EDSA: sharing 1986 memories to the millennials & to all
It has been 31 years ago today since the 1986 EDSA people power toppled a dictatorship.
EDSA or Epifanio de los Santos Avenue is the site where millions of Filipinos peacefully petitioned for redress of grievances against the administration of Marcos - for three days from Feb 22-25, 1986.
That dictatorship started with a declaration of martial law in September 21, 1972.
That martial law era was also called constitutional authoritarianism.
The validity of the 1973 constitution which justified the extension of the term of Marcos as president was deemed in force and effect by our judiciary.
The legislature was padlocked and the country was run by presidential decrees.
These decrees, except for those amended or repealed, are still valid today.
There was an interim assembly in 1978 and a unicameral legislature was put in effect in 1984.
To this day, I still wonder why that dictatorship lasted for 20 long years.
Or for that matter, how our judiciary at that time said that it cannot rule against a presidential prerogative as it was a domain that involves a political question or one that pertains to a discretion that is the proper prerogative of one branch of government.
With the legitimacy of the Marcos dictatorship being politically doubted here and by the international community, Marcos called for a snap election in 1985 & the Batasang Pambansa (unicameral legislature) then set the date of a snap election in Feb. 1986.
In the official ballot count of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) then, presidential candidate Cory Aquino lost even as there was overwhelming evidence that she won.
About 20 computer programmers walked out during the quick count in protest of what they considered as marred & manipulated election results.
Meantime, there was a brewing military rebellion under the auspices of the Reformed the Armed Movement (RAM) headed by then Colonel Gregorio Honasan and with the blessings of then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile.
The plot was discovered by President Marcos and General Fabian Ver, the AFP Chief of Staff. Enrile was to be arrested. As it happened, then Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos joined Enrile & the military officers in the military rebellion. The military was divided between troops loyal to Gen Ver and troops loyal to the Enrile- Ramos side.
Calls to mass at EDSA were done through radio and through the call of Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin and the church joined plus hundreds of thousands of people. We devoured the reports of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, then,which bannered huge people power pictures & published a detailed account of all the events of those three heady days.
Malacanang Palace was invaded; Marcos and family fled to Hawaii.
Before the run up to the 1986 EDSA event, there were yellow Friday rallies in Davao City and Makati and in most capitals of the country. Which is why, when news that Marcos had fled, there was a motorcade of rejoicing in the streets of Davao City. The first city visited by Cory after she assumed the presidency was Davao City. It was held at the just minted Maa terminal in front of thousands of Davaoenos who did not mind to be under the heat of the noontime sun. President Cory Aquino looked so cool in a blue dress oozing with so much presidential power. Someone remarked that Cory also looked very divinely presidential, like a goddess descended from the heavens.
It was a renaissance of sorts. A kind of Camelot era. As civil society, we promoted to pay the right taxes to everyone as a reaction to an earlier call for civil disobedience by protesting politicians against the administration of Marcos.
Cory Aquino established a revolutionary government and the 1986 Freedom Constitution.
Soon after a 1987 constitution was ratified and in effect today. This 1987 Constitution became a reaction to the flaws & gaps of the 1935 & the 1973 Constitutions.
People power was written into our charter as provisions on recall and initiative. The charter has written the process for how to declare martial law.
The provisions of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement which lists 13 provinces and cities as part of Muslim Mindanao became the basis for the autonomy provisions of the 1987 constitution which in turn became the basis for succeeding organic acts. One of these organic Acts is the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) law or Republic Act 9054.
Today, various political parties & persuasions will troop to the EDSA shrine, Luneta & other places to stage rallies with various messages.
Current thinking which is shared by many is that same formula for that 1986 EDSA People Power historical moment may not be obtaining on the horizon of realpolitik today. But, people power can be accessed anytime by a critical mass as the events of 1986 showed.
And as written in our charter, people power is a powerful method for redress of grievances, recall & initiative. Until we can evolve a better method,for now, at least, installing or removing politicians through the language of the ballot is still the preferred method of our democratic institutions.
~ ~ Isabelita Solamo
Showing posts with label Marcos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marcos. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2017
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Libyan Leader Losing Legitimacy
AS graduate students in social science, we would assess one’s savvy in international politics if a fellow student had read or heard of Colonel Gadhafi’s (Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi ) 1975 Green Book which was a socialist and nationalist political philosophy.
We first knew the Colonel who dons safari suits and sunglasses as a revolutionary who overthrew a Libyan monarchy and dreamed to unite the Arab world.
