opinion


THE OTHER VIEW


A 4


The Manila Times


SATURDAY


D e cember 4, 2010 Edit orials


Sen. Lacson needs to set things right


WO websites of Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson feature his personal dictum, which says: “What is right must be kept right. What is wrong must be set right.” These appear to be empty words, however, given his recent con- duct. The senator disappeared earlier in January, ahead of an arrest warrant issued against him in a double-murder case. And he has not been seen in public since. As a public official, the senator deserves to be held to a higher standard. He is not only a lawmaker, who has sworn to protect and defend the Constitution since 2001. He was also a former chief of the Philippine National Police, which is tasked to enforce the law. Today, Sen. Lacson says he would rather die than submit to the law, which he claims to be wrong. As we said before in this space, we don’t know whether he is guilty or not of masterminding the murders of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, in November 2001. We repeat: That is for a court to decide. However, no lawmaker should be a fugitive. By running


T


away and going into hiding, Sen. Lacson mocks the system and sets a dangerous precedent. One might ask: if a senator cannot trust the law, who can? To be sure, Sen. Lacson is being overly dramatic in painting himself as a victim, because his position gives him options that common people do not enjoy. For instance, he can surrender to his colleagues at the Senate if he fears going to a regular jail with common crimi- nals—a reasonable concern but not one without a remedy. A few years ago, for instance, some Leftist party-list representatives were given sanctuary in the House when they faced rebellion charges, which are, as in Sen. Lacson’s case, non-bailable. Anything is possible in the Philippines, and this is espe- cially true for the wealthy and influential like Sen. Lacson. If there was anything wrong with the system, which he now complains about, he did not seem to care about it before as a lawmaker or as a law enforcer. If it was unjust to deny bail in such cases as the Dacer-Corbito murders, the senator could have proposed a bill to change the law, or called for reforms when he was national police chief. We do not recall him having done so. Now, he insists that the charges against him are false. We hope the senator says so in the proper forum—in a court of law, not in the court of public opinion. He has the right to face his accusers, but first he must come out of hiding.


Test of the straight path How the government deals with Sen. Lacson will test its


commitment to follow the straight path as promised during the last presidential campaign. Regrettably, we see mixed signals from Cabinet officials.


On one hand, we are encouraged by Justice Sec. Leila de


Lima’s interest in the case and her determination to track down Sen. Lacson. However, it was discouraging to hear the reaction to her “proposal” of a P2-million bounty for the senator. Interior Sec. Jesse Robredo’s statements were particularly disturbing—that the reward money could be put to better use. That’s funny, given the nearly P5 million wasted by the Department of Tourism in its ill-advised “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” campaign. Sec. Robredo also noted that the reward was unnecessary because the authorities were closing in on the fugitive senator already. But is that not also the case with the Abu Sayyaf? The authorities know where the bandits are, and they have even claimed to have surrounded terrorists in past pursuit operations. Yet the Abu Sayyaf remain at large, the huge rewards on their heads notwithstanding. Are the police not doing their job in that case? We are not comparing Sen. Lacson to terrorists. Certainly, he is of an esteemed class, a national leader who is supposed to set an example to others. As such, we find it justifiable to hold him to his personal maxim. He mentions sticking to what’s right, and to us, following the law is what’s right. He also mentions correcting what’s wrong. Running away from the law is wrong, but hopefully, Sen. Lacson will set that right sooner rather than later.


many as 70,000 people are in evacuation shelters because of the restive volcano, Mount Bulusan. The ash will only aggra- vate his sinuses. Besides, going there is a hassle: the place is far from the comforts of Manila, and he will even have to bring plenty of bottled water. Even the locals avoid the lahar- polluted rivers, their main source of drinking water there. We suggest asking a friend and ally to go instead, maybe Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero? If his lungs can take heavy smoking, breathing volcanic ash should not be a problem. Besides, isn’t he from Sorsogon anyway?


Avoiding Mount Bulusan R


EPORTS said that the President was not feeling well, showing signs of the flu or at least a severe cold. As such, he should avoid going to Sorsogon, where as


SATURDAY December 4, 2010 The Manila Times DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, Executive Editor


FRED DE LA ROSA, Chairman Editorial Board RENE Q. BAS, Editor in Chief ROMY P. MARIÑAS, News Editor


ARNOLD S. TENORIO, Business Editor CONRAD M. CARIÑO, National Editor


TESSA MAURICIO-ARRIOLA, Lifestyle Editor ARIS L. SOLIS, Regions Editor


PERRY GIL MALLARI, Acting Sports Editor BRIAN M. AFUANG, Art Director RENE H. DILAN, Photo Editor


