Political vendetta?

Batas Mauricio .

THE online version of one newspaper carried a news item about the laments of Sen. Cynthia Villar of the Nacionalista Party, which appears to be a bit awkward. The newspaper reported that it was former senator Manny Villar who was the “founder” of the NP. It is a well-known fact that Manny was not really the founder of NP. He maybe the leader of the NP now, but not the founder. I hope this newspaper that inquires on news daily would be more careful.

Be that as it may, Cynthia’s statements quoted in that news story were also truly awkward. The story said she lamented the alliance between political parties where one of the allies has been raiding the membership of its allied parties. What Cynthia wanted to convey, although she stopped short of actually saying it, is this: is it alright for allied parties to be treacherous to one another by the taking away of the members of the other parties in the alliance?

This is truly awkward if you ask me, considering that Cynthia and her families — the Villars and the Aguilars of Las Pinas — are veteran politicians. She should already know by now that in politics, there are no loyalties to one another by and among politicians, and even by and among their parties. What usually happens is that, politicians gravitate towards, and profess their loyalty to, whoever wields power. This is the reason why our country is in turmoil, isn’t not?

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I am a little bit squeamish about the decision of the House of Representatives to reduce by almost P95.4 million the annual budget for 2019 of the office of Vice President Leni Robredo, the Office of the Vice President. Whatever the motivation may have been of this huge reduction in the budget of Leni’s office, this is surely going to generate a lot of criticisms and would be certainly branded as part of the ongoing political vendetta of the Duterte government.

We do not know whether the congressmen who did this were simply sidling up to President Duterte or are truly mad with Leni. But, what the people, not just Leni or her allies at the Liberal Party, will surely conclude from what they did is that the budget reduction was another form of political persecution arising from the publicly displayed anger of Digong against her.

Now, let’s go fast forward. When Digong’s term shall have already ceased and he will no longer be in Malacanang, and Leni assumes the presidency together with the Liberal Party, can Digong, his family, and his political allies, expect even just a bit of understanding for what he had done during his term? We can be sure Digong and company will undergo the same political vindictiveness they themselves have shown.

Of course, I do not expect congressmen to be scared if Leni becomes president. These slimy creatures of politics know, deep in their bones, that if Leni is installed as President (or, perhaps, any other personality from her party), they would not be persecuted in any way because somehow Leni will also need them for her own legislative agenda.

Isn’t it a fact that this kind of a political reality is a vicious cycle that has the Philippines in its firm grip for the longest time ever? The congressmen who acted as sycophants of President Corazon Aquino easily became the sycophants of President Ramos, then of President Estrada, and of Presidents Arroyo ang Noynoy as well, and, now even of President Duterte! Many of these lawmakers lack any principled loyalty to any one leader of the country, concerned as they all are always solely with their own personal and political well-being.

The one who will surely bear the brunt of whatever is happening now, between 2016 to 2022, will be President Digong and his closest relatives. It is a cinch that plenty of cases will also be filed against Digong and his subalterns, and the next administration will likewise ensure that he would go to jail, including those who wielded power with him under his term. So, what else is new in politics here in this country? Nothing truly changed, except the face and the names of our leaders. They are somehow all the same!

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This double-faced character of human beings represents one of the most debilitating problems in the Philippines and in the whole world. It should be clear to everyone that while humans, on one side, can profess adherence to the welfare of the citizenry and faith in God, their other side reflects personal greed and lack of concern for others, and disobedience to God’s commands.

I saw this more poignantly when my family and I visited the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On display there, near the world-famous Liberty Bell, is a fiery tirade on slavery — where the whites practiced and defended their “ownership” of blacks as human slaves, even when they were fiercely fighting for democracy and equality of all men.

The truth is that, this is not new. This was warned about even in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, in its chapter 6, verses five to seven, and in Romans 3:23. God Himself said man had become terribly sinful, and his heart’s leaning is always towards sinfulness.

Because of that, God vowed to eradicate the human race. If we wish to avoid this deadly fate, we should endeavor to always have faith in, and obedience to, God.

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I wish that the different branches of government in the Philippines will also learn to accept visitors, Filipinos or foreigners, in their respective offices, to enable them to somehow explain to the people what their duties and responsibilities are, according to what the Constitution and existing laws provide.

This is actually what the more important agencies of government are doing in the United States — from their White House at their Office of the President, to their Capitol where the Houses of Representatives and the Senate are holding offices together, and even in their Supreme Court. I personally witnessed this amazing phenomenon when my family and I visited Washington, D.C..

I was impressed by the great help that these kinds of visits, for tourists or otherwise, to the aforesaid offices of government, in making the people appreciate what their officials are doing for them, and to understand the processes being implemented by each of them to pursue their mandate of public service. I wonder why this is not being done in the Philippines likewise?

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com