Already, he was a declared socialist before the fall of the Soviet empire.
Then, in 1976, he hosted our Tripoli Agreement or the first peace agreement between the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front.
Let me share how my anthropologist friend Carol Gamiao, my roomate in a University of the Philippines residence hall captures that period:
“ I remember him well for his Green Book which he brought to the Philippines – printed in the Philippines, too since I had all volumes of his little Green Book.
(My professor was contractor for his Manila workshop and promotion tour.)
Had them but did not really read seriously because it was not too coherent. It was attempt at an alternative to Capitalism and Communism – like our Revolution from the Center.
Ours was better, of course. An enlightened despot was kind of chic at that time – strong leadership in Third World – Mahathir, Marcos, etc. Reaction to US-style democracy that they said was not suited to our particular conditions as developing nations.
It was an emerging economy, new wealth with oil and all.
Like Marcos, he could have succeeded too, with vision and heart and mind.
So, in my old age, I still believe what I knew then that all revolutions need to start from within – people – individually. With vision of a great leader. Remember, we had at that time, “Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan…” We did not get there.
"And what else I remember is based on the stories of our dorm mate, a member of the UP Concert Chorus, who occupied a room just across our room at the dorm. Imelda Marcos went to Libya and sang Dahil sa Iyo before Gadhafi’s tent in the desert.
And then, Imelda asked him to render her a song in return.
Oh, Imelda and her wild ways. Gadhafi’s mother was very upset that some woman dares tell him what to do.
I think we were then asserting our independence from the US Bases by courting everyone that could ensure our oil supply. Them were the days.
"But the future is bleak. I dread to think about what this whole mess has in store for us all.
Al Qaeda is fighting with him?
These days, I just don’t read the news anymore – and if I do, just force myself to be positive and not contribute any more to the negativity. We’re all in this together, that’s the rub.”
In 2009, during Gadhafi’s address at the United Nations’s 64th session of the UN General Assembly where he reportedly called the UN Security Council as a “Terror Council”, the colonel, as reports indicated, wanted to put up a tent in Central Park but was allegedly met with protests.
Today, as one of the longest running rulers of the world having been in power in Libya for four decades, Colonel Gadhafi is fighting for his political life.
The recent pro-democracy protests that started in Tunisia and Egypt has spread to Libya. Given that there is a long standing movement and campaign to overthrow Colonel Gadhafi, the political protests are not really a surprise nor unexpected.
What is unexpected is Gadhafi’s holding on to power by a thread despite international pressure. Gadhafi’s crackdown on the political protests has resulted to a reported hundreds of deaths of civilians in recent days.
Any human rights activist is sure to say that Gadhafi’s crackdown against protesters resulting to deaths is a crime against humanity and is punishable under Article 7 of the Rome Statute or the law creating the International Criminal Court. It has also been reported that a religious ruling or fatwa has been issued calling for the killing of Gadhafi for the crime committed against Libyans.
This is an interface of history and biography and women’s place in this unfolding geopolitics drama is to constantly promote human rights through peaceful political reforms.
Very big words but we always start the action by naming and framing the issues.
We first knew the Colonel who dons safari suits and sunglasses as a revolutionary who overthrew a Libyan monarchy and dreamed to unite the Arab world.
Already, he was a declared socialist before the fall of the Soviet empire.
Then, in 1976, he hosted our Tripoli Agreement or the first peace agreement between the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front.
Let me share how my anthropologist friend Carol Gamiao, my roomate in a University of the Philippines residence hall captures that period:
“ I remember him well for his Green Book which he brought to the Philippines – printed in the Philippines, too since I had all volumes of his little Green Book.
(My professor was contractor for his Manila workshop and promotion tour.)
Had them but did not really read seriously because it was not too coherent. It was attempt at an alternative to Capitalism and Communism – like our Revolution from the Center.
Ours was better, of course. An enlightened despot was kind of chic at that time – strong leadership in Third World – Mahathir, Marcos, etc. Reaction to US-style democracy that they said was not suited to our particular conditions as developing nations.
It was an emerging economy, new wealth with oil and all.
Like Marcos, he could have succeeded too, with vision and heart and mind.
So, in my old age, I still believe what I knew then that all revolutions need to start from within – people – individually. With vision of a great leader. Remember, we had at that time, “Sa ikauunlad ng bayan, disiplina ang kailangan…” We did not get there.
"And what else I remember is based on the stories of our dorm mate, a member of the UP Concert Chorus, who occupied a room just across our room at the dorm. Imelda Marcos went to Libya and sang Dahil sa Iyo before Gadhafi’s tent in the desert.
