The road to apathy

What happened in the Senate in its most recent hearing on the ZTE Deal Scandal is reminiscent of a court scene in “The Godfather Part II”. The government prosecutor presents Frank Pentangeli as a surprise witness to testify against the Corleone family, specifically Michael Corleone played by the brilliant Al Pacino. As the surprise witness takes the stand, the prosecution asks Tom Hagen, the Corleone family lawyer and brother to Michael, who his companion in the gallery was. Hagen responds by saying that he was with the brother of Mr. Pentangeli, and that although he speaks no English, was there to fully support his brother. That alone was enough for star witness Frank Pentangeli to recant and deny everything he earlier told the prosecutors about the mafia, even at the risk of perjury.

It is common that fear or greed in a witness are used to sway a testimony one way or another. In the case of a familiar scene in real life, there was no brother or any family of Leo San Miguel around the Senate gallery in the latest Senate hearings. His “surprise” testimony was enough for many to speculate that he had changed his original testimony at the last minute, for whatever reason he alone knows. Life imitating art. Or maybe art inspired by human nature.

Or is Leo San Miguel a planted witness, there to throw a monkey wrench at the Opposition’s machinery now running the ZTE NBN Scandal hearings? San Miguel was named by an earlier witness, Dante Madriaga, as a member of the so-called “Greedy Group” --- including former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, Retired Gen. Quirino Dela Torre and Ruben Reyes. His expected testimony of knowledge regarding cash advances to this group through Ruben Reyes never materialized. Instead, he related his relationship with ZTE Corporation. He said he was supposed to receive reimbursements for his out-of-pocket expenses while working on the NBN project, and a “success commission” of a half percent on the project’s gross amount. This would have earned him roughly 62 million pesos had the project been completed. All that in the absence of a written contract or document, with a foreign company at that! Just how close is this fellow to ZTE top brass? And now he points to Ruben Reyes, another member of the GG, as the go-to guy if one needs help in acquiring deals with the government. Another potential witness on the way, or another potential Trojan horse?

DILG Secretary and Presidential Political Adviser Ronnie Puno said it best: “I have studied this situation up and down, left and right --- I see no scenario wherever wherein the President does not complete her term in 2010. She will not step down from office, she does not have to”. Yes, it does look like GMA’s group of handlers possess most of what it takes to spin most things in place, just the way they want it. Wagging the dog, confusing the public whenever they fail to convince, Trojan horses, lies and half truths, fat retirement rewards for loyalty, recantations of testimonies, disappearances… everything you will need and find in a book called, “Idiot’s Manual for Political Survival Even when You Steal and Lie”. Yup. They should actually write the updated version 2008.

And people see it. While, sadly, even respected constitutionalists think the Gloria Resign Movement will not achieve its objective and that GMA will, in all probability end her term as scheduled and that the present mutated offspring of EDSA 1 and 2 has developed an immunity to the People Power formula as we know it --- happily, they also recommend the filing of charges against GMA immediately upon stepping down from office and that the 2010 elections should be the country’s revenge against the likes of this administration and that, therefore, we should ensure we elect a trustworthy, decent leader in office, ensure that the presently powerful step down when they should in 2010, and fight Charter Change.

The end to this long-drawn telenovela is not yet in sight. If this is, indeed, a tactic of the administration, it is predicted to eventually work. Prolonging this whole affair to a point of creating an apathetic attitude from the citizenry results in a de facto victory for the “empire” --- something the majority of this country, according to Pulse Asia surveys, does not want, for sure. But, certainly, we need not stay as apathetic as we may be this moment. There are remedies, just not this moment. There is something good for those who wait. And when the time for action presents itself (elections 2010, the vote against chacha, the next impeachment attempt, the fight against corruption) it would be in our hands, too, whether apathy develops into hope and victory or apathy develops into hopelessness.