Coming together

“We must show the People’s Republic of China that the Filipino nation is one in supporting the leadership of the Republic of the Philippines in asserting the sovereign rights of this republic and the Filipino people over the Scarborough Shoal and the Reed Bank, and all the areas the Republic of the Philippines occupies in the South China Sea. This is a national issue that requires the support of the entire nation, and we support the President on this. There should be unanimity of all Filipinos in supporting Malacañang regardless of political persuasion and affiliation on this particular issue.”

So said Juan Ponce Enrile last week. It’s not bad advice, though I have a couple of caveats on it.

One is that I don’t know that Filipinos really need rallying when the Philippines goes to war with other countries, literally or metaphorically. Nothing unites Filipinos more, as seen every time Manny Pacquiao fights his fights, soldier and rebel, administration and opposition, (quarrelling) husband and wife (or mistress) rallying behind him in ways that add whole new dimensions to the concept. More literally, as war goes, nothing unites Filipinos more than joining America—with whom we identify in ways that also add whole new dimensions to the concept—in its wars with the world, as seen in the breathtaking oppression we felt over 9/11 and the even more breathtaking ferocity with which we voiced our support for the US invasion of Iraq.

Two is that I can only hope we don’t go overboard on this, as we tend to do when the Philippines goes to war with other countries, literally or metaphorically. Nothing brings out Filipino chauvinism more, as seen in the anti-Mexican sentiment each time Juan Manuel Marquez battles Pacquiao to a draw, or even beats him. Mexicans are natural cheaters, we cry out. Only a bit more literally, since it’s hardly likely that our war with China will go beyond a war of words, there’s a real worry that our confrontation, or girian, with China could bring out not very latent anti-Chinese sentiments among us. The tenor of some commentaries, particularly in the social media, suggests so. Rolling back decades of progress in dispelling our pogrom or lynch-mob mentality against the Chinese (and Moros), literal or metaphorical.

As fanning its opposite, which is our even less latent pro-American sentiments. With no small help from our own officials, the United States has reassumed the role of protector of little brown brother, making the cry of “I shall return” resound across the islands all over again. Rolling back as well decades of historical reexamination, which have seen sparks of nationalist renewal and calls for a less foreign foreign policy for us.

I myself, however, would rather prefer we united on something far more vital with no downside at all, and am calling for it. Paraphrasing Enrile: We must show Renato Corona, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and all the other scoundrels, past and present, that the Filipino nation is one in supporting the leadership of the Republic of the Philippines in asserting the sovereign rights of the Filipino people to a just rule and a decent life. Fighting corruption is a national issue that requires the support of the entire nation, and we support the President on this. There should be unanimity of all Filipinos in supporting Malacañang, regardless of political persuasion and affiliation, on this particular issue.

To begin with, coming together on this does not preclude coming together in confronting China. But the first holds more life-and-death consequences for us. Of course the nation is at least united in one respect, which is in its belief that Corona has ceased to be fit for the position of chief justice, if at all he was so from the very start. The surveys uniformly show his trustworthiness plummeting to eye-popping lows. A thing Midas Marquez attributes to P-Noy’s relentless battering of Corona, but which really owes to Corona’s relentless clinging to his post, a la Gloria, despite mounting evidence of less than magisterial conduct in his judicial and personal life. His near-universal unpopularity is an oblique endorsement of the President’s crusade against corruption, but we need more direct expressions of it.

This is beyond politics, or should be. You may not agree with government in other respects—I myself disagree with its policy of helping to propagate the myth of “special relations,” as shown by the Balikatan exercises and the Mutual Defense Treaty in general—but you may not disagree with this one. Nothing could be more vital. And nothing could be more galling than the suggestion that P-Noy is fighting corruption only to get back at Corona or to hide his inadequacy in curbing poverty, the latter particularly in light of his predecessor presumably having made huge strides in that direction. If there is anything pure about the

P-Noy administration, it is its fight against corruption. If there is any war the P-Noy administration is waging that we can rally behind heart and mind, body and soul, it is its war to push corruption to the sea.

I have no caveats with an explosion of support for government in this respect. In fact my only caveat, and a quite monumental one, is our not doing it. We will not have an opportunity like this again. No president has dared do this before, not even Cory. And no president will dare do this again, certainly not if Corona is acquitted and Arroyo escapes prosecution. How many opportunities are we going to get? How many times are we going to have a president who is not burdened by political ambition and will exert himself against formidable odds to rid this country of a bane simply because it is the right thing to do?

Some wars are worth expending blood, sweat and tears far more than others.