Some acts of “Kagitingan”

As I hit my computer keyboard yesterday afternoon to write this article, Christian Anthony, my grandson asked me why there was no work in her lola Carmen's desktop publishing business. He is used to seeing my lady leave home for the shop early in the morning. When I told him that it was a public holiday, his reaction showed what I eventually realized. Our Araw Ng Kagitingan is seemingly celebrated with less fervor with each passing year. It is maybe because the hard core Bisaya in me does not quite understand the Tagalog word "Giting" which I think is the root from which kagitingan devolved.

Then, I began to imagine that kagitingan, to be truly meaningful, is some courage to do what is not personally easy. When a person does something, not because he is compelled to do so but because he believes that what he is doing is just and proper, he approximates the symbolism of the Araw ng Kagitingan. So, apropos to that, let me enumerate a wish list of sort, of few acts of bravery or courage that should fall within the context of our legal holiday yesterday.

1. It is going to be an unquestionable act of courage should Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla, and Jinggoy Estrada (why don't I know the true names of these last two senators?) resign from their senate seats upon the filing of the criminal information for plunder against them by the Ombudsman.

It is true that until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt, these senators and their supposed cohorts are presumed innocent of the serious charges of the highest form of corruption leveled against them. This means that they do not have even to do anything to show their innocence. It is their constitutional protection. Government prosecutors need to establish by a quantum of evidence called proof beyond reasonable doubt before any form of penalty may be meted against them.

Amidst this legal principle of presumed innocence, it may be worth considering that before the Ombudsman shall have eventually filed the information, there was an investigative process that was followed. I like to believe that the investigators exerted an incredible amount of care in doing their job specially that the parties involved are high ranking government officials and influential personalities. While such investigation was not as tedious as a court proceeding, it resulted into the finding of probable cause against the senators and other persons.

What does this "probable cause mean"? Without any legalese, it means that there is the probability that Senators Enrile, Revilla, and Estrada might have probably misused the PDAF for their own personal advantage. In other words, while they are constitutionally presumed innocent, there is the probability that they did the act complained of. That being the case, it is a display of courage for them to let go of the perks of senators and face the trial as ordinary citizens.

2. It will likewise be an act of courage for Congressman Ruben Ecleo, Jr., to surrender himself and serve his sentence. At the beginning of the prosecution, he professed innocence. Yes, there were bloody detours during the highly publicized hearing but each time blood was shed, he denied any hand. The congressman was accorded a fair trial. From where I sit, it was in fact, more fair to him than to the prosecution. When the court found him criminally liable for the offense he was accused of, that decision has been rendered pyrrhic by the congressman's cowardly act of escaping arrest. It will not be personally easy for him, but surrendering himself and going to prison is certainly his act of kagitingan.

3. Finally, I will address this call to that group called "cause oriented". I refer to those fellow citizens who take to the streets for any perceived wrong government doing.   It will be their act of kagitingan for them to start daily mass actions to denounce the recent acts of China in bullying our country. These cause-oriented groups are great researchers.  I am sure that they can detail the international law violations committed by this super power against us. When they do that, I will do my best to be with them.

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