Editorial cartoon, December 01, 2011
It should not be a surprise that the “Hello Garci” election fraud controversy has again cropped up in a Senate investigation. The controversy involving tapped phone conversations between “Ma’am” and “Garci” is one among many unfinished businesses that clouded Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration, but was particularly scandalous, and sufficiently rocked the boat, as to force her to deliver an apology on national TV in June 2005.
As stories about corruption, crime and violence continue to hog the limelight like telenovelas gone awry, we become filled with disgust and search for answers to the question, how have we come to this? But out there are countless stories of hope that remain untold simply because we choose to look at the noisier, bloodier, sexier, more scandalous and titillating side of things.
Not to be outdone, Edcel Lagman has come up with his two-cents’ worth too. There’s history, he says, to argue for putting his favorite non-president under house arrest. The list of famous and infamous people who met with that fate includes Augusto Pinochet, Paris Hilton, Nikita Khrushchev, Aung San Suu Kyi and Galileo Galilei.
Heroes are different from statesmen because while statesmen acquire their authority from political decisions, that of heroes comes from public esteem. Heroes become the exemplars of civic virtue because they consecrate their lives to the pursuit of the common good. For them, the purpose of politics is to form citizens who have the will and the capability to work for the future of an entire community. Statesmen are often drawn from the ranks of heroes, but what ultimately sets them apart is not their heroic quality but their adeptness in the ways of modern politics.
Tomorrow I’ll be 29. I can’t help feeling nostalgic at the moment. Looking back, I’m convinced I’ve been so blessed.
You’d have to visit Hacienda Luisita to realize how vast it is, why it’s been a symbol not only of elite rule in our country but of its hypocrisy and powers of deceit. It’s the biggest hacienda in the country, with a total area of 64.4 square kilometers—nearly as big as the cities of Manila and Makati combined.
It is good that the Supreme Court’s decision finally granting the Hacienda Luisita farmers the right to own the lands they till is unanimous. It is good that not one of the justices appointed by President Aquino dissented, even as the President’s personal interest in the issue is not something to sneeze at. Otherwise, the “moral skepticism”—this attitude of doubt or disposition to incredulity, this suspended judgment, this seemingly systematic doubt or criticism—toward recent Supreme Court rulings, would have persisted to be the pathetic jinx it need not be.
Neal Cruz had it all figured out: During her nine-year presidency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did all she could to ensure her protection from anticipated legal problems once she was out of power.
There are two schools of thought involving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Pasay City and the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Clark, Pampanga. One is for the sale of Naia and the retention of the Clark airport. The other is for the retention of the two international airports.
What do we know of Andres Bonifacio, whose 148th birthdate we commemorate today? Ask any school pupil the question, and the answer would probably be a puzzled look or a sheepish grin.
