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Pinoy-Pulitika
GMA's sacrifice and civil society metastasis
by Miriam
Coronel Ferrer
Since
the Rizal Day pronouncement of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
that she will not run for president in 2004, both civil society
groups and opposition parties have been reconfiguring themselves.
Senator Angara’s LDP (Laban
ng Demokratikong Pilipino) and people associated with the short-lived
Erap presidency suddenly lost their central target of attack on
which to build themselves up as the alternative. Even Estrada’s
blustery testimony at the Senate hearing investigating the IMPSA
contract failed to boost what was – until the announcement – a growing
momentum from all corners to demolish the house of GMA. Angara himself,
after meeting with Arroyo on a shared legislative agenda, was accused
of selling out to the government.
Civil society groups, meanwhile, had to think twice about their
attitude and strategies toward the administration. On one end, there
was the usual cynicism (healthy up to a point) that the promise
will not be kept. References to the father Macapagal’s own broken
promise (to Marcos in 1964) not to seek reelection were summoned.
Coupled with the frenzy at the House to ram through a constituent
assembly that will change the system of government in the country,
others saw the move as part of a ploy that will end in NOEL (“no
election”).
In between are the people willing to give her a chance even as they
lamented the fact that she should have done it much earlier. Meanwhile,
on the other extreme were the exuberant accolades. The act was described
as heroic and unprecedented, almost like Rizal’s supreme sacrifice
— implying that it defied the most established tenet among Pinoy
politicos which is, to stay in power at all cost. Philippine Daily
Inquirer editors were truly touched, awarding her the Filipino of
the Year for 2002 title, even if it was for something that was earned
only on the 364th day of the year.
***
Already,
at least two new alliances among old actors belonging to the loose
category of “civil society” have taken shape within one month of
the surprise announcement. Evidently, Philippine civil society is
made of groups with diverse political and ideological orientations
and varying degrees of affinity with the ruling power. It can have
as many centers and initiatives as there are people willing to take
up the cudgels this way or that. Given the way Philippine civil
society metastasizes, a linear political spectrum does not have
much use as a tool for describing its fluidity and uncanny dynamics.
The first to spring up was the December 30 Movement. Also known
as the 12:30 Movement, it is made up of the leading people and organizations
behind KOMPIL II. It pledged to support GMA’s three-pronged agenda
for her last 18 months: strengthening the economy, creating more
jobs and combating corruption; healing the deep divisions within
society; and working for a clean and honest elections in 2004.
KOMPIL II was the broadest civil society coalition that campaigned
for Estrada’s resignation, impeachment and ouster (RIO). It claimed
more than 250 coalitions, networks and organizations during its
launching in October 2000. Its initial convenors were the CODE-NGO
(of “peace bond” fame/infamy), the National Peace Conference and
the Konsyensyang Pilipino.
Several of KOMPIL II’s leading figures come from the NGO sector
and are now in the GMA’s Cabinet or enjoy seats in the board of
government corporations. In effect, the civil society representatives
recruited into the GMA administration came from the ranks of the
leading KOMPIL groups, as was the case during the Aquino and Ramos
administration. In contrast, Erap recruited from another civil society
flank represented by people like Horacio “Boy” Morales and Edicio
dela Torre.
***
Most
groups in KOMPIL II, and now with the 12:30 Movement, are on a critical
collaboration mode with GMA.
A critical collaboration stance simply means cooperating and working
with government, but criticizing when there is policy difference.
Being in or working with government means one will have more influence
on government policy; one’s reform agenda has a greater chance of
being heard. The downside is that the administration’s infirmities
becomes one’s own by virtue of association.
A text message proclaiming a counter “5:30 Movement” (best read
in the vernacular as alas-singko-y-media to conjure a “wake up call”
image) pricks the Achilles heel of the 12:30 and Kompil groups with
this naughty spin: “Oras n para magcing s ka22hanan! Ubos n pasnsya
ng bayan s puro bola @ s mga sipsip. Kung ayaw ni GMA, tao n ang
kikilos – 5:30MVNT (pls pass)”
Bayan, and the Council on Philippine Affairs (COPA) steered clear
of the 12:30 Movement. This is not surprising since they did not
join KOMPIL II anyway and have adopted an oppositionist stance to
the GMA administration months back. What is more amazing is despite
their gaping ideological gap, the national democratic Bayan and
COPA, which includes people like Peping and Tingting Cojuangco and
Boy Saycon, have somehow continued their EDSA II collaboration .
