Chacha -- The Dance Within The Dance

t first, I found myself agreeing with Manila Standard columnist Antonio C. Abaya's essay today entitled, Illegal Revolutions, (via MLQ3) -- until I got to the very last paragraph --

"The point is that revolutions of all kinds are, by their very nature, illegal and extra-constitutional, whether they are spectacularly violent or remarkably peaceful, whether they are carried out by civilians or by the military, or by combinations thereof. They are justified by their own success, and nothing else. They are unjustifiable when they fail."

I could not disagree more! Although popular and considered chic in a cynical, triumphalists sort of way, this is essentially a morally bankrupt position that boils down to "The end justifies the means when it comes to regime change."
MORAL ABSURDITIES OF EDSA 2: Are we to accept the absurdities of Edsa 2 because of its success? Are we to accept as legitimate the self-confessed Mutiny of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces because it succeeded in bringing about the 2001 presidential regime change? How can the Philippine Military ever disentangle itself from Politics and professionalize officers and men if it never repudiates Angelo Reyes, who has in fact been rewarded with a succession of Cabinet posts in the regime he helped to install by coup d'etat in 2001. Are we to accept further, the Supreme Court decisions which legitimized that Mutiny, and the veritable coup d'etat executed by Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. on 20 January 2001? Are we to accept that unelected Judges, like those sitting in the Supreme Court now, can, at any time, receive a fax from the Vice President, and on that basis suddenly declare the Presidency vacant, and swear in the vice president as happened at Edsa 2? Does the continuing "success" of Edsa 2 justify the means by which Joseph Estrada was removed from office.

One finds here the very core and durable vestige of the philosophical defense that still exists for Edsa 2 among people like Abaya, and even the "Middle Forces" many of whom are already arrayed against Mrs. Arroyo, who was the true beneficiary and demiurge of that Real Coup d'etat in 2001.

Those who say that the Supreme Court already ruled on these matters ignore the self-evident involvement of the Supreme Court's members in the very action of Edsa 2 itself and the non-impartial, political acts and accomplishments of Davide and Panganiban in those events. History proves that the Supreme Court can reverse any past decision, and as the retrospective hindsight on those events improves with time, hope springs eternal that abominable decisions like Estrada vs. Arroyo (March 2001) and Estrada vs. Desierto (April 2001) will indeed be reversed because they in fact legitimized Mutiny and Coup d'etat as accepted bases for regime change. I guess this lethal philosophy is why many like Tony Abaya feel just fine and comfortable "acquiescing in the result" that Erap was deposed, arrested, thrown in jail, and is now on trial for his life on charges of capital plunder. Having succeeded in ousting Erap because it certainly felt right doing so, people have ignored the fact that other high government officials, primarily Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., Chief of Staff General Angelo T. Reyes, and Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, had wantonly violated the Constitution on the matter of presidential succession. Edsa 2 -- the passage of time makes ever more crystal clear -- was in fact a coup d'etat carried out by the highest officials of the Philippine Military and Judiciary in conspiracy with the political opposition led by the Vice President and the Catholic Church.

These questions are independent of the guilt or innocence of Erap in regards to the crimes of plunder alleged against him (of which I suspect he may actually be guilty), but they have everything to do with the moral dilemma that has paralyzed the Philippine Military because of the actions of people other than Erap, namely Angelo Reyes and Hilario Davide.

I think that we ignore these questions and matters as "water under the bridge" at great peril to our national security, integrity and national sanity, for I believe they stand at the very heart of the political and moral dilemmas that, like a gigantic Gordian Knot, have enveloped and bound the nation.

I see now that Antonio C. Abaya, like the "Middle Forces" who have not yet repudiated the events of 20 January 2001, does not have a moral handle on the Edsa 2 events. He is wallowing in moral and mental chaos over a missing principle, the eternal principle of moral consistency in all things and in all seasons.

