Call For “Liberators”; Cautionary Words

26 Responses to “Call For “Liberators”; Cautionary Words”

1. Blackshama on October 30th, 2008 9:09 pm

   They want a Joan of Arc?
   They want an El Cid?

   Will they opt for Bayani the Great,the Terror and Liberator?

2. philman on October 30th, 2008 9:53 pm

   I’d say the bishops’ call is too late the hero and with a hidden agenda: blocking the passage reproductive health bill.

   Is there new evidence about grand corruption, since Lozada’s expose? I’d day these frocked men are riding on the big media event of Bolate’s return.

   Think about it.

3. jcc on October 30th, 2008 10:28 pm

   The call of the CBCP for radical change and moral regeneration in the face of crisis is not a call for power grab but for moral reawakening and it is understandable that the most corrupt in us shudder at the idea because they have no morality to speak of in the first place.

   Justice Puno is the most hideous and hypocritical Chief Justice the Supreme Court had ever had based on my personal experience. http://jcc34.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/an-open-letter-to-chief-justice-reynato-s-puno/

   GMA called the CBCP call as seditious. . Incidentally, the people in the corridors of power are the most treasonous and individuals in the life of our Republic and not the Church or CBCP.

   I have this entry in my book.

   “The grievous treason and subversion committed against the motherland was perpetrated not by the murderous thugs and misguided elements of our society, but by the very people in the corridors of power, who paradoxically, were sworn to uphold the law and be the zealot guardians of its citadel.”

   “The termites of our society were having a field day.”

   I would have entrusted this Republic to the CBCP rather than have our present crop of our politicians continue ravaging and plundering our coffers and our justices undermining our political institutions.

   Nor would I opt for the likes of Senator Honasan and Senator Trillanes.

   I hope the CBCP finds its own Charlemagne who said:

   “Our task is, with the aid of divine piety, to defend the Holy Church of Christ with arms…Your task, most holy father, is to lift up your hands to God, like Moses, so as to aid our troops.

   Or the CBCP finds the legendary “King Arthur” who will establish our own version of Camelot so we can have “’one brief shining hour of glory, morality, and justice”.

4. The EQualizer on October 30th, 2008 10:32 pm

   We live in the best of times and in the worst of times. It applies to our country today.

5. Blackshama on October 31st, 2008 1:41 am

   Will the Queen say “Who will rid me of these turbulent priests?”

   Things will really get interesting if Gloria does a Henry II!

6. Bencard on October 31st, 2008 2:07 am

   jcc, to paraphrase Jesus, let he, among us, who is pure and unsullied in heart and soul, be the first to judge “the murderous thugs and misguided elements of our society”. anyone? please step up.

7. jcc on October 31st, 2008 2:44 am

   bencard,

   you lost me there. the SC is the most self-righteous entity in this Republic.

   the executive and legislative sometimes are self-righetous and at the same time corrupt. but the beauty of these two branches of government, the people, if they act ideally can boot everyone of them out of office.

   a corrupt jurist (in the SC) is practically free from public accountability, and he is life-tenured.

   i have no objection at all at the self-righteous CBCP, if i have to follow my religious bias.

8. Bencard on October 31st, 2008 2:52 am

   that’s the point, jcc. no one but no one is qualified. then, again who says this is a perfect world?

9. jcc on October 31st, 2008 3:49 am

   no one is striving for an ideal world, only a livable world. but simply because we cannot achieve a perfect world we should just continue with our complacency and be content with the thieving and pillaging in our Republic?

   If you think that the CBCP has no moral authority to issue the Statement calling for moral regeneration, who else then has? I think that the CBCP whose membership does not in anyway burden the public treasury unlike our bureaucrats, would enjoy some degree of acceptable sanctimonious posture than our government functionaries, only if you agree in the premise that there is some terribly wrong the way we run our government.

10. Bencard on October 31st, 2008 4:09 am

    statement or no statement, it is everybody’s personal responsibility “to do good and avoid evil”. what moral authority? each to his/her own soul to save or lose.

    in a meterial sense, only the “rule of law” can ensure a “livable world”.

