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Unity amid disunity

FRONTLINE

Ninez Cacho-Olivares

01/04/2009

Most, if not all, the anti-Gloria Arroyo forces admit to themselves that the opposition is hardly united. Malacañang also knows the opposition is not united, and by opposition is meant even the elite Edsa ll civil socialites, the middle class and the organized masses, as well as the politicians in the opposition.

What most miss out is the fact that the opposition, or at least the anti-Gloria forces, which are growing by the day, is united — at least in one aspect, which is that Gloria must go in 2010, when her term ends, as the Constitution prescribes.

The opposition, or the anti-Gloria forces, is also united against any move by Gloria and her allies in the House of Representatives to change the Constitution before 2010. All are united too in getting the Charter change after 2010.

The fact that the anti-Gloria forces are united against Gloria’s staying on in power beyond 2010 merely means that they are united in seeing an election going on as scheduled by May 2010.

But this unity achieved but which these forces have yet to realize gets derailed as they each of them has his choice of the next elected leader, which is really silly, considering the fact that they all want elections as a solution to the problem of having Gloria Arroyo in Malacañang.

It is silly not to unite as a force simply because of their different choices in politics, or at least in their choice for the political leadership, since it is the Filipino electorate — which means all Filipinos of voting age and not just the elite or the middle class — that will be deciding who should govern the country in 2010.

This is the same problem these civil socialites always had, which is the reason they twice mounted a coup d’ etat. While they claim to love democracy and insist on respecting the vote, they really don’t. They will respect the vote only if their choice of leader is elected. They want to impose their choice of leader on the nation.

They say the rule of law must be upheld, but they don’t believe in the rule of law when it goes against their plots to oust a leader they — and not the populace — dislike.

The first time, in 1986, the Filipinos — or at least a majority of them — were united in ousting Ferdinand Marcos, as martial law had become much too repressive and oppressive. And because the people were united — what with the masses and the elite coming together for that unity and goal — Edsa l succeeded in ousting Marcos.

Even as some of the civil socialites who were part of the Edsa ll elite mob continue to claim that Edsa ll was no mistake, and that it was right to oust Estrada due to his corrupt government, saying too that the mistake was in putting Gloria Arroyo in the presidency, they refuse to admit that it was a big mistake as it destroyed democracy and the rule of law.

For one, they refused to respect the constitutional process of impeachment. For another, they obviously did not believe in the democratic doctrine of the presumption of innocence.

After all, it cannot be denied that, at the time of Estrada’s ouster, those charges of corruption were never proved during the trial. And even if they refuse to admit it, that Edsa ll mob was hardly a “popular people power” since the mob was mainly made up of the elite, along with the Catholic school children who were ordered by Jaime Cardinal Sin to make up the crowd.

The fact that there was an Edsa lll which was bigger in numbers and by the masses is proof that Edsa ll was not a popular revolt. The fact too that the anti-Estrada media downplayed the Edsa lll revolt also showed their bias and hypocrisy, along with their fear that their choice --- who was Gloria --- would be toppled.

It is also being said that Edsa ll was the right thing to do because, as proved by the conviction of Estrada, he was therefore guilty of plunder.

That too, is a hypocritical argument, since they all know that the conviction of Estrada was not based on the merits of the case, but on the orders of Gloria Arroyo. After all, if these civil society figures truly believed that the conviction was not politically motivated, why do they now fear the entry of seven new Supreme Court justices who would be favoring Gloria? Surely they don’t think that the judiciary in 2006 was independent and not vulnerable to Malacañang’s machinations?

Yet this is one reason the opposition cannot seem to get its act together: The elite want to impose their choice on the people, but at the same time, want to use the masses for them to succeed in whatever they plan to do.

The truth is, the elite don’t have the masses to fight for them. And until the elite finally learn to respect the law and the Constitution, they will never be able to sway the masses into accepting their choice.