Although Antonio C. Abaya is loudly and trenchantly anti-Communist in most of his writing, it appears he shares with the CPP-NPA their own most important article of faith:

The end justifies the means.

It turns out that Mr. Abaya also bought the TIME MAGAZINE story about a coup plot conspiracy from Nelly Sindayen, hook line and sinker, here at Iskandalo Cafe (where the other stuff for sale includes, prominently, Nubra Super padded Featherlite adhesive stick on bra!)

BLAWGER ED LACIERDA may have been a tad overconfident on Ces Drilon's show tonight with Solicitor General Ed Nachura on the phone, discussing the recent People's Initiative "consultations" during the recent weekend Barangay Assemblies. Although it is true that the Supreme has ruled (in Santiago vs. Comelec) that charter amendments via the route of the People's Initiative is unconstitutional without an adequate enabling law, SolGen Nachura promises that there WILL be a Supreme Court case that will bring that decision under review and possible reversal. He points out that when the results of the People's Initiative are submited to Comelec for certification, it will either be rejected (as Comelec nominee Brauner told the Senate today would certainly happen) or, as Ed Nachura hopes, that the Comelec will accept the submission. If it is rejected, SolGen says petitioners will certainly bring it up to the Supreme Court, while if it is accepted, the Opposition will certainly question it. In either case, Ed Nachura chuckles, it will come before the Court of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, who dissented in the case Santiago v. Comelec, and may have his way this time around. The People's Initiative could fly!

SENATOR MAR ROXAS seems to have awakened to the very real likelihood of the Senate's impending extinction. Speaking on ABSCBN News at noontime, Mr. Palengke excoriated the past weekend's "People's Initiative" exercises with a single-minded objective that is indubitably Unicameralism and Marcosian Barangay Assembly tactics as the chosen method.

FIDEL VALDEZ RAMOS, ecdysiast that he is, finally shed the last disguising cover on his cold hand upon the chacha turntable and may have rung alarm bells in the Senate with his strong and open support for the Chacha choo-choo as the way forward. If anything, this development signals open warfare on the Senate by the House of Jose de Venecia, aided and abetted by the Palace and Secretary Ronnie Puno, an old Marcos hand, recently appointed to the Dept of Interior and Local Govt. Mr. Puno is opening his tenure under Mrs. Arroyo by putting a dagger straight at the Senate's heart, pretending it is being wielded at the initiative of 12% of the electorate, the magic number in the "People's Initiative" provision of the Constitution. Despite the absence of an enabling law, the Palace forces are moving ahead with confidence and even aplomb.

SENATOR MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO, intriguingly has gone on "indefinite medical leave." (Coincidence or amor propio?) After all, there may be some things even Miriam may not be willing to surrender or stoop too, as a sign of continuing fealty to the Palace.

CHA CHA CHOO CHOO IS A WIN WIN FOR GMA I can see why President Arroyo would unleash all the forces and resources of government to support the Chacha Choo Choo at this time. With a Second Impeachment being threatened in the Lower House by July, (fortified by all sorts of new charges and allegations since Gloriagate itself got going last June), what better way to muddy the Congress waters and give the legislators something to keep them away from destabilizing thoughts than the keening, ululating dramas and debates of the Chacha Choo Choo? In the end, either people will accept chacha or reject it. If they accept it, GMA figures she will be both Prime Minister and President, with the head of the Senate on a silver platter. If they reject it, so what? The 1987 Constitution still guarantees her a full term until 2010. The fate of this FVR-JDV-orchestrated Chacha however, must be decided long before this year is over, because the 2007 national elections and the preparations and realignments required for that effort cannot be ignored. Perhaps, as soon as the Second Impeachment is dead, so will Chacha be, in the devious calculations of the Palace mind.

UPDATE: A FAINT SIGN OF LIFE IN GREECE The long-dormant weblog of RIGOBERTO TIGLAO, now Ambassador to Greece got a single update in March a link to Paglaban sa Kataksilan.