In an “EDSA II reunion” where vice-president Teofisto Guingona was
speaker, Bayan and COPA spelled out a six-point agenda for unity
which included measures for economic relief and consumer protection,
reversal of inimical globalization policies, pursuit of plunder
and graft cases, revival of formal talks with rebels, and in an
apparent dig at US forces’ presence in the country, assertion of
national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The motley anti-GMA group of Linda Montayre of the Philippine Consultative
Assembly, former senator Juan Ponce Enrile and former assemblyman
Homobono Adaza, for their part filed impeachment charges against
GMA. The pathetic intent was of course to simulate the process that
led to the ouster of Erap, as if repeating history can be summoned
at will. With GMA out of the contest and earning a measure of people’s
goodwill with her ultimate politician’s sacrifice, the impeachment
move comes across as a cheap gimmick . Regardless of actual culpability
of the Arroyos to the charges, it will surely fizzle.
***
The
second new coalition to rise is the Bangon Pilipino Movement (BMP)
led by El Shaddai’s big man Mike Velarde. The BMP was first billed
as a Coalition for National Unity. It reportedly drew in more than
36 business, labor, religious and professional groups including
the Bishop-Businessmen’s Conference, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC),
Employers Confederation of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines.
BMP claimed to speak on behalf of the “silent majority” disgusted
with too much politicking and concerned with the country’s economic
difficulties. It said it would draft a common agenda for national
unity, and serve as government watchdog.
BMP’s power lies in the influence its members wield. Politicians
ardently woo the support of El Shaddai’s Velarde and INC ‘s Rev.
Manalo during elections because of their groups’ sheer number and
the assumed “command votes” the leaders can extract from their followers.
But because both El Shaddai and INC have not been too circumspect
in their choices in the past, many non-followers are suspicious
of their intent. Business groups and centrist/right-of-center trade
unions together also do not invite trust on the part of more progressive
civil society groups, who may now be feeling they would need to
guard the self-acclaimed watchdogs.
Perhaps the best way to picture current civil society configuration
is to locate these groups’ whereabouts during the 20 January 2003
anniversary of EDSA II, an ordinary day really given that presidential
ceremonies and rallies are regular occurrences in our political
landscape and euphoria over any of the EDSA events has dissipated.
Some stalwarts of the December 30 Movement were inside the EDSA
shrine with GMA. Bayan people were water-cannoned outside of the
shrine along EDSA, while Sanlakas rallied in front of Malacanang.
PCA was preparing its impeachment charges. El Shaddai people were
nowhere to be found since they go out only on Saturdays to Luneta
for their mass worship.
***
Sanlakas,
the Partido ng Manggagawa and the Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Manggagawang
Pilipino (KAMPI), a breakaway group from the national democrats
and led by Popoy Lagman until he was murdered in 2001, chose to
keep their strategy short and simple. They issued a “4-Way Test”
or “Apat na Dapat” agenda by which they will judge GMA. These are
abolishing the purchased power adjustments (PPA) charges and suspension
of hikes in water prices; not implementing the zero-tariff regime;
more budget to social services, not to debt servicing; and withdrawing
support for the US’s wars of aggression.
The question is will GMA have the political will to see through
any of these groups’ proposals and even her own agenda? Everyday
of the next 18 months she will be tested and watched from all angles.
Conflicting interests will push back her agenda – like the film
and tv actors opposing the 10 percent VAT to be imposed on their
services. We in the civil service who get automatic deductions from
20 to 30 percent in our salaries do not have much sympathy for these
people who earn more but are taxed less but we grant their right
to protest.
Some may not particularly like some or most civil society groups,
or this much-bandied term civil society for that matter, but the
cornucopia that is civil society does serve the purpose of keeping
the president, everyone else in power, and even themselves (with
or against each other), on their toes.
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