Uncanny parallels, dangerous implications

(Also Published in the Manila Times)

The Arroyo camp must be pretty dense if it doesn’t see what the opposition is up to in the Jose Pidal controversy.

The opposition is trying to draw a parallel between the cases of corruption against former President Estrada, which eventually led to his ouster, and that of the cases of corruption now hounding the Arroyo administration. The parallelisms drawn are uncanny: a Jose Velarde against a Jose Pidal; a Chavit Singson against an Edgardo Mahusay, whistleblowers both who knew everything inside; the mistresses of Erap against a Victoria Toh; a PCI-Equitable Bank against Union Bank and BPI; a Philippine Muslim Youth Foundation against a Lualahati Foundation.

The opposition, however, isn’t trying to exploit the parallelisms to force the situation to its logical conclusion: another impeachment and a people power revolt. It’s smart enough to know that these would be improbable, with elections coming, and not very wise.
What it’s trying to do is to show the hypocrisy of the people who supported Edsa 2 and the ouster of former President Estrada. The opposition has laid the bait and the enemy is biting.

The NGOs, who were so vociferous in expressing their moral outrage against former President Estrada’s corruption, has been extraordinarily silent on the Jose Pidal controversy (perhaps silenced by a billion worth of bonds?). Others, like Bill Luz of the Makati Business Club, want the investigation of the Senate on the Jose Vidal controversy to be stopped, a tune so different when it was the Jose Velarde account that was being investigated. The bankers and the business figures who weren’t alarmed when PCI-Bank volunteered to disclose the confidential information about Jose Velarde are now invoking the stability of the banking system to suppress the release of information that may be related to a criminal matter.

Department of Local Government’s Secretary Jose Lina has gone one step further by accusing groups like the Council on Philippine Affairs of trying to destabalize the government, something that not even former President Estrada did when COPA was active in the anti-Estrada demonstrations.

The Arroyo camp is falling into the same trap when it resorts to legalistic maneuvers to try to thwart the Senate investigation. The people know that “let him bring his charges in court” wasn’t the same tune they were singing when it was Luis “Chavit” Singson who was exposing the jueteng payola. In fact, Singson brought his charges to media because he knew that he couldn’t get the truth out in court.
What the Arroyo camp doesn’t realize is that the opposition doesn’t need to show legalistic proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt to win. It just needs to show the hypocrisy of the other side and the moral hollowness of the strong republic.
It would be fine if the opposition would just ride on the issue to score popularity points for the next election. But there’s a danger that it could lead to something else - growing instability and class conflict.

The danger is this: the poor people know that justice is compartamentalized in this country. They know this from experience. There’s one justice for the rich and another justice for the poor.

What if former President Estrada or a naughty political figure in the opposition points this out: the reason why former President Estrada was treated differently when he was accused of high level corruption and lack of morals was because he was pro-poor?
It would not be hard for a demagogue to point the difference because he would be tapping into the poor’s intuitive sense of compartamentalized justice in this country. There’s one justice if you are an Ateneo graduate and another one if you are a dropout; one justice if your friends are bankers and businessmen, another if they are actors or actresses; one justice if you are close to Cardinal Sin and another if you are close to Iglesia ni Kristo; one justice if your office is in Legaspi Village, and another one if it’s in Tondo.

The Arroyo camp should not let just lawyers and politicians manage the Jose Pidal controversy. The opposition is in a no lose situation. It’s the country that could lose.