And then, Imelda asked him to render her a song in return.
Oh, Imelda and her wild ways. Gadhafi’s mother was very upset that some woman dares tell him what to do.
I think we were then asserting our independence from the US Bases by courting everyone that could ensure our oil supply. Them were the days.
"But the future is bleak. I dread to think about what this whole mess has in store for us all.
Al Qaeda is fighting with him?
These days, I just don’t read the news anymore – and if I do, just force myself to be positive and not contribute any more to the negativity. We’re all in this together, that’s the rub.”
In 2009, during Gadhafi’s address at the United Nations’s 64th session of the UN General Assembly where he reportedly called the UN Security Council as a “Terror Council”, the colonel, as reports indicated, wanted to put up a tent in Central Park but was allegedly met with protests.
Today, as one of the longest running rulers of the world having been in power in Libya for four decades, Colonel Gadhafi is fighting for his political life.
The recent pro-democracy protests that started in Tunisia and Egypt has spread to Libya. Given that there is a long standing movement and campaign to overthrow Colonel Gadhafi, the political protests are not really a surprise nor unexpected.
What is unexpected is Gadhafi’s holding on to power by a thread despite international pressure. Gadhafi’s crackdown on the political protests has resulted to a reported hundreds of deaths of civilians in recent days.
Any human rights activist is sure to say that Gadhafi’s crackdown against protesters resulting to deaths is a crime against humanity and is punishable under Article 7 of the Rome Statute or the law creating the International Criminal Court. It has also been reported that a religious ruling or fatwa has been issued calling for the killing of Gadhafi for the crime committed against Libyans.
This is an interface of history and biography and women’s place in this unfolding geopolitics drama is to constantly promote human rights through peaceful political reforms.
Very big words but we always start the action by naming and framing the issues.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sept 21 : Martial Law & Memory Truth Telling
How does one tell the story of a decade and a half of martial law to the young generation today?
The proclamation of martial law happened on Sept 21, 1972.
When it happened, the general population did not know how to react to the proclamation.
The analysis of sociologist Randy David was that:
(a) the ordinary person did not have civil and political consciousness and that
(b) there was widespread poverty and everyone was willing to give a chance to an unknown kind of authoritarianism that had legal justification in the 1935 constitution ( paraphrasing mine).
That brand of authoritarianism just fell into place and into the hearts and minds of Filipinos so used to patronage politics – until the promised abundance of the so-called New Society that was supposed to be rid of corruption did not happen at all.
Up to now, I am still amazed at how the Filipino took too long to oust a dictator who ruled for over two decades.
Or for that matter, how our judiciary, at that time, said that it cannot rule against a presidential prerogative as it was a domain that involves a political question or one that belongs to the realm of the sovereign people, as the 1973 Constitution had been ratified by citizen's assemblies.
This was weaponizing the law & gave that era a semblance of constitutional authoritarianism.
When martial law was proclaimed, I was in an out of town school and my mother who happened to be separated for four years from her parents during the second world war suddenly ordered me to fly home.
I obeyed because parents know best.
There were no classes for two weeks or so.
It was such an uncertain juncture in time.
As a burgeoning social activist, I was part of a group which was into study sessions analyzing the problems of society.
A few years later, I decided to pursue studies about society and development like it was my personal reaction to the historical events happening and unfolding before my eyes.
What palpable changes do we see now in our institutions?
One change is the way we have reformulated the martial law provisions in our 1987 Constitution which now provides for both Congress and our Supreme Court to look into and inquire into the validity or factual basis of any martial law proclamation using their checks and balance functions. In this sense, we have been politically educated. We have institutionalized people power in our charter provisions such as recall, initiative and referendum.
But, we are still a very poor country. Our country is run by the oligarchy: by no more than 300 families that hold more than 70 percent of the national wealth.
Yet, our people are constantly always hopeful and resilient.
When one is in the rock bottom, one feels one has nothing to lose.
This time, we are placing our hopes in a political vision that is constantly evolving.
We have learned a lot of lessons from almost two decades of martial law which was legally justified in a colonial 1935 constitution.
We have since then changed that colonial martial law provision in our 1987 charter so that our children will never again experience that dark era in our history as a young nation.
The proclamation of martial law happened on Sept 21, 1972.
When it happened, the general population did not know how to react to the proclamation.
