Hard evidence is, well, hard to come by. These days, when an Administration has almost a perfect score in terms of fighting off all of the allegations thrown at it and have nothing stick, it is a surprise, that many of us have the stomach to take all of it.
Realize this, take some antacid first, because the fact of the matter is that none of the allegations have lead to unseating Arroyo from her seat of power. And in these times, when The Administration has large control over a very partisan government, even in terms of justice, and especially when it comes to many of the Government Departments, I too realize, that we may never get in such a political and government climate ever again, such a climate that President Arroyo has developed and has tried to maintain is almost mind boggling, even George Bush should have tried it himself. It is this infrastructure that has carried this administration through tough, and very rough times. But it is this infrastructure, that has put the wrong people in the wrong places, not for the prosperity of The Filipino people, but for the prosperity of Arroyo’s reign in power.
Now, when the paper trail never seems to lead to The President, the statement innocent until proven guilty, is often cited. And so, We can only hope, that such hard evidence can be had, because even in the time of Nixon, the Watergate scandal came to a full head, once the tapes had been exposed. The ultimate conspiracy lead to the presidency.
But I submit, to you my dear readers, that the cases against President Gloria Arroyo, are strong, very strong, based on command responsibility, based on misappropriated funds, and so much more, but the smoking gun has never been found, except for one, which I mention in the next paragraph. Call it genius, I say it’s something else. You decide. And even when it led straight to the top, it has had to be based on testimony, for example, that of Romulo Neri. He told her about the alleged bribe attempt, she confirmed her knowledge about the NBN deal, in no less than on a radio show, but still, nothing came about.
Even, when the strongest case, election fraud, was brought to The Senate, in the whirlwind that we now know as The Garci Tapes, we still could not deliver a death sentence to this Administration, it was not only a failure of our government, and all those involved, but it was the death of the trust that our people had in this government.
President Gloria Arroyo, blame her all you want, because I certainly do, has built up so many safeguards, has made the political moves, and has the deep political team, and bench, that even in such a time in which Joc Joc Bolante is now testifying before The Senate, she may be a bit nervous, but in the end, she has to know, her machinery, and her political infrastructure will shield her from any form of accountability. Each and every time, she has been cleared, either by witnesses, by government institutions, or by providing another fall guy to take the fall.
It’s a sad realization. That even, while, I am sick to my stomach, watching the Joc Joc hearings, that, nothing seems be coming out of it, that it is important that The Filipino People realize, just as when Neri testified, the messed up system of procurement, appropriation, project planning, etc, that our nation is in.
But, when people close their eyes to such anomalies, declare a saint out of this woman, I take notice, and I take offense, because such denial, such defense, it can no longer can be based on logical reason, but on a mere partisan reaction.
So, we are in a quandry, the obviousness of the whole affair, this affair that we call The Arroyo Administration, as to how to hold her responsible. But we have not the political climate to exact the punishment that is due to her. The strongest hard evidence, The Hello Garci tapes, led to nothing, but a now popular term — “Noted”.
Hard evidence is there, I say, but even putting this aside, the most damning is when you take the bulk of these anomalies, add on to it human rights violations, kidnappings during this regime, and now a resurgent Fertilizer Fund Scam investigation, these all scream Arroyo, and political will is strong to bring her to account, but the numbers, however, and the machinery sides with Arroyo.
In this climate, not even a smoking atomic bomb from any testimony from Joc Joc, I am afraid, will ever unseat our dear Madam President. Got any more antacids?
Tags: corruption, FERTILIZER FUND SCAM, JOC JOC BOLANTE, president gloria macapagal arroyo
well,nick, sometimes I think that BenigNo is right in saying that the Filipino is really NOT worth dying for.
The sad and painful truth is it is still a “numbers game.” Our country’s fate currently depend on the political ties, ambitions, and aspirations of our legislators.
Thank you, nick, ding and the rest of FV for coming up with blog worthy pieces. But can you please tell the moderator of this site to tighten the leash on pro gloria reporter, RJ Cruz? at least, proofread his pieces before posting them? he badly needs an editor. sumasakit ulo ko sa pagsusulat niya.