11. jcc on October 31st, 2008 5:24 am

    blogging is one form of statement akin to the CBCP statement. we won’t allow the CBCP to make a statement but non-entities like us would wish to make a statement 24/7.

12. DJB on October 31st, 2008 5:46 am

    The Catholic Church is the largest NGO in the country. It’s leading body, the CBCP, is prone to periodic outbursts of moral outrage, social commentary and doctrinal nonsense, often in some confusing mixture and depending on the situation.

    Yesterday’s pronouncements tap into a genuine vein of anger over the Fertilizer Fund Scam (over which the Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez ought to be impeached for dereliction of duty amounting to loss of public trust.)

    The Bishops are right to focus on CORRUPTION in govt as a root of many other problems, including poverty and overpopulation, as well as a general loss of public trust in public institutions and authorities.

    But, the Catholic Bishops are wrong to call for another Edsa Dos style people power overthrow scenario–complete with a fawning, winking hint from Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz to Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Chief of Staff of the AFP General Alexander Yano to perhaps do an Edsa Dos deja vu.

    Lagdameo and Cruz both know exactly what happened the last time the Catholic Church and Cardinal Sin put mind and energies to the overthrow of a sitting duly-elected President of the Republic, who was being tried by the Senate Impeachment Court but received a vote of virtual acquittal on Tuesday, 16 January 2001 from the Craven Eleven.

    On Friday, 19 Jan 2001 the AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Angelo T. Reyes declared and commited mutiny before a hooting throng, and on live TV, on 19 Jan 2001, though the polite term now for his crime is “withdrawal of support”.

    Finally, on Saturday, 20 Jan 2001 Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. magically appeared before that same Hooting Throng to swear in Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, upon her faxed-in invitation claiming that the duly elected President Joseph Estrada was on that morning “permanently incapacitated.”

    Amando Doronila’s book records that that fax arrived at the Padre Faura offices of the Supreme Court at 11:26 am. 20 Jan 2001. By 12:30 pm, slightly an hour later, after leaping into a waiting taxi cab, Hilario Davide was administering the Oath of Office to GMA!

    This is the fantasy of deja vu Oscar Cruz is having by fawning and winking at General Alexander Yano and Chief Justice Reynato Puno. It’s shameless, yet naive.

    But it is hard to BE the Catholic Church, which always tries to DO the good and right thing, on one hand but must bear the awesome intellectual weight of Faith and Tradition, too. And Politics. For the RCC is also the largest political party in the Country, of which Lakas, Kampi, LDP, UNO, Nacionalista, Liberal, et al, are mere factions.

    Organized Religion is big business. The CBCP is the local franchise of the best global brand: Roman Catholicism.

13. Ding G. Gagelonia on October 31st, 2008 6:18 am

    My beef with the bishops is how they have all these years been, in a real sense, blind to the apparent shenanigans while being plied with government dole outs. Now that they see the surveys reporting the regime’s unpopularity, they suddenly ‘discover’.

    I’ve witnessed on many occasions in the past how they vacillated and even ridiculing those waging lonely battles to open the eyes of our countrymen.

    Kung may mga naganap at nagaganap pang kabalbalan sa serbisyo publiko. itinuturing ko silang kasapangkat na rin.

14. Patricio Mangubat on October 31st, 2008 7:45 am

    Let’s just say that they already realized that it is time for them to really say their piece and act. Discernment takes a long time. Even in the struggle against Marcos, it took Cardinal Sin some 17 years before he finally stood up against his former friend.

    As we tell ourselves before, ” Kung hindi ngayon, kailan? Kundi tayo, sino?”. Why do we blame them for realizing that the time to act is now? Simply because at the time we need them, they’re nowhere to be found? Are we blaming them for the long time it took for them to make that shining discernment?

    The fantasy of a revolution is actually, not a fantasy at all. As the Equalizer said, we live in best and worst of times. And in these times, whether it’s late in the day or not, the important thing is we finally arrived at the decision to oust her before 2010. There is a reason for that which I’m not at liberty to reveal.

