26 years after EDSA, where did we go wrong?

This week is the 26th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, and I was to have former Jesuit Father Provincial Fr. Romeo “Archie” Intengan and former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales as guests of my talk show, “Straight from the Sky” to talk about the lessons we can gain from the two EDSA revolts. One thing is sure, more than half of the Filipino people living today were not yet born when we had a People’s Power revolt that reverberated all over the globe. It was indeed a proud time to be Filipino.

But 26 years later, despite five Presidents after the Marcos Dictatorship left in a huff… we’re still a 3rd world country, woefully left behind against the rest of the world. When Guillermo “Bill” Luz, private sector co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council, gave us a report on our competitiveness vis-à-vis ASEAN in Marco Polo Plaza three weeks ago. I approached him and told him straight that if I could move back time and listened to the report he gave, it would be no different. We were behind 26 years ago and we are still behind today, even after listening to the wondrous State of the Nation (SONA) speeches by all our Presidents after Marcos.

The big question to ask is, “Where did we go wrong?” In truth, our badly educated people simply put their trust and confidence in the hands of politicians whose only agenda is selfish lust for political power which brings them money as money assures them of a continued hold on that political power. It’s a catch-22 situation and if we don’t get out of this vicious cycle, we will continue on the same path well into our next generation.

Just ask yourselves, who were in power 26 years ago? Well, in Cebu we still have the Osmeñas who were with the Singsons, the Roxases and the Aquinos who were either all for or against the Marcoses. Those big political names are still around. Now how did they get their political power? By promising our people a better life. Surely by now, the Filipino people have realized that their lives today isn’t much better than what they had 26 years ago. If you went around the countryside, the only Filipinos experiencing a better life are the overseas Filipino workers (OFW), while the politicians get richer.

When President “P-Noy” Aquino was elected president, he presented a new hope for the Filipino that things would be better. Well, he’s been in power now for almost two years and in Cebu, we have yet to get a taste of any infrastructure projects that wasn’t planned by the previous administration. In short, infrastructure development in Cebu stopped in the last two years under the Aquino regime. Nothing therefore is new.

Meanwhile, the Senate Impeachment trial is taking its toll on P-Noy, who is obviously frustrated by the bunglers in the Prosecution, especially when it presented fake documents before the Senator/Judges and lied to the people as to how these documents were acquired. Hence last Friday, P-Noy came up with the PowerPoint presentation in La Consolacion College, which any legal mind would say was sub judice. No participant in an on-going case should be discussing the merits of the case in public for as long as the case is still ongoing. But then who will slap a contempt charge against the President huh? No one is above the law… except P-Noy?

This triggered CJ Corona to come out in the open and threw back charges against P-Noy. But he upped the ante further when he added a rather “taboo” subject when he questioned the President’s mental capacity to lead the country demanding to see his psychiatric records. As expected, the Palace Rasputins immediately responded to this allegation when Abigail Valte over DzRB said, “That story had been peddled and nobody bought it.”

Abigail Valte is dead wrong when she says that nobody bought that story. You can still hear it being discussed in the coffee houses of Manila and Cebu. In fact a cousin of mine gave me an idea of the President’s mental state as it fits a certain criteria of people having the same problem… especially the one lacking social skills.

Remember the 1st National Summit on Criminal Justice last Dec. 5, 2011 with P-Noy as its keynote speaker when he publicly lambasted CJ Corona and a few days later filed impeachment charges against him? Proper decorum or should I say, good manners and right conduct dictates that you should hold your horses when someone you are attacking is right beside you. Now that this issue is out in public, we’d really like to know the real score about the President’s mental state and the people’s right to know is embodied in our Constitution. So let’s open up those records!

*      *      *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]or [email protected]. His .columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com