Gloria's De Lima dilemma

Set aside all prevailing feelings for or against the former president and imagine putting yourself in her Lilliputian shoes. You might understand how impossibly tight it is to be going through what she’s going through—her De Lima dilemma.

 The real score behind GMA’s medical condition has set tongues wagging the past several months, pundits and common folk alike having their own take on things. Is it true, is it not, will she flee, will she face the charges? Well, your guess is as good as mine. As actress Ara Mina infamously (supposedly) said in an interview, “we can never can tell.” Ara’s grammatical faux pas notwithstanding, she does make a valid and wise supposition: no one can really say for certain, save of course for GMA herself, her doctors, and heaven.

 It is said in Proverbs, “The wicked flee when no man pursueth; but the righteous are bold as a lion.” Then again, not all righteous people are “bold as a lion” and, in this case, the widely perceived to be wicked Gloria is actually being pursued.

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 Without a single case filed in court that legally bars her from leaving the country to enjoy her constitutionally guaranteed right to travel, whether for medical treatment or for some much-deserved R & R, I say allow her to go. If she flees and doesn’t return, while able to avoid the possibility of imprisonment, she will still have to suffer from the thought of the whole world judging her guilty as charged. I wonder what value ten years of power and prestige have if one is to face a lifetime of shame and humiliation on a global scale?  

 According to known Arroyo critic Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, he predicts “the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Arroyos because the watch list order (WLO) of the DOJ barring them from leaving is really unconstitutional… Unfortunately for the nation, the ruling will allow the Arroyos to evade criminal prosecution and make them go scot-free.” Not totally scot-free, the scathing and scornful nation the couple would leave behind, if ever, and the disgusted eyes of the whole world watching will also serve as retribution, a chastisement (like how people have made up their minds on Ramona Revilla’s guilt), a  universal indictment of their guilt.

 What about another possibility: if she does intend to flee, it might even be, at best, temporary. A strategy that isn’t about escaping accountability totally but one that involves biding her time abroad while her lawyers build on their case, far from the threat and embarrassment of being shackled and dragged to jail (thanks to the non-bailable crime of electoral sabotage). And when the time is right, she shall return to face the charges. Implausible? Although not involving the same circumstances, let’s not forget Imelda Marcos returning from exile in Hawaii, after winning her case in New York, to face hundreds of cases waiting for her in the country.

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 But my problem with all this has less to do with GMA or her preferred exit strategy as it has with the Justice Secretary. I don’t trust Leila De Lima, I used to but not anymore. She is obviously enjoying all the attention and by the looks of it, the spotlight all too bright has rendered her senses inutile, clouding her judgment. Recall how not so long ago she, in a press conference, unilaterally tried to “reverse” the Supreme Court’s decision on Hubert Webb through an absurd and unwarranted announcement, and made it appear to the general public that he is guilty? How foul that was. More than anyone in this government, it appears the Justice Secretary loves to try people by publicity—ironic, don’t you think? And now this? She seems to have a knack for anchoring her decisions and pronouncements on whimsical, emotional, and at times, baseless reasoning.  

 And let’s not forget her double standards. I am no fan of Mikey Arroyo, but to place him and his wife Angela in the Immigration watch list for alleged tax evasion involving a few millions and not doing the same for other prominent people (oil executives, Lucio Tan, etc.) with multi-million peso tax fraud cases smacks of duplicity and hypocrisy that erode the Aquino government’s credibility.

 Hello, Madame Secretary! You would be doing this country a favor if you weren’t so transfixed on 2013. Let it go and do an honest-to-goodness assessment of how you’re doing things and just give it your best (bawasan the pa-cute and pa-pogi points) or might as well give it a rest. As they say, action speaks louder than (your overly enunciated) words.

 Do we curtail the rights of someone on a hunch (that they might flee), or because they are our enemies, or for pogi-points publicity because they are unpopular? How different is that from resorting to condemnable torture tactics when investigating a terror plot? ‘Tis not much different I suppose. The rule of law, of rights, must apply to all, rich or poor, ordinary citizens, government officials, and past presidents. Otherwise, when the balance is disturbed, justice is compromised and institutions are weakened.

 And so Gloria’s De Lima dilemma is not just hers, it is also ours.

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