The analysis of sociologist Randy David was that:
(a) the ordinary person did not have civil and political consciousness and that
(b) there was widespread poverty and everyone was willing to give a chance to an unknown kind of authoritarianism that had legal justification in the 1935 constitution ( paraphrasing mine).
That brand of authoritarianism just fell into place and into the hearts and minds of Filipinos so used to patronage politics – until the promised abundance of the so-called New Society that was supposed to be rid of corruption did not happen at all.
Up to now, I am still amazed at how the Filipino took too long to oust a dictator who ruled for over two decades.
Or for that matter, how our judiciary, at that time, said that it cannot rule against a presidential prerogative as it was a domain that involves a political question or one that belongs to the realm of the sovereign people, as the 1973 Constitution had been ratified by citizen's assemblies.
This was weaponizing the law & gave that era a semblance of constitutional authoritarianism.
We said: What is so - called "legal" is not always just.
When martial law was proclaimed, I was in an out of town school and my mother who happened to be separated for four years from her parents during the second world war suddenly ordered me to fly home.
I obeyed because parents know best.
There were no classes for two weeks or so.
It was such an uncertain juncture in time.
As a burgeoning social activist, I was part of a group which was into study sessions analyzing the problems of society.
A few years later, I decided to pursue studies about society and development like it was my personal reaction to the historical events happening and unfolding before my eyes.
What palpable changes do we see now in our institutions?
One change is the way we have reformulated the martial law provisions in our 1987 Constitution which now provides for both Congress and our Supreme Court to look into and inquire into the validity or factual basis of any martial law proclamation using their checks and balance functions. In this sense, we have been politically educated. We have institutionalized people power in our charter provisions such as recall, initiative and referendum.
But, we are still a very poor country. Our country is run by the oligarchy: by no more than 300 families that hold more than 70 percent of the national wealth.
Yet, our people are constantly always hopeful and resilient.
When one is in the rock bottom, one feels one has nothing to lose.
This time, we are placing our hopes in a political vision that is constantly evolving.
We have learned a lot of lessons from almost two decades of martial law which was legally justified in a colonial 1935 constitution.
We have since then changed that colonial martial law provision in our 1987 charter so that our children will never again experience that dark era in our history as a young nation.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Martial Law
The country stood still and seemed stymied when a December 4, 2009 Proclamation No. 1959 imposed martial law in Maguindanao, a province in central Mindanao. Then, that proclamation was lifted eight days later. It was a proclamation of a state of martial law and a suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the province of Maguindanao except for identified areas of the MILF as referred to in the GRP-MILF agreement on general cessation of hostilities.
In generic parlance, martial law is rule by the military, typically imposed during wartime. Suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus means warrantless arrests & warrantless searches, among others. But, the warrantless arrests are good for three days only and after which charges should be filed, otherwise the detained should be realeased. After martial law for twenty years during the Marcos regime when most of our civilian agencies like our national legislature was padlocked, our 1987 constitution has redefined how martial law should be in the Philippines. The old martial law power which was upheld by the Supreme Court of that era allowed the President of the Philippines to legislate by decrees, create military commissions or courts martial to try both members of the military and civilian offenders for specified offenses.
So, the currently binding 1987 redefinition (which is a reaction to that martial law power of the Marcos era) in our Constitution says that martial law can only proclaimed “ in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it…” This same 1987 martial law provision has also placed limits to how martial law should be : martial law should have a time limit of sixty days, congress reviews the proclamation and has the power to revoke which cannot be overturned by the president and of course, the Supreme court can review and as well may nullify as void such proclamation.
But then again, there will be many ways of subverting these limits. For example, the president can extend the period to more than sixty days. The Philippine constitution specifically says that both houses of Congress should be voting jointly or as one to revoke a proclamation of martial law. In joint voting, the lower house which has a membership of 268 can outvote the 23 members of the Senate or the 18 members of the Senate who have already expressed that they are against the proclamation. For now, we have yet no idea how the lower house will vote. There were fears, based on past tendencies, that the ruling majority party in the lower house will not revoke the proclamation. Now, after the lifting, Congress could just cancel the joint session of both Congress which was convened to review the factual basis of the proclamation. But, the citizens are expecting that the Supreme Court will pass judgment on whether the martial law proclamation (# 1959) is not unconstitutional as the issue is laden with public interest and for the jurisprudence that will be a very useful precedent to provide guidance. This is the first time martial law was declared after the 1987 constitution came into effect and the ruling that will be rendered will definitely define the limits of the president’s prerogative to declare martial law.
