If the Senate hearing were a blockbuster movie starring three Bicolano actors, one of whom is Jun Lozada, who would be hailed as the bida (here) and who would be the kontrabidas (villains)? The other Bicolanos are Sen. Joker Arroyo and that NAIA man, Mr. Atutubo.
Lozada who is said to be a Bicolano from Ligao, Albay has been thrust into the limelight by the notorious ZTE scandal. A GMA aide has described him as a probinsyanong Insik. The loose-tongued official has apologized for the uncalled for remark after getting a beating from Lozada supporters.
Joker whose rise to fame is attributed to his lawyering for destitute human rights victims has exposed a hidden side during the Senate hearing which angered anti-GMA critics. The critics probably suspected Joker’s ties with the regime. Lozada said Joker’s wife cautioned him against going to the Senate.
Bicolanos are usually on top, whether as heroes or as villains |
Atutubo’s alleged part in the kidnapping of Lozada has earned for the former contempt of people. A Bicolano from what province I can not recall, he wove, under intense questioning, a story that was seemingly not well-rehearsed.
Seeing him very uncomfortable under the glare of TV cameras, unable to tell a credible tale of kidnapping denial, he had made Lozada’s spontaneous testimonies as gospel truth and his, a fairy tale.
Finding themselves in opposite camps, the three Bicol oragons did their partsas well or tried to in the reviling drama. It could mean GMA’s downhill climb as a Makati Business Club president said or a more solid hold on the presidency.
But which way the wind blows, the ordinary Pinoy can only pray that it will end in a happy note for him. Many agree that the country has been reportedly outmarched by Asia’s once impoverished nations like Vietnam and Bangladesh, according to ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia.
It is all bad karma for the country.
As for Lozada who has shown steely nerve in denouncing alleged government corruption by people walking in the corridors of power, his heroism is assured. He has been hailed as a folk hero by many young Filipinos.
Korina Sanchez in her column in the Philippine Daily Star described him as a hero, an imperfect hero.
The critics of GMA who are deathly afraid to surface must be clapping their hands in glee at Lozada’s exposes.
But they are fearful of the consequence to their hero.
In this country, very few can fight the powerful and live too tell their tale. Whatever the outcome, the three Bicolanos will be long remembered for their respective roles in the real-life drama.
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Not long ago, the Philippines was maligned as the most corrupt in Asia, ahead by one step from Indonesia, the old topnotcher. No one was happy with that tag. In the eyes of the world, the Filipino feels like an outcast, the least admirable of God’s creatures because of the tag.
But do you know who tutored the Filipino? The Spaniards. They bequeathed to us a culture of corruption that stays with us today. We learned what we had to learn, a brown genius copying the white man’s darkest side.
Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz, quoted in a college textbook, Current Issues, edited by Soccoro C. Espiritu, detailed the roots of corruption in the Philippine.
Corpuz said Spain considered the whole archipelago as private property of the Spanish king. It was the king who financed the expedition of Magellan and the subsequent expeditions from his own private funds.
The Spaniards interpreted the term property as the colonial offices, privileges and the gainful posts in the government.
Corpuz said many offices were sold at public auctions.
Some were those of the clerks in the central and provincial governments, clerks of court, notaries-public, wardens, sheriffs, guards, treasurers, members of municipal councils.
These positions were looked at as grants of favor from the king.
The post of secretary to the municipal board of Manila was sold for P12,000 in 1632 and P14,000 in 1730.
When the anomalies became alarming, the government established the Residencia to investigate and assess the actions of the officials allegedly involved in corruption. But the Residencia failed.
The officials were resourceful and clever. The amassed money including the wherewithal to bribe the Residencia judge into whitewashing the cases against them.
No different from what is happening today.
It is said that if you put all the grafters in jail, nobody will be left to man government offices.
