Gunpowder and treason

Cong Corrales .

“You can fool some people some time but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” -Get up, Stand up, Bob Marley and the Wailers

JUST like other budding republics in the world, treachery and treacherous behavior have been ingrained in our history and polity.

Case in point, 119 years ago today, General Emilio Aguinaldo ordered the execution of General Antonio Luna in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

Luna was supposed to attend a war council at the behest of Aguinaldo. However, Aguinaldo was nowhere in sight except for the soldiers who were there who were ordered to arrest him at all cost. Only three years before this, Andres Bonifacio and his brother suffered the same fate at Naic.

A little digression and trivia, if you will. A year before he ordered the assassination of Luna, June 5, 1898, Aguinaldo issued a decree declaring June 12 as the day of the proclamation of independence. The 21-page declaration was signed by 98 Filipinos, all of whom were appointed by Aguinaldo, and one retired American artillery officer, for good measure.

I’m not a big history buff but it’s not every day that a pivotal point in our nation’s history falls on the same day your column gets published.

Politicos in power, no matter how they package themselves as “pro-people,” will always behave according to their original socio-economic standing. As we are witnessing today, this truism still holds true as it was 119 years ago.

Anybody who threatens the status quo will always end up dead.

Why’d you thought all those “drug lords” killed without the benefit of the courts and some were spared? If you still believe that all these killings were part of the grand scheme to eradicate drug use in the country, then you’re woefully mistaken.

Impunity, by the way, is not only characterized by wanton killings by people in power. This also manifests in day-to-day activities. The key phrase that defines impunity is that the perpetrator knows they can do it without being held accountable for the deed.

Of course, our republic is young and far from being ideal. But this recent couple of years have shown that we’ve stepped back, regressed to the time when the appearance of justice is with the barrel of a gun.

I used to take solace in thinking that treacherous people always have their day of reckoning. But reviewing this part of our history, as a republic, depresses me. Aguinaldo is still being revered as one of the nation’s heroes. Ironically, a hero along with the guys he betrayed –Bonifacio and Luna.

Today, some people insist that the martial law of strongman Ferdinand Marcos did the republic more good than bad. Worse, some people still think and believe we are now better off compared to the time of the “delawans” led by PNoy.

All they see as the result of Marcos’ martial law are the edifices built during that era. Unfortunately, they don’t see how it destroyed the democratic institutions of the republic. I guess that’s why we are committing the very same mistake today — the willful demolition of the independence of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions, and Congress.

As depressing the times are today, I still believe these people will have their day of reckoning. You can call me a hopeless romantic but I believe a critical mass will awaken and rise up to put an end to these latest dark days in our history.

Believe you me, they will have their day.