    Now, do we foresee another EDSA dos in the horizon? No. Do we see a similar withdrawal of support from the AFP to bring about change? No. We don’t need that. Do we see a succession that would involve a pretentious Chief Justice? No. What’s the model for change?

15. Ding G. Gagelonia on October 31st, 2008 8:50 am

    Bitin ako dun Tito Pat… what indeed is the mode for change… cha-cha with the precondition of no term extension and of GMA HOLDING ELECTIONS AND STEPPING DOWN IN 2010…. AND NOT CUTTING A PARDON DEAL WITH THE PUTATIVE NEXT PRESIDENT ELECTED WITH A GENUINE MANDATE…? WHAT PO?

    A POWRR GRAB RESULTING FROM A WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPORT WITH A SO-CALLED COUNCIL OF STATE THAT IS A EIPHEMISM FOR A CAUDILLO, A JUNTA.

    ARE WE GOING TO BECOME A CERTIFIED BANANA REPUBLIC OR SAGING NA SABA REPUBLIKA?

16. jcc on October 31st, 2008 9:53 am

    ding,

    You still feel that we are not yet a banana republic?

    I have not read the entire statement of the CBCP. Was there any insinuation of EDSA Dos/Tres Scenario?

    Whom will the CBCP annoint as its Charlemagne or King Arthur?

    I am against this street parliament power grab scenario as it will only further damage our political institutions. Despite my religious bias, I am not in favor of a CBCP adventure at power grab. I would want a smooth transition of power from GMA to another wannabee.

    Charlemagne or King Arthur must partcipate in the political process.

17. Ding G. Gagelonia on October 31st, 2008 10:25 am

    jcc,

    Yes we are and more… but note wrote ‘certified’, hehehe, in the context that I believe that to some extent other institutions are functioning, albeit pasinghap-singhhap. But there is a glimmer of hope.

    Am scanning the landscape and looking for knights… but am still at that point… looking.

18. Patricio Mangubat on October 31st, 2008 11:54 am

    hey ding and jcc,

    you don’t need to look around or conjure the scenario of caudillos in priestly robes. ding says he’s still looking around for knights..and he’s still looking. the reason why you still have’nt found one is simple–its the 21st century already my friend and if you look at our history, we don’t even have a concept of knights.

    we do have katipuneros though. or “I am Ninoy” types.

    jcc is partially correct when he says that we’re actually a banana republic. well, again, that 1950’s lingo does’nt apply to our present situation. first, we don’t have a big banana corporation funding all those coups. and second, we only had two. question–will we allow a third one?

    the more we procrastinate, the more we philosophize and the more we intellectualize, the worse we become. benigno is correct–we do suffer from manana habit, a disease that afflicts both the mind and the body.

    when do we need to act? 2010?

    just a few days or weeks ago, we lambast thehighpriestofsmokes for his obvious constitutionalism. now, are we saying that we’re now there, with him, smoking our cuban cigars up there in his smoking lounge and viewing the world under constitutionalist lenses. To paraphrase Benigno, such are the sufferings of in-bred thinking. Or worst, intellectualism without a cause.

19. Patricio Mangubat on October 31st, 2008 11:58 am

    the greatest curse of those who think is their brain is some inches more away from their hearts, their hands and their feet. in between, they fear to lose it.

20. Ding G. Gagelonia on October 31st, 2008 1:39 pm

    No Pat,

    Am not on that pretender HPoS’s side as he is hanging on to the skirts of the sitting president. Change yes we must but change that does not deliver us to the hands of the unseen knights… by all means let’s find the liberators.

    As you know, I am in constant touch with patriots like yourself…. you know where my heart is….Perhaps I need more info and reassurnce?
    BTW I do not smoke

21. jcc on October 31st, 2008 8:07 pm

    banana republic in the 21st lens is a republic that is only good for the monkeys… not for mutli corporation engaged in banana export.

22. jcc on October 31st, 2008 8:12 pm

    there is nothing wrong with constitutionalism as long as this is not the SC intepretation. Thomas Jefferson said that the SC can even pervert the constitution.

    But I would prefer a smooth transition from GMA to some annointed knight. Any resort to power grab will send our economy to another tailspin and will cause further damage to our already battered institutions.

