneur who moved his business from Manila to China increased his business a million-fold from a P100-million to a $600-million revenue operation. China has attracted $53.5 billion in foreign direct investments last year and now it is even a donor nation. Because of China’s low labor costs, US and European firms are moving most of their backroom operations to other countries. This offshore business process has now turned into a $300-billion sunrise industry. Instead of trying to grab a piece of this business opportunity, here we are still grabbing each other’s throat.

We spend P1.5 billion annually to maintain the Senate and so far they have done more investigations than legislation. To date, a total of 2,135 bills and 343 resolutions have been filed in the Senate but only a measly six measures were signed into law while three resolutions were adopted. The senators have not focused on what is really needed to make the economy move faster: farmland as collateral, the pre-need code, and the Corporate Recovery Act. Electoral reforms, too, are important because this is why we are in this political mess in the first place with elections coming up again in less than two years. A truly dismal performance despite their high maintenance costs. The anti-terrorism bill is probably one of the most important pieces of legislation they have to pass. All it takes is one terrorist aircraft crashing into Makati’s Central Business District and everything crashes down with it including the economy. We may complain about the wrath of a woman but wait till the wrath of Nature takes place – similar to Hurricane Katrina or the Pakistan earthquake – and we will see how a disaster like this can bring this country down to its knees. Maybe only then will we wake up to realize that there are more important things than power and politics.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]