LANDSCAPE
GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA
Gemma Cruz Araneta
She very boldly said that the favorite parlor game in the Philippines is figuring out when and how martial law will be declared the second time. In the same breath, she said there are certain political fantasies in circulation; the first one is about the political stability of the administration. The propaganda, she said, is that peace and order have been achieved when, in fact, there is a tidal wave of crime that has engulfed the country.
I should have written the above paragraph in the past tense because I lifted it from a privilege speech delivered on 2 October 1995, by the late and much lamented Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. It was her second death anniversary last 29 September; she is sorely missed, specially at a time like this.
In that same speech, Senator Miriam said that the administration of President Fidel Ramos, composed of ex-generals, had already drafted a new Constitution with “a phony prime minister” who would have assumed all the powers of a president. She called it the “Almonte draft” which had already been circulated among government officials and lawyers’ associations nationwide, including the prestigious Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa). Apparently, the Malacañang Press Corp was tasked to disseminate news that President Ramos was casting around for a successor, ignoring his vice president, Joseph Estrada. Those were cheap “psywar tricks” which flustered presidential opponents in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Understandably, Miriam Defensor Santiago was devastated by her defeat in the presidential elections. She said: ”I challenge this administration of ex-generals to deny that in June, 1992, while the presidential canvass of votes was still ongoing, Mr. Ramos requested and obtained a secret meeting with Mr. Estrada. Mr. Ramos expressed fear that Mr. Estrada might support me as the real winner of the presidential elections. Accordingly, Mr. Ramos begged Mr. Estrada to take a trip abroad for the duration of the canvassing…” Erap did leave and upon his return was appointed head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission.
“Philippines 2000,” the slogan of the Ramos administration, was not an economic blueprint, according to Sen. Miriam. Though it purported to promote a more equitable distribution of wealth and generate employment, the hidden agenda was “to keep an iron grip on power” and extend President Ramos term by creating a crisis environment that would justify the revision of the Constitution. At another Senate session, my favorite lawmaker expounded on the difference between constitutional revision and constitutional amendments.
On 26 October of the same year, Senator Miriam made another privilege speech, “The Edifice Complex,” which denounced another Ramos administration project — the Centennial Tower. She labeled it “Tabaco Tower,” alluding to the president’s addiction to cigars. Her merciless choice of words was unrivalled.
She began by alluding to the Tower of Babel, which she said provoked God’s wrath as it, “…symbolized the deadly sins of human pride, arrogance, and egotism. In the Philippines today, a group of proud, arrogant, and egotistic men seek to visit their avarice on the Filipino taxpayer…” The tower would have cost P5 billion! During the Senate inquiry that followed, she vigorously objected to the “Tabaco Tower” on the grounds that it was immoral, unethical, and sinful to spend billions on a tower at a time when Filipino peasants and workers were drowning in lahar, “…besieged by the rice shortage, and generally oppressed by Third World poverty. Some 40 million Filipinos are begging for food, clothing, shelter, and medical care, but a handful of cynical men in Malacañang want to get P5 billion …for a monstrous extravagance that will serve no purpose.”
Significantly, she also said that it would deface the Rizal monument and desecrate the park where martyrs had spilled their blood for love of country. Imagine, that was where the Ramos administration wanted to construct the “Tabaco Tower.”The centennial of the Philippine Revolution should be about “… paying tribute to the past, to our heroes who fought against feudalism, colonialism, inequality, and the unscrupulous abuse of governmental power and office.” Thanks to Miriam, the tower was never built, but the project lingered until its proponents finally gave up.
Senator Miriam Santiago exhorted the cadets of the Philippine Military Academy in 1991. She read to them Article XVI Sec. 5 of the Constitution which states that members of the Armed Forces should take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. “This means that the soldier’s fealty is not to the person, but to the institution, “ she stressed, “ As he resists the enemy in battle, in peace, he must defend against the blandishments of men of ambition, even if they are his own superiors in our government.”
Let us hope they have not forgotten Miriam’s sage advice.