 DANTE F. M. ANG 2ND, President and CEO


Telephone All Departments. 524-5665 to 67 Telefax 528-1729; Subscription: 524-5664 Local 222 URL http://www.manilatimes.net • e-mail newsboy1@manilatimes.net Letters to the editor


THE MANILA TIMES is published daily at 2/F Dante Ang and Associates Building, 409 A. Soriano Avenue, Intramuros, Manila 1002


VOLUME 112 NUMBER 054


The UP presidency


Y now the University of the Philippines (UP) must have a new president. [Editor’s note: See page A1 “Ex-investment banker new president of UP.”] We hope that the chosen one


B


would recall and rise to the stature, intellect and character of a Rafael Palma, a Bienvenido Gonzalez, a Vicente Sinco, or a Salvador P. Lopez—past UP presidents whose courage deserves emulation. Oth- ers may be scholars or leaders in their own field and even compe- tent administrators but in mo- ments of crisis as when the univer- sity was beleaguered by outside forces, how did they fare? Perhaps we live in the past when the independence and academic freedom of the university were at a premium. In the 30s Rafael Palma stood up to Quezon on the issue of national independence; he was sacked from office. In the early 50s Bienvenido Gonzalez defied the wishes of President Quirino; he was booted out. In the early 60s Vicente Sinco opposed witch-hunt- ing and religious sectarianism on campus; he was replaced by Presi- dent Macapagal. In the 70s SP Lopez led an anti-fascist protest march of faculty/students to Malacañang, and when Martial Law was declared, he spoke against it in a Hawaii conference, and was fired by the dictator. Lopez’s fa- mous words: “It is better to be si- lenced than to be silent.” I have no illusions that the


university, founded in 1908 as an English-teaching university, has served (despite dissent from fac- ulty and students) as the princi-


ELMER A. ORDOÑEZ


pal ideological agency of our neo- colonial state. The first UP presi- dent was an American, Murray Bartlett, followed by a Filipino, Ignacio Villamor, then another American, Guy Benton. It was of course ingenious of the American rulers to usher in the policy of Filipinization in public office. Thus, we have surrogates among Filipinos serving in the govern- ment or running the state univer- sity (originally patterned after land grant universities in the US) The first two Filipino presidents were Spanish-educated and na- tionalists—lawyers Ignacio Villamor and Rafael Palma—but they easily adapted to Yankee ways: Villamor became a judge and Palma was elected member of the First Philippine Assembly. In the colonial game the natives


were allowed to agitate peacefully for independence, to be given af- ter a Commonwealth period of 10 years. Prior to this period, Palma and the influential Quezon clashed over the independence issue, with Palma supporting the Hare-Hawes Cutting bill brought home by Sergio Osmena and Manuel Roxas. Quezon pushed for the Tydings- McDuffie Act. But the two bills were basically similar—in that they


PERSONAL ESSAY A memorable lunch with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi


BY DR. ALBERTO G. ROMULO SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS


I HAD the rare opportunity and privilege to have lunch with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese patriot and national leader, at the ambassador’s residence in Ran- goon on 17 October, 1997. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was,


and is, a petite, handsome, very articulate lady who exudes spir- itual strength and grace. In 1948, Burma was the first country to leave the British Em- pire—ahead of India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Ceylon.


Leading the independence


movement was Gen. Aung Sun, the father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a man who deeply loved his country and who fought for a free Burma. The country gained its independence in 1948.


Since 1948, the Burmese peo- ple struggled mightily to defend their freedom and democracy. In 1962. Gen. Ne Win became chairman of the Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) beginning his dictatorship which lasted for 26 years. Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma in March 1988 to attend to her ailing mother while a student protest broke out in Rangoon. In July 23, 1988, Gen. Ne Win stepped down, ending his 26- year rule. On August 8, the 8-8-88 mass uprising started in Rangoon, and spread to the entire country


drawing millions of people to protest BSPP’s tyrannical govern- ment. The military crackdown killed thousands. On August 26, Aung San Suu


Kyi addressed a mass rally in front of the famous Shwedagon Pa- goda in Rangoon and called for a democratic government. On September 18, the mili- tary reestablished its power un- der the State Law and Order Res- toration Council, the notorious SLORC. Six days later, the Na- tional League for Democracy was formed with Aung San Suu Kyi as secretary general. On April 5, 1989, she con- fronted an army unit and was al- most assassinated if not for the intervention of an Army major. On July 20, Aung San Suu Kyi


was placed under house arrest, under martial law that allows for detention without charge or trial for three years. She went on hun- ger strike to protest the students taken from her house to the mili- tary intelligence center. In the May 27, 1990, elec- tions for the National Assem- bly, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democ- racy, won a landslide victory capturing 82 percent of the seats. The SLORC refused to recognize the results and did not allow the convening of the National Assembly.


