SHEDDING
THE LIGHT OF TRUTH ON CURRENT PHILIPPINE REALITIES:
RECOVERING
THE SPIRIT OF DR. JOSE RIZAL’S NOLI ME TANGERE:
REJECTING
MORAL CORRUPTION, PROMOTING MORAL VIRTUE
February
22, 2011
The
Social Cancer in Rizal’s Time and in Our Time
In
1886 our national hero Dr. José Rizal wrote his immortal Noli Me
Tangere. In his introduction to the novel he affirmed that he
aimed to raise a part of the veil covering the social cancer that was
causing Philippine society to sink ever deeper into colonial bondage,
ignorance, disease, and destitution. This social cancer was a
pernicious socio-economic and political system that fed on the
ignorance, incompetence, corruption, and hypocrisy of a critical mass
of the Spanish colonialists and their native collaborators who ruled
the Philippines at that time.
Today
our country is in a similar situation. Under the rule of an
administration that promised to take the path of righteousness and
reform, our country and our people are suffering from a social cancer
like that denounced by Rizal. Because of that social cancer, the life
of ordinary Filipinos—the middle class and especially the poor--is
not any better, and in fact is becoming more difficult and more
dangerous. Even the rich are less and less secure in their persons
and possessions.
Why
have conditions in our country come to be this way? Things have
become this way because the leaders of the political establishment
who control the government of our country today are guilty of
incompetence and corruption. Deceitfully concealed by ostentatious
pronouncements dripping with hypocrisy, they unintentionally and
unwillingly reveal their incompetence and corruption by their use of
evasive discourse and inconsistent attempts an explanation.
This
incompetence and corruption is not just in terms of specific areas of
governance. It has gone to the point of wantonly manipulating the
electoral institutions and processes which are the very foundation of
the democratic way of life that our people have chosen, in order to
maintain the illusion of a massive and uncontestable electoral
mandate.
Incompetence
of the Administration
The
incumbent administration has revealed itself as incompetent. It
gravely mishandled the Luneta hostage crisis of August 2010. Its
bizarre moves in foreign affairs have unnecessarily offended Taiwan
while earning the contempt of China. This administration is unable to
contain the increasing incidence of crime that now kills and injures
even the wealthy. It cannot capture high profile persons wanted by
the law, who are just hiding within the country. In relation to the
peace negotiations with extremist insurgent groups, it has granted
them unwarranted concessions that have gravely weakened the
negotiating position of the government. The recent capture of top CPP
and NPA leaders was achieved by conscientious and competent elements
within the AFP and the PNP, not because of, but rather in spite of
the thrust of this administration’s policy in relation to the
insurgencies.
The
societal damage inflicted by the incompetence of the political
establishment running the government is worsened by a mean, petty,
self-righteous, and mentally dishonest attitude and mode of
actuation, typically seen in their divisive treatment of the officer
corps of the AFP and the PNP, and the intelligence community as well,
reducing the effectiveness of these institutions. This mean, petty,
dishonest, and self-righteous attitude is shown by their repudiating
or dismantling of even the good policies and programs of past
administrations, and attempting to take credit for some of the
achievements of these past administrations.
Corruption
of the Administration
This
administration has shown itself to be corrupt, and with that
corruption they are burdening our people with more hardship. This
corruption is shown in many ways. One is the coddling of incompetent
persons who were given high government positions, and when unable to
perform up to standards, are retained in their positions or sent
abroad for schooling in the knowledge and skills of the job they were
appointed to. Foisting upon the people a government by improvisation,
which spends the
people’s
money to no good result, is indeed corruption. Then there is the
rampant smuggling in major ports outside the Metro Manila. Its
increasing the size of the graft-ridden pork barrel is of a piece
with its other corrupt practices.
In
addition, jueteng remains rampant as ever, and will soon be concealed
under the guise of the so-called Loterya. This is not surprising
since one of the high officials being coddled by the top person of
this administration has been caught by the Senate dealing with a top
jueteng magnate, after an attempt by a blatant lie to deny any such
contact. Lately information has surfaced of public officials
belonging to the ruling party engaging in illegal logging, often in
collusion with insurgent forces,
ironically
with the toleration of an administration that claims to have taken
the righteous path.
There
is also the matter of gifts of intimate personal favors and expensive
cars. Receiving these is indeed corruption, as willy-nilly these will
affect decisions on public policies and appointments. The moral
culpability of receiving these favors and gifts forbidden by law is
worsened by evasiveness and inconsistent explanations as to the real
source and motive of these favors and gifts.
Moreover
this administration, supposed to be a paragon of honesty, has
appointed to head the COMELEC a person reputed to be one of the
handful of most crooked election-fixing lawyers in this country. In
one of his first public pronouncements this Chairman of the COMELEC
made the unconscionable proposal to purchase the PCOS machines from
Smartmatic, for an amount that COMELEC insiders describe as a huge
overprice. One would think that when this self-righteous
administration came to power, the days of tongpats were over,
but obviously this is not the case.
The
Administration and the Grave Crime of Manipulating the Electoral
System
Arguably
the most serious crime of this administration and its enablers is the
manipulation—partly consummated, partly ongoing—of electoral
institutions and processes. This crime strikes at the heart of the
real democracy that the Filipino people aspire for. This
administration is deliberately concealing the grave anomalies in the
May 2010 elections, to convey the impression that it has an
indisputable, massive, or landslide mandate. It is moving to put the
COMELEC under its control through the appointment as Chairman or
Commissioners of persons who are tainted by corruption or are
unsuitable because of partisan connections with the appointing
authority.
