Well, well, it looks like we really have such short memories! Just several years ago it was then President Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada’s ‘head’ the Street Protesters were shouting for. Erap’s effigy was set ablaze and cuss words reverberated in the air echoing the People’s utter disgust at the way the former President allegedly ran the Government and ‘debased’ the Office of the President with his alleged nocturnal carousing and high-stakes gambling sprees, and his ‘dipping his HANDS’ in ‘Jueteng’, that perennially notorious and illegal numbers game, and the Coco Levy Funds, among other things! Then, just as now, MONEY was the root of the problem. Then, just as now, there were Oppositionists who were dead set, not just on getting at the Truth or ‘Righting a Wrong’ or even stopping Graft and Corruption, but on GRABBING the all-powerful Seat of the Presidency, and all its ‘PERKS’! Then, just as now, The Makati Business Club was one of the PRIME MOVERS demanding the President’s ouster.

        The BIG DIFFERENCE, though, is that now it’s not the President who’s technically ‘at fault’ but her former Comelec Chairman, her Cabinet Secretaries, and her ‘controversial’ husband. The Opposition is thus aware of the fact, that Madame Gloria CANNOT be impeached for the still ALLEGED ‘sins’ of Big Boy Mike, and that all those allegations regarding that ‘obscene’ $130M ABORTED ‘commission’ will constitute mere undocumented ‘HEARSAY’ information; hence their obsession with trying to pin that Airport ‘KIDNAPPING’ on the P.N.P. and now cabinet secretary, Lito Atienza, while getting FREE MEDIA MILEAGE, and virtually trying to Impeach the whole Arroyo Government for that CANCELLED N.B.N.-Z.T.E. Deal with the help of Nationwide T.V. Coverage, in aid of their Political Ambitions, not Legislation!

        This is NOT being written IN DEFENSE of P.G.M.A., her alleged ‘notoriously controversial’ husband, and the embattled and allegedly ‘KLEPTOCRATIC’ Arroyo Government. This is being written in defense of the RULE OF LAW and in the spirit of FAIRNESS to the People in Government who are being pilloried in a Trial by Publicity without any need for any Documented Evidence, somewhat comparable to a vitriolic Kangaroo Court! In fact GREAT FEAR has been the moving factor behind this Opinion Article. Fear for the heightened possibility of creating a ‘monster’ called a Military-Civilian Junta, which will have to govern with the use of Marshall Law! Rep. Crispin Beltran’s proposed CIVILIAN JUNTA is possible but how it will ‘tame’ an allegedly perfidious, mercenary, and similarly ‘corrupt’ Military would be a daunting task which even Marcos, their original ‘trainer,’ failed to accomplish! The way things are going, it really looks like everything is being FAST TRACKED to be able to avoid the 2010 Elections. Mar Roxas, Manny Villar, Dick Gordon, and Loren Legarda, are being duped into joining this Senate Investigation in aid of their Political Ambitions (not Legislation) which, nevertheless, will be cut short should an Economically Destabilizing ‘COMMUNAL MASS ACTION’ succeed!

        The Senate, The Church, and the Civilian Majority, perhaps, don’t realize it yet but they are fast approaching that POINT OF NO RETURN! Jun Lozada’s verbal ‘revelations’ or ALLEGATIONS have inflamed the ‘blood-thirsty’ MOB and the coming days or weeks just might shock us with a needless Communal BLOODBATH! I really hope The Church realizes this grave possibility and accepts part of the responsibility for calling for (but not DEFINING) ‘Communal Action’, which many have understood (to suit their own selfish motives) to mean ‘UPRISING’! ‘Sosmaryosep’! Can you imagine Bishops and Cardinals leading the masses, in a ‘Communal Action’, with candles and crosses, towards MASS SLAUGHTER, like Pied Pipers leading rats to drown in a Sea of Despair?

        Graft and Corruption in and out of Government seems to have become a ‘necessary Evil’, and Bribery has become everybody’s means to expedite transactions and/or get the ‘juiciest’ part of any deal; anybody who has been ‘victimized’ by those virtual ‘Highway Robbers’, the ‘KOTONG COPS’, have been guilty of this ‘accepted’ form of Bribery! Thus, the great Majority is also GUILTY of encouraging the ‘Institutionalized Corruption’ which ALMOST all Congressmen and all the other Politicians concerned are now so palpably ‘SILENT’ about, except for some HYPOCRITES who are trying to take advantage of the Media Mileage, in preparation, perhaps, for 2010!

        Until all the ‘shit’ is dumped on P.G.M.A. herself all these ‘investigations’ and ‘allegations’ will not stop. It seems like some people are so OBSESSED with the Power and the Glory of the Presidency that they will not stop these destabilizing moves until they have Malacanang all for themselves! Once they have kicked P.G.M.A. and her allegedly ‘errant’ husband out, their next move would be to propose the formation of a Civilian Junta composed of Church and Civilian Authority, who, they will say, will be on a ‘Hold Over’ basis, and will serve until the 2010 Elections, or until such time when they shall have gotten rid of all the ‘rats’ in the Government, NOT including those within their fold! Vice-President Noli De Castro must realize that, like P.G.M.A., he is not considered by the Opposition as a legally mandated Official of the Land, because of that ‘Garci Scandal’ and Sen. Loren Legarda’s still vehement refusal to concede to him! Thus, if ever Mr. De Castro seats in Malacanang, it will, definitely, be short-lived.

        Meanwhile, Foreign Investors will be forced to seat out the present Political Turmoil and, consequently, the Economy will suffer! Jun Lozada, the Bicolano Hero of the Moment, cannot be blamed for all his very credible ‘allegations’, but still, the Rule of Law must, in all instances, be respected. The Senate INVESTIGATIVE BODY cannot convict or even pretend to act as a Court of Law, as some non-lawyers like Sen. Lito Lapid, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Sen. Ping Lacson, and Sen. Jingoy Estrada, will agree. The Jun Lozada Drama must definitely be turned over to the Ombudsman, the appropriate Legal Body for ERRING PUBLIC OFFICIALS. Of course, lacking the necessary credibility, due to the fact that ‘Head’ Ombudsman, Merceditas Guttierez, is a Law School classmate of ‘errant’ Big Mike Arroyo, our ‘noble’ Senators SEEM to have decided to ‘bypass’ the Ombudsman, take the Law into their own hands, and pander to the ‘bloodlust’ of the gullible ‘Masa’! A move which they just might terribly regret as future events unfold.

        From my simple standpoint, and if the Senate refuses to turn-over the Lozada Investigation to the appropriate Legal Authority, I guess the next best move is to call for a ‘tranquilizing’ SNAP ELECTION, in order to still preserve the Legal Selective Process, and to prevent some of the obvious Power Hungry elements in our Society from taking advantage of the Political Storm unintentionally created by the ‘Probinsyanong Intsik’ who just wanted to get that heavy load off his chest and for once be HONEST, even if others are not, even if others cannot, and even if others will not! If this is not acceptable, then, I guess, the next best alternative would be to demand for: 1) the EXILE of the First Gentleman to somewhere far enough to prevent him from ever dipping his allegedly ‘dirty hand’ in any Government Transaction again; and 2) the revision and strict ENFORCEMENT of all Laws and Regulations pertaining to the awarding of Government Projects and Contract

        s, including the BIDDING PROCESS, with the primary aim of ELIMINATING, once and for all, that gross, obscene, and ignoble 20-25% commission! IF the Mob Rule nevertheless prevails, then may God have mercy on us all!

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        “If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance”----- George Bernard Shaw

        “There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self”----- Aldous Huxley

        “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave”----- Indira Gandhi