Patriot act

When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the antidemocrat in general.”

Those were the words of American senator J. William Fulbright, delivered on Feb. 2, 1954, in ringing denunciation of the actions of his fellow senator, Joseph McCarthy, whose years-long campaign to root out alleged communists and subversives in the American government would become notorious for gross abuse of power and the destruction of the lives and careers of hundreds of ordinary citizens.

McCarthy hauled individuals before Congress and other government agencies, questioning their patriotism and loyalty with inquisitorial zeal, and deploying investigative methods that were later repudiated by the courts. In time, “McCarthyism” became shorthand for “a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations” (lexico.com).

One remembers McCarthy’s bullying methods in the grotesque direction the legislative hearing on the ABS-CBN franchise application has taken in the House of Representatives. On June 8, 1-Sagip Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, who has emerged as the most rabid opponent of granting the media network a new franchise by rehashing long-settled allegations and hogging the hearing for days on end, suddenly asked ABS-CBN chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez to prove his Filipino citizenship by reciting the first line of “Panatang Makabayan,” the patriotic oath Filipino children learn early in school. Clearly frustrated that none of his cavils was gaining traction, Marcoleta now grasped at malicious straws: “Ganito na lamang po para matapos tayo sa issue ng allegiance… Mawalang-galang na po, Mr. Lopez, pwede ba naming hilingin sa inyo na i-recite ninyo ’yong unang linya ng Panatang Makabayan?”

Lopez, nonplussed, complied, reciting, “Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas.”

The McCarthyist moment was surreal—and sickening. Before this, Marcoleta had invoked a long list of supposed legal violations by the network that had all been debunked by concerned government agencies themselves. Tax dues? The Bureau of Internal Revenue said ABS-CBN was “regularly filing and paying their taxes”—P14.3 billion in 2016-2019. Standing penalties with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)? “None,” said NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba. The Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) cited by Solicitor General Jose Calida and Marcoleta as evidence that ABS-CBN was not 100-percent Filipino-owned? “When the PDRs of ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. were issued based on prevailing law, the rule of the SEC at that time is there’s no transfer of ownership,” clarified SEC Commissioner Ephyro Luis Amatong.

As for Marcoleta’s charge that ABS-CBN’s franchise was limited to only 50 years, 1987 Constitution framer Christian Monsod handily demolished that claim. “Not only did he cite the wrong provision, but he also had a wrong interpretation of the wrong provision,” said Monsod.

Thus stymied at every turn on regulatory issues, Marcoleta opted for the low blow by going personal—subjecting a Filipino citizen to an extraordinary test of ritual patriotism before the public, all because Lopez had acquired accidental American citizenship, on top of his Filipino one, by virtue of having been born in the United States. Not only had Marcoleta turned himself into the resident House troll with his strident, dilatory campaign of dissembling and obfuscation against a Filipino company that had put faith in the sense of fairness, reason, and probity by the House of Representatives to consider its case. Now he was acting as the avatar of fealty to country, the arbiter of what’s genuinely Filipino or not—the ability to recall from memory the “Panatang Makabayan” apparently being one such gauge in his book.

And yet, as ABS-CBN reporter Mike Navallo would uncover in a crack piece of investigative work, Congress records show Marcoleta’s name is in the list of sponsors of a bill that would allow Filipino citizens with dual citizenship to run for public office without renouncing their foreign citizenship. And he was also a principal author of the bill renewing GMA-7’s franchise, despite GMA-7 having issued PDRs in the same language ABS-CBN did. For calling him out on his patriot act—underscoring why independent media is anathema to glib politicians—Navallo was branded by Marcoleta as “un-Filipino.” (Shades of McCarthy, indeed.)

It’s fitting at this point to throw at Marcoleta the words Joseph Welch spoke to McCarthy when the senator tried to smear yet another American, a young man named Fred Fisher, then working in Welch’s law firm: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”