JEDDAH, 22 July 2005 — Two events that took place this past week in the ongoing crisis surrounding President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her ability to rule effectively and honestly after the “Hello Garci” tapes surfaced, made me wonder if we were becoming a nation of goons.
First, last Saturday, July 16, a delegation of the activist group Migrante visited the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah to protest against President Arroyo and call for her resignation. Signs calling for her ouster were distributed to willing women being sheltered at the consulate’s OWWA center for runaway maids by Migrante’s leader Leo Legaspi. It was then that an OWWA welfare officer decided to lunge at Legaspi, punching him in the face. A scuffle ensued in which Legaspi fell down to the ground and was hit, kicked and generally mauled by several consulate employees. He managed to also hit back and was only saved from further violence after several women formed a protective barrier around him, allowing him to escape to the safety of the consul general’s office in the main building.
Legaspi had to be taken out of the consulate compound on board a consular car to avoid the group of goonish-looking men who were waiting for him. The latest that we heard, however, is that one of his colleagues was also mauled as he left the consulate on that same day.
Now I hear that upon instructions from Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo security at the consulate has been tightened so as to avoid a repetition of such an incident.
What is so sad about this incident is that the attack was initiated by a consulate employee, and not the visitor. What have we come to? Is a Filipino no longer safe even in his own consulate? What a shame!
Some observers have tried to excuse the violence against Legaspi by saying that he and his group should never have tried to stage a protest in Saudi Arabia, where such demonstrations are banned. I say, the Philippine Consulate is considered Philippine territory, and the last I heard it is legal to demonstrate in the Philippines. Okay, so Legaspi didn’t ask consulate officials for permission to protest, but does that mean he should have been mauled? I don’t think so! In any event, I’m sure his mini-protest would have been over in a few minutes and should have been allowed to take place in the Philippine tradition of maximum tolerance when it comes to allowing diverse political opinions to be expressed.
I just hope that the consulate officials who were involved in the mauling are punished for such unacceptable behavior and that the safety of all visitors to the consulate can be guaranteed in the future.
THE second event that caused me to pause and wonder where the political discourse was going in the Philippines was when Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez in a television interview last week warned former President Corazon Aquino to take care of her daughter TV host Kris Aquino instead of meddling in politics.
This thinly veiled threat came after Cory Aquino issued a statement urging President Arroyo to resign for the sake of the nation. As the most honest and respected president since the Marcos regime, Cory’s pronouncements carry immense moral and political weight, which must account for the lashing out at her by Arroyo supporters.
What was so sad and creepy about this warning to Cory was that it came from the justice secretary, not a senator or representative in Congress. An appointed Cabinet member should not be making partisan political statements defending President Arroyo. That should be left to other people. The justice secretary should be serving all Filipinos, and not some narrow political interest.
Gonzalez has apologized for his comments, but the apology seemed insincere to me, cooked up to just calm the stormy waters. He should have never opened his mouth to say what he did. It was a mistake and very unstatesman-like.
Corruption Parallels
I’VE just come back from vacation in Brazil where I visited my mother and attended a high school reunion.
The parallels between the corruption scandals currently swirling around Brazilian President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva and President Arroyo are uncanny.
The Brazilian Congress is investigating charges that Lula’s Worker’s Party paid monthly stipends of $12,000 a month a head to legislators from other parties to support government initiatives in Congress. The money to fund such a bribery scheme was allegedly diverted from such state-controlled enterprises such as the Correios (the post office).
Throughout an avalanche of testimony by various politicians confirming the corruption, President Lula has maintained that he didn’t know of the bribery scheme, and even cried on national television to press home his alleged innocence.
The truth of the matter is that most Brazilians believe the corruption charges as they know full well that the Workers’ Party, or the PT as it is called in Portuguese, does not have a majority of seats in Congress needed to pass legislation. Thus, Lula’s party has been forced to share power with the PMDB party and the Liberal party to get legislation passed.
In the latest reshuffle of his cabinet, Lula has given control of two more ministries to the PMDB, a meek attempt at diverting attention from the corruption scandal.
Most Brazilians that I spoke to told me that they had voted for Lula in the hope that the ultimate non-politician would make a difference for the nation. Sadly, the former labor leader has proven himself to be just as corrupt, if not more so, than traditional politicians.
A feeling of sadness and disappointment in Lula and his cohorts is prevalent in Brazil today, not too different from the feelings that Filipinos have toward President Arroyo and the hopes that she once embodied.
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