The Arroyo regime has submitted a report of the factual basis of the proclamation to both houses of Congress as required by our Constitution. The report starts with a presentation of the government findings on the Maguindanao massacre which is interspersed with the gruesome pictures of the unspeakable tragedy and finally zeroes in on its description of a state of rebellion in Maguindanao by presenting as initial evidence the military and police reports of the presence of arms and private armies. Citizen’s blogs were saying that if existence of the private armies and arms in Maguindanao is the proof of rebellion and the basis for the proclamation of the state of martial law, many areas could potentially be covered which is scary, to say the least.
In generic parlance, martial law is rule by the military, typically imposed during wartime. Suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus means warrantless arrests & warrantless searches, among others. But, the warrantless arrests are good for three days only and after which charges should be filed, otherwise the detained should be realeased. After martial law for twenty years during the Marcos regime when most of our civilian agencies like our national legislature was padlocked, our 1987 constitution has redefined how martial law should be in the Philippines. The old martial law power which was upheld by the Supreme Court of that era allowed the President of the Philippines to legislate by decrees, create military commissions or courts martial to try both members of the military and civilian offenders for specified offenses.
So, the currently binding 1987 redefinition (which is a reaction to that martial law power of the Marcos era) in our Constitution says that martial law can only proclaimed “ in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it…” This same 1987 martial law provision has also placed limits to how martial law should be : martial law should have a time limit of sixty days, congress reviews the proclamation and has the power to revoke which cannot be overturned by the president and of course, the Supreme court can review and as well may nullify as void such proclamation.
But then again, there will be many ways of subverting these limits. For example, the president can extend the period to more than sixty days. The Philippine constitution specifically says that both houses of Congress should be voting jointly or as one to revoke a proclamation of martial law. In joint voting, the lower house which has a membership of 268 can outvote the 23 members of the Senate or the 18 members of the Senate who have already expressed that they are against the proclamation. For now, we have yet no idea how the lower house will vote. There were fears, based on past tendencies, that the ruling majority party in the lower house will not revoke the proclamation. Now, after the lifting, Congress could just cancel the joint session of both Congress which was convened to review the factual basis of the proclamation. But, the citizens are expecting that the Supreme Court will pass judgment on whether the martial law proclamation (# 1959) is not unconstitutional as the issue is laden with public interest and for the jurisprudence that will be a very useful precedent to provide guidance. This is the first time martial law was declared after the 1987 constitution came into effect and the ruling that will be rendered will definitely define the limits of the president’s prerogative to declare martial law.
The Arroyo regime has submitted a report of the factual basis of the proclamation to both houses of Congress as required by our Constitution. The report starts with a presentation of the government findings on the Maguindanao massacre which is interspersed with the gruesome pictures of the unspeakable tragedy and finally zeroes in on its description of a state of rebellion in Maguindanao by presenting as initial evidence the military and police reports of the presence of arms and private armies. Citizen’s blogs were saying that if existence of the private armies and arms in Maguindanao is the proof of rebellion and the basis for the proclamation of the state of martial law, many areas could potentially be covered which is scary, to say the least.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Project Citizenship : Mar Roxas
Senator Mar Roxas was the only guest that showed up in the July 30, 2009 forum on Mindanao Peace, Economy, Environment & Youth Development. It was a forum under the auspices of the Project Citizenship of the Ateneo de Davao University ( particularly the Political Science & History program of the Social Science & Education Division and SAMAPULA, the organization of Political Science students ) and the Change Politics Movement. Other politicians such as Jejomar Binay, Grace Padaca, Francis Pangilinan, etc, who have individually expressed a desire to run for national posts were invited, too, but did not make it.
Mar Roxas said there is something to be said about those who show up and so I am giving space to him and hopefully, the rest who did not show up will have their space here another time. Senator Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II was born May 13, 1957. He is the grandson of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. Mar, an economist, is a product of the Ateneo de Manila for his basic education and studied Economics all the way at the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Mar is very eloquent and spoke a handful without notes. He would pepper his speech with Binisaya Ilonggo as he served as a congressman from Capiz from 1993 to 2000 until former President Joseph Estrada appointed him as a cabinet member for the Department of Trade & Industry. Asked what the best thing Gloria Arroyo did, he said that it was re-appointing him as head of the Department of Trade & Industry.
