One final service to the nation

Justice and "weather-weather" are two different things. Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cannot get any justice under the Aquino regime. If she can accept that fact, then I guess it is time she gives up. And then pray for "weather-weather."

 Arroyo should stop asking for house arrest. That will only delay the inevitable. Her fate having already been preordained by President Aquino and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Arroyo would only be prolonging her agony by clutching at straws.

 What Arroyo should do is proceed to the nearest detention center and offer herself up for incarceration. In fact she should go there on her wheelchair, through the streets of the Metro. If it creates a spectacle, at least she goes away in style.

 Arroyo can waive her defense and ask to be proclaimed guilty promptly. She is going to be proclaimed guilty anyway. Only when behind bars can she start wishing for "weather-weather" to pluck her from misery, the way it once did for another former president, Joseph Estrada.

 "Weather-weather" can come in a hurry. Or it can come in a long time. But it will come. And when it comes, those that were wrong will stay wrong. Those that were right but were wronged will be righted. Those that are right will of course remain right.

 That is the beauty of "weather-weather." It is poetic justice untouched by human hands. The will of fate has the wisdom of God written all over it. It cannot be questioned. It cannot be contested. Coming unbidden, it will come with the swift swishing of cold steel.

 Submitting herself to her preordained fate under the Aquino regime, in fulfillment of nothing more edifying than a political campaign promise, Arroyo can do the nation one final act of good in the interest of public service. Even if she may not know it.

 By submitting herself, she can eliminate the one great obstacle that has hindered Aquino from doing his job as president of 100 million Filipinos. With Arroyo behind bars, Aquino will no longer have any reason to close his eyes to the other things that demand his full attention.

 Now Aquino will have to really work. He will have to be tested for his true worth. For presidents are not elected to put political opponents in jail, no matter how perceptively corrupt and unpopular. They are elected to lead a nation and look after the interests of its people.

 The only reason Filipinos tolerated Aquino in his distracted orgy with Arroyo is because Filipinos have a weakness for sensation, scandal and showbiz. If you do not believe me, go ask yourself why the breakup of KC Concepcion and Piolo Pascual is making primetime headlines.

 More mature nations with a lot more common sense have presidents that would have allowed the wheels of justice to run their due course with people like Arroyo without having to undergo the embarrassing spasms of official executive interference.

 Allowing the law to run its course gives the law dignity and strength. More importantly, it frees up the mind and energies of presidents to do precisely what they have been elected to do. That is why nations like these are able to move forward and progress.

 But look at us here in the Philippines. We are already closing in on the second year of Aquino. And all that the entire nation has been able to do so far under his leadership is gaze at the mug shots of Arroyo, braces and all.

 So, okay, we have arrested and charged a perceptively corrupt former president. But is that all? Is that all we have got to show as a nation? What about our lives as we expect to live under a supposed new regime of change? Have our lives changed?

Again, Arroyo should wheel herself to jail. That is the only way Aquino can get his mind off his obsession and start doing his real job as leader of the nation. With four more years and time running short, who knows but "weather-weather" might start breathing down his neck.