(Source: Sen. Miriam’s book, At theturn of the Century, 1997) ([email protected])
Gemma Cruz Araneta
She very boldly said that the favorite parlor game in the Philippines is figuring out when and how martial law will be declared the second time. In the same breath, she said there are certain political fantasies in circulation; the first one is about the political stability of the administration. The propaganda, she said, is that peace and order have been achieved when, in fact, there is a tidal wave of crime that has engulfed the country.
I should have written the above paragraph in the past tense because I lifted it from a privilege speech delivered on 2 October 1995, by the late and much lamented Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago. It was her second death anniversary last 29 September; she is sorely missed, specially at a time like this.
In that same speech, Senator Miriam said that the administration of President Fidel Ramos, composed of ex-generals, had already drafted a new Constitution with “a phony prime minister” who would have assumed all the powers of a president. She called it the “Almonte draft” which had already been circulated among government officials and lawyers’ associations nationwide, including the prestigious Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa). Apparently, the Malacañang Press Corp was tasked to disseminate news that President Ramos was casting around for a successor, ignoring his vice president, Joseph Estrada. Those were cheap “psywar tricks” which flustered presidential opponents in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Understandably, Miriam Defensor Santiago was devastated by her defeat in the presidential elections. She said: ”I challenge this administration of ex-generals to deny that in June, 1992, while the presidential canvass of votes was still ongoing, Mr. Ramos requested and obtained a secret meeting with Mr. Estrada. Mr. Ramos expressed fear that Mr. Estrada might support me as the real winner of the presidential elections. Accordingly, Mr. Ramos begged Mr. Estrada to take a trip abroad for the duration of the canvassing…” Erap did leave and upon his return was appointed head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission.
“Philippines 2000,” the slogan of the Ramos administration, was not an economic blueprint, according to Sen. Miriam. Though it purported to promote a more equitable distribution of wealth and generate employment, the hidden agenda was “to keep an iron grip on power” and extend President Ramos term by creating a crisis environment that would justify the revision of the Constitution. At another Senate session, my favorite lawmaker expounded on the difference between constitutional revision and constitutional amendments.
On 26 October of the same year, Senator Miriam made another privilege speech, “The Edifice Complex,” which denounced another Ramos administration project — the Centennial Tower. She labeled it “Tabaco Tower,” alluding to the president’s addiction to cigars. Her merciless choice of words was unrivalled.
She began by alluding to the Tower of Babel, which she said provoked God’s wrath as it, “…symbolized the deadly sins of human pride, arrogance, and egotism. In the Philippines today, a group of proud, arrogant, and egotistic men seek to visit their avarice on the Filipino taxpayer…” The tower would have cost P5 billion! During the Senate inquiry that followed, she vigorously objected to the “Tabaco Tower” on the grounds that it was immoral, unethical, and sinful to spend billions on a tower at a time when Filipino peasants and workers were drowning in lahar, “…besieged by the rice shortage, and generally oppressed by Third World poverty. Some 40 million Filipinos are begging for food, clothing, shelter, and medical care, but a handful of cynical men in Malacañang want to get P5 billion …for a monstrous extravagance that will serve no purpose.”
Significantly, she also said that it would deface the Rizal monument and desecrate the park where martyrs had spilled their blood for love of country. Imagine, that was where the Ramos administration wanted to construct the “Tabaco Tower.”The centennial of the Philippine Revolution should be about “… paying tribute to the past, to our heroes who fought against feudalism, colonialism, inequality, and the unscrupulous abuse of governmental power and office.” Thanks to Miriam, the tower was never built, but the project lingered until its proponents finally gave up.
Senator Miriam Santiago exhorted the cadets of the Philippine Military Academy in 1991. She read to them Article XVI Sec. 5 of the Constitution which states that members of the Armed Forces should take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. “This means that the soldier’s fealty is not to the person, but to the institution, “ she stressed, “ As he resists the enemy in battle, in peace, he must defend against the blandishments of men of ambition, even if they are his own superiors in our government.”
Let us hope they have not forgotten Miriam’s sage advice.
(Source: Sen. Miriam’s book, At theturn of the Century, 1997) ([email protected])