We don’t nitpick on someone’s writing style because he happens to have a different take from us if we have to give meaning to the ideals of democracy that it is about free market of ideas and their diversities.
The reason why we consider the Bolante senate hearing a flop because we love to present our case before the media and color everything with salacious inuendos and colorful overtones to heigthen our bias against GMA.
We have long telegraphed the deep-seated frustration of the people against GMA and would rather work on this bias and than came with hard evidence to prove the linkage and be complacent that any findings of graft will always lead to Malacanang doorstep, instead of gathering evidence and making our case strong to tie-up Bolante’s fertilizer fund scandal to GMA. We stop at proving the scam and came short of being able to pin down the fault to GMA. Similar to the ZTE-ZBN where the alleged participation of GMA and husband came from the hearsay testimony of Mr. Lozada that Mr. Abalos would want more of the “commission” that would be split with Ma’am and Mike. Any lawyer will tell you that this is double-hearsay.
As always, the Senate will do a sloppy job and it always fault GMA for their inability to extract from Bolante the information it wanted from him that it was “ma’am” who ordered the dispersal of the funds to politicians of the party.
So much media hype came about this fund scam and those with higher political ambitions have already been salivating for power and would use the Senate hearing for soundbites and political mileage without the welfare of the people in mind.
The Senate is as corrupt as the Executive. Some members have been accused of profitting by selling overpriced chunks of properties along the C-5 road. The Joc-Joc Bolante hearing somehow diverts the Senate own corruption to that of the Executive.
But because Bolante did not give the Senate hard evidence of GMA’s participation, we are now arguing that GMA is as liable because of the principle of “command responsibility”. The people already know that and you do not have to conduct a Senate hearing full with media coverage to prove that every appointee of GMA who malversed funds is the responsibility of GMA.
So what is this all brouhaha all about?
You can send Mr. Bolante to jail and that is purely a case for the Department of Justice now, which by the way is chaired also by another political clown.
Nick, suya ka na ba?
The common urban tambay believes that ALL politicians are corrupt. No matter who gets elected s/he will turn out to be corrupt. The people has lost faith in the political system. It should be high time to replace it.
“…The Senate is as corrupt as the Executive. Some members have been accused of profitting by selling overpriced chunks of properties along the C-5 road. The Joc-Joc Bolante hearing somehow diverts the Senate own corruption to that of the Executive.”
jcc sir,
You’re spot on here, but what is highlighted is how three, not just two co-equal branches of government, the judiciary included is in the grip of octupus-like corruption.
Do we wonder why Pat Mangubat popular blog is entitled “New Philippine Revolution”?
Right, Pat?
yup, executives , senate and sc are all corrupt. 90% of them. all blames goes down to the president and the others will get away. every new president will always deal with the old team. success of a new president depends on all of them. It is a cycle that will go on forever unless we will Charter Change or For Federalism. Decentralization of power is a step to our democracy. Don’t be stuck with our old system. We will never get nowhere.
ding,
You were right we have another co-equal branch that is as corrupt, but the discussion on the thread happened to involve on the Exec and the Legislative, and if I get to read between the lines that the SC is also part of the thread above, I would be too happy to put them on equal footing with the two other branches. You know where my bias lies.
On Caffeine_Sparks post, Precariousness of Hope, I officiously borrowed your one liner: “Keep Punching”. I hope I complimented you on that.
jcc,
I’ve been visiting your blog and I do know where you are coming from. Have you considered joining FV? I hope you do. Am sure the other bloggers would welcome you warmly, sir.
[...] let’s hold Arroyo responsible for her alleged deeds since 2001. But then: So, we are in a quandry, the obviousness of the whole affair, this affair that we call The Arroyo [...]
ding,
I am flattered. So how do I join in.
11-14 1:23
[...] cynical those who favor it as a means of replacing a president above all others. As Cocoy wrote in The Political Machinery and Infrastructure Of President Arroyo: But I submit, to you my dear readers, that the cases against President Gloria Arroyo, are strong, [...]
[...] cynical those who favor it as a means of replacing a president above all others. As Cocoy wrote in The Political Machinery and Infrastructure Of President Arroyo: But I submit, to you my dear readers, that the cases against President Gloria Arroyo, are strong, [...]