JGL Eye

By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

C HICAGO, Illinois (JGLi) – The truism that politics makes strange bedfellows has been turning to become a norm in Philippine politics, instead of an exception. In the run-up of every election, every spin meister of any presidential candidate or presidentiable sometimes comes up with campaign strategies that try to separate the client from the rest only to be adopted by their rival presidentiable.

As a result, actions of presidential candidates during the campaign season give credence to the observation that different political parties in the Philippines are not really driven by ideologies, like the two-party system in the United States, but are defined by personalities.

This phenomenon makes it harder for the voters to choose the best-qualified presidential candidate, who needs the support of his allies in his party in promoting his objectives, to lead his country.

A week before his anointment by the administration party of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” C. Teodoro, Jr. was in Washington, D.C., where he let a cat out of the bag that could be music to the ears of his upcoming rival, President Joseph Estrada.

Gibo was purportedly in D.C to seek the blessings of the CIA to pick him as candidate for President in the Philippines. He has no idea that the CIA, like the Chinese, supports every viable presidential candidate, so anyone, who wins the election, is a CIA or a Chinese lackey.

FIRST AMONG EQUAL

P erhaps, Mr. Teodoro wants to be the “first among equals” among presidentiables.

Without mentioning Mr. Estrada by name, Mr. Teodoro telegraphed his message that in case Mr. Estrada or Sen. Panfilo Lacson are issued warrants of arrest for the murder of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and Dacer’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito, the two powerful Filipino figures may get a kid gloves treatment from the arresting officers because one of them might become a presidential candidate.

His reconciliatory statement endorses the fictional belief that campaign season invests candidates with certain immunities not available to an ordinary voter, who has no millions of pesos to run a campaign.

According to Mr. Teodoro, if and when, a warrant ensues when probable cause is established in the re-opened preliminary investigation of Dacer-Corbito murders, the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may run into “political difficulties” in effecting the arrest if one of the suspects happened to be a presidential candidate in the 2010 elections.

It was obvious that Mr. Teodoro, who is doing a Ramon Magsaysay, was sending a signal to Mr. Estrada that if Mr. Estrada supports Gibo’s candidacy, Mr. Estrada is free to run a campaign even if a warrant of arrest is hovering above Mr. Estrada’s head.

WISHY-WASHY

Of course, Mr. Teodoro “wishy-washy” attitude will end up hurting his campaign because the families of Dacer and Corbito will certainly be going to court to compel the government to exercise its “political will” by implementing the warrant of arrest for Mr. Estrada. If this happens a big chunk of voters, who adhere to the rule of law, will be deserting the Teodoro camp.

It all started when Mr. Teodoro was sought for his opinion by Arnedo S. Valera, the United States-based lead counsel of Cezar O. Mancao II, if the Philippine government has a “political will” to “arrest Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former President Estrada” if warrants of arrest are issued based on “probable cause” on the double murder.

Mr. Teodoro answered that “should warrants of arrest are issued, there will be an arrest. Although election season is coming, if one of the potential suspects is running for president, (serving the warrant) will face political difficulties.”

Secretary Teodoro’s answer must have left a sour taste in the mouth of Mr. Valera, who did not get a satisfactory explanation behind the “political difficulties” statement last Sept. 10 at the Allison Auditorium of the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Valera even put Secretary Teodoro more to task when he (Teodoro) refused to investigate the “7th Infantry in Nueva Ecjia,” which is believed to be the site where his client, Filipino American Melissa Roxas was tortured after being abducted early this year.

The evasive messages sent by Mr. Teodoro on his answers during the open forum must be very hard for him to swallow given that he was attempting to wrap himself up in the American flag by supporting the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement.

WORDS ARE NOT ENOUGH

C iting the “Balikatan exercises” as “an essential joint operation of all security operations in the Philippines for counter-terrorism,” Mr. Teodoro never recognizes the fact that the VFA is an agreement that tramples on the sovereign right of the Philippine government, which could not even put in its own Philippine jail an American soldier charged with and convicted of raping a Filipina.

I am sure any Philippine presidentiable, who can assure the Filipino voters that if elected, he will not hesitate to issue an arrest warrant to anybody, even those running for public office, and would review, if not abrogate the VFA, would have an edge over other candidates, who could only promise to alleviate the economic plight of the people, without unveiling any specific and workable plans.

Casting an image of a Ramon Magsaysay as a former Philippine congressman and later Defense secretary will not cut it for Mr. Teodoro, who associated himself with incumbent President Arroyo, who could not account for the arrest of the suspects behind the disappearance and killings of hundreds of journalists, civil-rights advocates, lawyers, priests, etc. during her watch while dodging numerous charges of high-level graft and corruption.

If Mr. Teodoro wants to improve on his rating, he can start with a vow to arrest anybody, including such big fishes as Lacson, Estrada, Arroyo, etc., if warrants ensue. No, IFs and BUTs. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net) # # #