SELECTIVE CONDEMNATION
1 04 2006Mareng Winnie Monsod’s condemnation of the ChaCha Initiative in her article in the PDI is certainly a welcome development to all the anti-ChaCha and anti-GMA forces who have long been wanting to put some sense to the consciences of these self-righteous intellectuals who still cherish the myth that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the last best hope of the motherland! Whether we admit it or not, Mareng Winnie does wield some degree of influence to those who read her columns, and the very fact that she has expressed her opposition to Charter Change, not so much on the subject of Charter Change per se but more on the motives of those who are behind it, shows that there might still be some hope for our apathetic countrymen to come to their senses that there is no more glory under Gloria.
But just like Prof. Edwin Lacierda and Dean Jorge Bocobo, I too have doubts on Mareng Winnie’s sudden transformation from a perceived GMA defender to one who instantly became more oppositionist (at least as regards the issue of ChaCha) than Chiz Escudero and Etta Rosales combined.
And what are these doubts?
While it was so easy for Mareng Winnie to condemn the immorality of the government-sponsored people’s initiative, she found it difficult to condemn the immorality of those who allowed themselves to be corrupted into dismissing the impeachment complaint against GMA. “Do your homework!”, is what she usually tells the opposition without batting an eyelash, yet forgetting the fact that GMA moved heaven and earth to sway these Congressmen to her side.
While it was so easy for Mareng Winnie to condemn the use of government resources in railroading the people’s initiative, I have yet to hear from Mareng Winnie condemn with equal intensity the alleged use by government of fertilizer funds to finance the electoral campaign of GMA and her administration allies.
While it was so easy for Mareng Winnie to condemn the fraud in the conduct of the people’s initiative, it was so hard for her to condemn the same fraud in the Presidential elections of 2004. In fact, up to now, she has not retracted her earlier position that GMA won fair and square.
While it was so easy for Mareng Winnie to condemn JDV, Abalos, Puno and the rest of the trapos for this People’s Initiative brouhaha, she contented herself in predicting that karma may befall on GMA for deceiving the people that Charter Change is the solution to all our problems. I didn’t know that Mareng Winnie, for all her intellectual arrogance, is a prime believer in this traditional Hindu concept of cause and effect.
Finally, while it was so easy for Mareng Winnie in 2000 to condemn a duly (and overwhelmingly) elected President for his incompetence and to subsequently ask for his resignation, she now finds it hard to make the same call to a President who committed the greater sins.
It was so easy for Mareng Winnie to condemn Erap because she simply didn’t like him (this is not to say however that there was no reason to oust him; in fact I too believed that at that time ousting Erap was the right thing to do). But of course Erap was a drop-out. Winnie was an economist. He represented the bakya crowd. She represented the self-righteous, self-styled intellectuals whom the elite class was more comfortable with. That was why when the opportunity came to strike Erap, they ganged up on him… and then bam! The result was EDSA 2! Ironically, the banner of Edsa 2 supporters was to restore MORALITY IN GOVERNANCE!
And now comes GMA who represented the intellectual arrogance that many in the elite class was, again, comfortable with. Fraud in the 2004 elections? Nah, Mareng Winnie held on to the belief that even if there was cheating on the side, the fact remains that FPJ’s votes were not big enough to overturn GMA’s lead. Winnie gave GMA the benefit of the doubt, so to speak.
It is not a question of Winnie’s integrity. It is a question of her credibility. Mareng Winnie opposing the ChaCha utopia of GMA? I’m sorry Mareng Winnie, we were the first to get off that train when we sensed that it was going nowhere. Some never even rode with it. Whatever you say now is always a welcome addition, but we will just take it with a grain of salt. I’m afraid I may no longer take you seriously.
Wonder why Mareng Winnie is consistently inconsistent? She uses the same logic in arriving at the truth but uses a different standard in getting to the bottom of it, depending on who’s sitting in Malacanang.
Charter change is a democratic process. The Arroyo presidency is undemocratic. Can the undemocratic Arroyo presidency hold on to its despotic reign in a democratic country_the Philippines? Besides, many Filipinos right now are really struggling peacefully and legally for the gaining of real and moral democracy in our country. Read our ideals about real and moral democracy for this world at our blog: THE POLITICAL ABROGATIONERS’ PAGE. The Filipino people should continue the peaceful and lawful quest for real and moral democracy.
The Arroyo regime keeps fooling the Filipino people about the so-called economic miracles that Mrs. Arroyo had produced. The GNP of our country is still low. The basic salaries of our workers and employees have not yet been democratized. Retail sales of celcards have been at a very-low average this year. Mrs. Arroyo, the so-called economist, has intensified political repression in the face of economic hardships among the Filipinos. Mrs. Arroyo should really step down voluntarily from the presidency. Her presidency seems a nightmare to democracy.
my penultimate post at mlq3’s the buzz:
winnie’s “get real” didn’t get the 2004 CMMA best opinion column for nothing. so, no arguing that she is the intellectual that i once admired.
what i find hard to dissociate from our current political situation is the morality in it…especially one who has labeled erap’s governance as morally bankrupt but couldn’t muster the strength to say it on gloria’s…
http://www.up.edu.ph/forum/2000/11/interview_with_monsod.html
the preceding link is an interview with winnie by the UP Forum which also contains:
FORUM: Two of your fellow economists from UP have stood by their President. Would you have done the same under similar circumstances?
PSM: Absolutely not! I think my past experience will confirm that. I resigned from the cabinet in a previous administration, because I felt that I could not defend its policies, and even if the President I served was an honorable woman. What more if I were morally certain that the person I served was in clear violation of his oath of office and was a dishonorable person?