This
administration’s manipulation of the electoral system has prominent
elements of disrespect for the rule of law. Take for example its
silence and inaction in the face of grave violations of election laws
by the COMELEC, pointed out in clear and vehement terms by prominent
members of the information and communications technology community
and of civil society, and even by some well-known pro-administration
figures. The consummated manipulation of the electoral system, in
large part perpetrated electronically on a massive scale, with at
least the acquiescence of the present administration, is an ethical
enormity that dwarfs the evil of the “Hello, Garci” episode,
because it allowed and will allow fraud on a gigantic scale and in a
manner difficult to detect and even more difficult to rectify by the
vast majority of ordinary citizens who are unacquainted with
information and communications technology and the nefarious workings
of many COMELEC officials.
Moral
Corruption and Hypocrisy of the Present Administration
Perhaps
the most lamentable fault of this administration, reminiscent of the
Pharisees of biblical notoriety, is hypocrisy. This administration
has deliberately cultivated a pretended image of personal honesty,
integrity, and competence, while concealing much dishonesty,
corruption, and incompetence. It has become very much like the
whitened sepulchers castigated in the Bible. This concealment is in
some cases abetted, in other cases unknowingly aided, by media
outlets and practitioners. Some of the latter are complicit in
deceit, others are mesmerized by the illusion of virtue projected by
the regime, and still others are insufficiently informed.
The
Catholic bishops of the Philippines, in a pastoral letter issued last
January 30, 2011, rightly condemned “moral corruption,” in the
sense of gross disrespect toward authentic human values and Filipino
cultural values regarding human life. The present administration,
elected on a promise of righteousness, of reform, of putting an end
to corruption, is also guilty of a related form of moral corruption,
of which hypocrisy is the characteristic feature. This hypocrisy is
being acted out by this administration in many ways, including its
biased and prejudiced choices of issues and persons to be
investigated and prosecuted, on one hand, and to be concealed and
protected, on the other hand.
The
Present Administration Is Not Delivering on Its Promises
This
early in its term, this administration shows clear signs that it
cannot deliver on the promise of rooting out corruption and relieving
the people of penury and hardship. What this administration is
bringing about is mediocre and therefore insufficient aggregate
economic growth, deteriorating socio-political conditions, worsening
lawlessness, and increased insurgent recruitment and activity.
Under
this administration we cannot expect the country to attain economic
takeoff toward well-distributed national prosperity. Nor can we
expect the country to advance toward attaining our basic
securities—such as defense, internal security, food, water,
energy--as a nation. Our national life will become even more
degraded, for hypocrisy is now added to misgovernment, thus delaying
insight and indignation on the part of the citizenry, while more
damage is done to our nation. This dangerous trend of events will
continue until the time when a critical mass of our citizenry
discover that indeed this administration feeds on the social cancer
that is draining away the strength and life of our country. God
forbid that by that time our citizenry awaken to the harm perpetrated
by the incumbent administration, the damage to our country’s
viability and prospects for prosperity would be irreversible.
So
that Our Nation May Have Abundant Life--Tearing Off the Veil of
Hypocrisy and Taking the Road of Sincerity and Truthfulness
As
Dr. Jose Rizal did in his own time, let us tear off the veil of this
hypocrisy concealing the evils inflicted on our nation, and expose
the cancer that gnaws at the vital organs of our society. Let us
unite to perform the radical surgery that will excise this social
cancer and to begin the restoration of our country’s collective and
societal health. It is time that we put an end to the moral
corruption of the political establishment. It is time that we inform
the public of the real situation of our country and the truth of the
public issues being debated in Philippine society today.
Let
us accompany our people as they take the road of sincerity and
truthfulness, the road that will bring prosperity, health, and
education to our nation. Let us rid ourselves of the present
death-dealing system, and make our own a kind of politics and
governance that works for the common good and therefore gives
abundant life to our people . Together let us vigorously promote the
honesty, creativity, competence, and perseverance that can instill
enthusiasm, discipline, and a strong and deep sense of nation among
our people.
For
our survival as a nation, for the good of our families and friends,
for the future of prosperity and honor that our people deserve, by
all means let us end moral corruption by removing the leaders who
embody and perpetuate the present system. But more important than
that, let us unite to propagate moral virtue by working for a change
of system, not just a change of leaders.
Let
our united pursuit of justice, truth, and integrity be authentic
because we carry out this task comprehensively, and without
unwarranted bias and without prejudice. Let us unite in working to
carry out thoroughgoing reform not by negative moves rendered harmful
by self-aggrandizing grandstanding, but rather by positive and
productive moves that while correctly insisting on individual
responsibility, nevertheless emphasize institutional and systemic
change.
By
empowering the marginalized majority of our people, let us help bring
about a situation of equal societal power to all citizens. In this
way we will carry out a social revolution that will establish and
consolidate an authentic democracy—one in which all citizens enjoy
formal equality under the law rendered effective for the common good
by equality of real societal power.
In
sum, let us unite for a Philippines whose people and society are
free, prosperous, healthy, educated, and respected in the community
of nations.