While under house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi received international honors: the RAFTO Human Rights


Prize; the Sakharov Prize; and on October 24, 1991, the Nobel Peace Prize, all awarded in absentia be- cause she would not leave Bur- ma until the Burmese regained their freedom.


In 1994, the military junta continued her detention. Un- der the SLORC law, an extra year can be added by a three- member committee. Finally, on July 10, 1995, the


SLORC released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest. She agreed to meet with me at the residence of Ambassador Brady.


In our meeting, she was em- phatic that she would cooper- ate with the SLORC even if it had been the instrument of op- pression and persecution. Aung San Suu Kyi laid down four conditions:


One: There must be openness in their dealings. She did not want deals under the table; or in secrecy; any dealing should be out in the open with the people fully informed. Two: There must be mutual re- spect in their talks. She would not interfere in the choice of the SLORC representatives as the SLORC should not meddle with the NLD’s choice of their representative. Three: The NLD was willing to cooperate and work with the SLORC and the army for the na- tion’s interest and well-being. Fourth: The National Assembly must be convened.


When asked if she believed her


Party could win another election, she expressed confidence her Party would win by an even big- ger margin. She had no doubts they would be returned to power. When asked if she was pre- pared to govern, she said “Yes, because many of the members elected to the National Assembly, more than 300 of the 400, can form a government right away. We would give preference to those who stayed and remained with us on Burmese soil during the struggle.” We also asked her about the renaming of Burma to Myanmar. She said, “We have no objection to renaming Burma to Myanmar but this must be decided in a ref- erendum. Changing the name of the country cannot be done by a cabal of generals.”


She said she was willing to


work with the military as she feelt that the Army should be part of any Burmese administra- tion. She said, “Because the Fa- ther of the Burmese Army is my father, I have a special affinity to the soldiers.”


In a 1998 privileged speech at the Senate I said that in the meetings with the Asean coun- tries and with the United Na- tions, the following should be seriously addressed:


The safety and security of Aung San Suu Kyi because she had been under assassination threats and we would not want her to suffer ➤ Lunch A5


would secure the neocolonial sta- tus of the Philippines.


The first US-educated UP presi-


dent was Jorge Bocobo who be- longed to the first batch of Filipino pensionados sent to the US in 1902. Law dean Bocobo (LlB, In- diana) succeeded Palma in 1933— whose salary was cut by Quezon. Leopoldo Y. Yabes and Teodoro Agoncillo remembered the Palma era for its liberal atmosphere. The Bocobo period marked the early years of the Commonwealth, with Quezon wielding greater influence on campus; by 1939 the board of regents elected Bienvenido Gonzalez ( PhD, Johns Hopkins) from UP Los Baños as president. Gonzalez’s term was interrupted by the Pacific War in 1941 while the beginnings of a Diliman campus were being laid out. Gonzalez had to rebuild the UP from the war ru- ins in Padre Faura to what he called the “brave new world” in the talahiban of Diliman. His refusal to give an honorary degree to Sukarno (as promised by Quirino) and approval of the students’ request to have nationalist Sen. Claro M. Recto as 1951 commencement speaker prompted Quirino to fire Gonzalez.


Vicente Sinco as president hired nationalist writers to his faculty/staff like Teodoro Agoncillo, Hernando Abaya, I.P. Soliongco, Fred Manga- has, and Flora Lansang such that Leonardo Perez, now congressman, initiated the House investigation of UP professors for alleged commu- nist links. Sinco supported demon- strations led by student leaders like Jose Maria Sison, Collegian editors


Reynato Puno, Luis Teodoro and Ferdinand Tinio against McCarthyist witch-hunting. This cost Sinco the presidency. Salvador P. Lopez came in a period of student unrest, and for the first time in UP history, he articulated the idea of the univer- sity as agent of social change. He denounced police brutality to- ward demonstrators outside Con- gress and led a protest march to Malacañang. He prevented po- lice/military intrusion to the cam- pus barricaded by students, pro- testing the oil price hike; he sup- ported the civil liberties move- ment during the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus after the Plaza Miranda bombing. He called for the lifting of Martial Law when people were cowering in fear, and facilitated the re-en- try to UP of released detainees among faculty/students. Times have changed. The univer- sity facing budget cuts has allowed itself to be in the grip of neoliberal globalization with effects like commercialization, increase in tuition fees, priority given to rev- enue-raising research or teaching projects, and contractualization of auxiliary services.


The UP president now has to be a technocrat/CEO in dealing with corporations doing business on campus, and a politician in lobbying with those holding the funds that rightfully belong to education. Intellectual leader- ship? That has long been relin- quished since Lopez’s time.


eaordonez2000@yahoo.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16