FORUM: What do you think make them and the other cabinet members from UP stay?
PSM: If I may hazard a guess, I think it’s essentially power. Power corrupts. Once you taste power, you don’t really want to let go of it. And the more intelligent you are, the more you can justify your position. I understand that one of the rationalizations given is that Erap is corrupt but Gloria is more corrupt. What the basis is for making that statement only they can say because obviously, there is no insider, somebody close to Gloria, that has come out and said this is the person I gave money to. You compare their records as senator, and you will find out that the performance of one is much much better than the performance of the other. You compare their records as vice president, and you will find out that the performace of one is much better than the other. How can you then jump to the conclusion that the one whose performance is better as senator and as vice president is going to perform worse as president? It is “Nakakahiya! Nakakahiyang klaseng logic.” (Mabuti na lang hindi sila pure UP graduates. Ha! Ha! ha! ) Or they would say “They are not serving the President; they are serving the presidency.” What kind of specious argument is that? Good grief! Who hired them? Who can fire them? The presidency which is an institution? Nonsense!
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for the record, winnie also has these to say in http://news.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?index=2&story_id=49713&col=62 :
“On the basis of the results of the two major surveys in the run-up to the elections, of the exit polls conducted not only by the Social Weather Stations but by media organizations, and of the statements of the Catholic bishops who were closely monitoring the situation in their respective dioceses, it has to be clear that Ms Arroyo won last year’s presidential elections; she did not steal the position. That she cheated and lied is still to be resolved, but then, cheating and lying seem endemic in the political game.”
“And a tangent to the tangent, because it is still possible to do this now: After the 1992 elections, disturbed by charges that Fidel V. Ramos had stolen the election from Miriam Santiago, then-chair Christian Monsod of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowed a panel of experts to review the results, including Comelec data. Their main finding was that there was evidence of cheating affecting both sides, but these tended to cancel one another and did not materially affect the outcome of the elections.”
it is therefore the endemicity of lying and cheating that makes it all right…no matter if the highest office in the land is at stake.
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i would like to think that gloria’s bad governance is nothing compared to erap’s…and it wasn’t worse enough to be able to give a positive value or even cancel out erap’s bad governance in order to merit also a gloria ouster.
i would also like to think that i can come up with my own calibrated analysis that gloria won. anyway, her cheating and stealing is still to be resolved and, more importantly, allegations only came from dubious and shady characters. this is without regard that it’s possible that in the process i prop up gloria more and destroy even more the credibility of the opposition.
and, i would like to think that because i dislike the cha-cha train ( http://www.filipinogazette.com/localNews7.htm ) i can now criticize gloria for her brazen lies and threaten her with karma…as if i didn’t see this coming since day one of their cover-up of gloriagate scandal…as if i didn’t see the whole deception in gloria’s face on june 27, 2005.
…well, my simple thoughts only.
Hi, Bystander,
I admired your point by point rebuttal against Monsod’s which you posted in MLQ3’s blog. You were the only one over there that saw her piece for what it was worth. How I wish Monsod gets to read the exchange. She’ll probably turn blue or green with fury.
You know, I used to read Monsod; was never a real fan of hers but just the same, I liked to read her because I was curious even if I felt she was inconsistent on a several issues with one opinion negating the next…
However, when she bombastically wrote that article containing gloria won “fair and square”, I just felt I’d had enough of her.
It’s the same when she asserted in one of her columns that there was a coup d’état or a coup d’état plot of some kind that led to Gloria’s proclamation of emergency rule, I don’t know where she plucked the logic that she used in arriving at that conclusion.
Easy to sound bombastic and convincing but when she starts being “consistently inconsistent”, I believe that’s when a reader must toe the line - admirer or not.
Anyway, to me, Monsod has become a mere “marchand de sable” (sand merchant) although not as bad as Bhel Cunanan, one of the opinion columnists I truly, absolutely detest!
I really don’t care if I don’t read any of those sand merchants ever again.
3rd line in my post should read:
what i find hard to dissociate from our current political situation is the morality in it…especially when one has labeled erap’s governance as morally bankrupt but couldn’t muster the strength to say it on gloria’s…
Abrogationers — It’s nice to know there’s a new group on the block advocating for reforms in the country. Keep it up!
Baycas — Nice piece and thanks for the links!
Hillblogger — Ya, I agree. We have to be more discerning with what we read. Thanks for the visit!
Mrs. Arroyo should voluntarily step down now as “illegal president” because April is the month of Holy Week. I’m urging Bro. Eddie Villanueva and Jhun Labo to ask all the Christian archbishops of the Philippines (it includes the Catholic archbishops) to proceed to the Malacañang Palace and peacefully and legally urge Mrs. Arroyo to step down from her illegal presidency. The Philippines doesn’t have a “ceremonial monarch” who can persuade a “despotic leader” in the government to step down voluntarily. But our religious elders_ the multi-denominational Christian archbishops can collectively urge Mrs. Arroyo to step down from her illegal presidency. Such Christian archbishops should do such action in the coming Holy Week. If Mrs. Arroyo will obey such appeal, the CBCP can appoint Mrs. Arroyo as amabassador of goodwill to the Vatican, that is if Mrs. Arroyo decides to step down voluntarily this month of April. Thanks.
Face it-
As long as little gloria keeps the self-styled intellectuals happy and the elite class comfortable..
as long as the military is able to contain the rage or desperation of the common tao..
We will not see any change in the present administration.
Even if Erap has the support of the bakya crowd, this is not enough (case in point: Edsa “3″).
A “true revolution” on the other hand is unpalatable to all sectors.