23. Ding G. Gagelonia on November 1st, 2008 3:50 am

    “…I would prefer a smooth transition from GMA to some annointed knight.”

    Whose “annointed knight” sir jcc? A “power grab” of what character? Would the “constructive resignation” construct do?

24. Bencard on November 1st, 2008 4:06 am

    so whose interpretation, jcc? harry roque’s, the b&w movement, trillianes’, joma sison’s, or the cbcp’s? and WHO annoints the knight? (oops, ding already asked that).

25. jcc on November 2nd, 2008 5:24 am

    bencard,

    let us put into consensus what the constitution really means. you know mr. marcos once said that he finds the ordinary folks possesed native intelligence not possessed by most of our legislators, ergo, some constitutional scholars or students may interpret the constitution more intelligently and more meaningfully than these self-proclaimed jurists who interpret the constitution in accordance with the bias of their patrons. Or as Thomas Jefferson said, the SC court can pervert the constitution.

    institutionally, the SC should interpret the constitution but the way the SC prostittued the constitution to suit its bias or to court the approval of their patrons, how’d you wish that the interpretation be made by someone else. or we can create an oversight committee that will oversee all court decisions.

    ding,

    if if go with my bias, i would like the CBCP to annoint a GMA successor with the condition that the annointed knight participate in the political process. the “i resign construct” will also damage our institution specially if the resignation was politically coerced.

    the edsa dos came about because Congress as an institution has failed to act as an institution mandated to impeach an “erring” President.

    similarly EDSA one came about because the comelec as an institution has failed to count the votes that are lawfully cast in favor of Ms. Cory Aquino.

    it would have been less hemmorhaging had congress had just impeached the President and allow GMA to take over or had the Comelec declared Ms. Aquino President. We could have avoided EDSA One and Two.

    it seems that in every crisis we have to resort to the street to resolve that crisis when an institution was in placed to address the crisis.
    it speaks of the inability of the institution to address the crisis.

    so EDSA 3 will further erode the already unstable political institutions.

    it has become part of our political psyche to consider the street as part of our institution to achieve the desired political ends. inasmuch as the street is accesible to everyone, any person with a grievance, personal or otherwise can go the street and hope that the street can address his grievance. so we see the personalities of Senator Honasan, Senator Trillanes, Joey d Venecia, Jun Lozada, Civil Society, KMU, and other. Some grievances were resolved by the street like the grievance of Senator HOnasan and Trillanes when they were elected senators.

    Others are still on the street to achieve the same result as Senators Honasan and Trillanes, or the result they would want to achieve in EDSA 1 and 2.

26. Ding G. Gagelonia on November 2nd, 2008 6:21 am

    “… it has become part of our political psyche to consider the street as part of our institution to achieve the desired political ends. inasmuch as the street is accessible to everyone, any person with a grievance, personal or otherwise can go the street and hope that the street can address his grievance. so we see the personalities of Senator Honasan, Senator Trillanes, Joey d Venecia, Jun Lozada, Civil Society, KMU, and other. Some grievances were resolved by the street like the grievance of Senator HOnasan and Trillanes when they were elected senators.”

    Spot on. That is why the conundrum is who can we really trust will not hand us over to the next dictator whether a singular personality or a collective that “knows better than us” or a coup by an already entrenched group that has a messianic/”we cannot do any wrong mindset”?

    Elsewhere here at FV there was a lapdog commenter who even had the hubris to assert that “Filipinos may be blessed with a GMA term extension,” inadvertently disclosing their “desire” for a 10-year stay of GMA beyond 2010! That joker immediately backpedalled after apparently being scolded by his superiors at Mabini Hall.

    It was breathtaking to read how that entity kept on regurgitating their failed appearance before the SC en banc session on the MoA-AD where the OSG presenters were roundly scolded by the SC justices.

    So will EDSA again be the solution despite the “people power fatigue”?

    Your guess is as good as mine, but there are palpable signs a tipping point could be near in the face of the Bolante moro-moro and the PNP EuroGenerals scandal.

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