Then, he was asked about what is great about the Liberal Party. He said that among the current crop of Liberal Party stalwarts, no one has been tainted with wrongdoing or corruption. I wish to share to the younger generation that perhaps, the reason why Mar says current Liberal party members is because the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1965 was once a prominent member of the Liberal Party founded by former Philippine President Manuel Roxas, and then Marcos became a turncoat after failing to get the Liberal Party's nomination for president. Marcos ran as the Nationalist Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado Macapagal. Marcos won and was forced to step down twenty years after ( in 1986) when Cory took over as President after the EDSA people power revolution. Anyway, I felt even as a child back in 1965, that there were only two political parties : Liberal and Nacionalista. In local politics, though, delineation between what parties stood for was blurred as voters elected personalities or local kingpins and overlooked political parties. My sense is that it is still the same up to now which is really an indication for party building and for us citizens to invest ourselves in the discussion of political party platforms and national and local election issues.
Mar who is not topping but rising, though, in current presidential surveys was elected as Senator in the 2004 elections by 19, 372,888 votes and is still the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in Philippine election history.
The following are his answers to the rest of the issues :
a) On his expensive television commercials, i.e. the tricycle driver spiel, Mar says that the funds are his inheritance. While others would spend on expensive cars, he is choosing to spend his money communicating to the Filipino people.
b) On Mindanao peace : He is for peace but not carving another juridical entity out of the Philippines and that consultation on these issues are very crucial.
c) On reproductive health : he was asked how he would implement the Magna Carta of Women particularly reproductive rights: he said that definitely he is against abortion and to the students in the audience he said that providing information on reproductive health is important and that government should not impose or interfere on the couple’s decision on what is good for them in the area of reproductive health.
Many of my friends in Mindanao really took issue with the Mar Roxas stand on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancentral Domain ( MOA-AD) particularly on the Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity (BJE). Perhaps, Mar as a politician, is also sensing the pulse of the larger majority and which is why communication and public awareness and consultations in planning alternative futures are crucial.
Mar Roxas said there is something to be said about those who show up and so I am giving space to him and hopefully, the rest who did not show up will have their space here another time. Senator Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas II was born May 13, 1957. He is the grandson of former Philippine President Manuel Roxas. Mar, an economist, is a product of the Ateneo de Manila for his basic education and studied Economics all the way at the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. Mar is very eloquent and spoke a handful without notes. He would pepper his speech with Binisaya Ilonggo as he served as a congressman from Capiz from 1993 to 2000 until former President Joseph Estrada appointed him as a cabinet member for the Department of Trade & Industry. Asked what the best thing Gloria Arroyo did, he said that it was re-appointing him as head of the Department of Trade & Industry.
Then, he was asked about what is great about the Liberal Party. He said that among the current crop of Liberal Party stalwarts, no one has been tainted with wrongdoing or corruption. I wish to share to the younger generation that perhaps, the reason why Mar says current Liberal party members is because the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1965 was once a prominent member of the Liberal Party founded by former Philippine President Manuel Roxas, and then Marcos became a turncoat after failing to get the Liberal Party's nomination for president. Marcos ran as the Nationalist Party candidate for president against the Liberal president, Diosdado Macapagal. Marcos won and was forced to step down twenty years after ( in 1986) when Cory took over as President after the EDSA people power revolution. Anyway, I felt even as a child back in 1965, that there were only two political parties : Liberal and Nacionalista. In local politics, though, delineation between what parties stood for was blurred as voters elected personalities or local kingpins and overlooked political parties. My sense is that it is still the same up to now which is really an indication for party building and for us citizens to invest ourselves in the discussion of political party platforms and national and local election issues.
Mar who is not topping but rising, though, in current presidential surveys was elected as Senator in the 2004 elections by 19, 372,888 votes and is still the highest ever garnered by a national candidate in Philippine election history.
The following are his answers to the rest of the issues :
a) On his expensive television commercials, i.e. the tricycle driver spiel, Mar says that the funds are his inheritance. While others would spend on expensive cars, he is choosing to spend his money communicating to the Filipino people.
b) On Mindanao peace : He is for peace but not carving another juridical entity out of the Philippines and that consultation on these issues are very crucial.
c) On reproductive health : he was asked how he would implement the Magna Carta of Women particularly reproductive rights: he said that definitely he is against abortion and to the students in the audience he said that providing information on reproductive health is important and that government should not impose or interfere on the couple’s decision on what is good for them in the area of reproductive health.
Many of my friends in Mindanao really took issue with the Mar Roxas stand on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancentral Domain ( MOA-AD) particularly on the Bangsa Moro Juridical Entity (BJE). Perhaps, Mar as a politician, is also sensing the pulse of the larger majority and which is why communication and public awareness and consultations in planning alternative futures are crucial.
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