(Updated version, hopefully more understandable)
The recent debacle faced by media (chiefly Philstar's Jarius Bondoc and Inquirer's Juliet Labog-Javellana) unexpectedly brings me back to how I've since regarded the local political climate at the turn of 2006: The Arroyo government's unfortunate highjacking by the military (via EDSA 2 backing and then Hello Garci wiretapping) isn't as simple as it looks from the surface. It has resulted in the confusion of who is really legitimate and who's not, and with the veil of secrecy lifted here and there, the laughable situation of people from both sides of the fence clutching at straws to regain so-called credibility.
One of the things that's at least a lot clearer now is this: One of the perceived strengths of EDSA 2 at the time it was turning into a heady brew, i.e., military back-up, was its own weakness. Observers like Prof. Randy David were right when they saw fatigue uniforms at the EDSA Shrine as an alarming foreboding of something bad. Indeed, the democratically inclined is only right to see as loathesome the sight of a military having a direct hand in the democratization process because the military mindset, at its core (being the sanctioned guardian/protector of the state and the people), is inimical to the democratic thought when it finds itself tinkering with civilian power. The military particularly has no respect for the secularly sacred concept of "majority rule with minority rights." The military mind is just too awash in groupthink, propaganda tactics, Orwellian thought patterns. We don't blame the military for that, though, because that's the nature of the beast. Things have to be that way for the military to be useful and effective. The point is just that the idea of the military usurping civilian power is just too revolting; we only have to look at the collective global experience. What became one of the strengths of EDSA 2 degenerated fast into military pressure on Arroyo after Arroyo was besieged by controversy after controversy.
The military pressure, though, as it turned out would eventually be three-pronged: 1) GMA was forced to reward the generals loyal to her, and this is evident in the way these generals won plum government positions one after the other. 2) GMA's hands were practically tied in terms of dealing with wayward generals, i.e., those who want to impose a rogue state-style of dealing with dissenters. These are two elements that constitute what I've been calling as a "de facto junta." 3) Those who are not sympathetic to her must have been courted or swayed by the Opposition to their side in waging a war against GMA.
Nevertheless, our key media observers are wrong in one thing: They failed to voice out the suspicion (by the general populace, I strongly sense) that the third form of military pressure (see (3), the seemingly military-instigated Hello Garci outing (via wiretapping, which is essentially a form of violation of omerta) must really be the work of the Opposition, who are naturally out to destroy their enemy at EDSA 2 and have everything to gain from it. Of course, some brazen Intelligence persons, in cahoots with a telecommunications firm insider, must have prodded the whole thing by dangling the tempting offer in exchange for dinero. The problem is this hypothesis of an Opposition-military link has no apparent evidence. Credit must be due, therefore, to whoever the ambitious Opposition's spinmeisters and string-pullers are. (We could take a wild guess, but we'd rather not name names.)
But one really can't underestimate native (naive?) intelligence and human instinct. The "hypocrisy" that many media members accuse civil society of really is traceable to most of civil society's loyalty to the perceived underdog: the Arroyo government. Yes, that's what they perceive to be still the real underdog at this point: GMA's post-EDSA2 government vis-a-vis an ex-president with a plunder case hanging down his neck plus the suspicious demolition job that is military-instigated on the surface but could possibly be the subtle handiwork of the Opposition, especially those with strong police and military connection.
That the Arroyo government has been hijacked by the military - essentially bringing us to a situation no different from Burma, hence the spate of activist and media killings, etc. - is therefore just a superficial observation. The deeper truth is most likely that everything we've seen the past few years is really traceable to the Opposition, who want to vindicate or restore Erap Estrada from his shameful downfall. Everything makes sense if viewed this way.
Pushed into increasingly authoritarian directions, the embattled Arroyo government, while perceived to be the villain by media and leftists sectors, has only earned the sympathy of the majority (the middle/centrist majority), thus their unseemly silence (wrongly perceived as "apathy") through the Hello Garci storm and despite the near-imposition of Martial Law, the murder of activists, and now the reports of bribery in high-profile government contracts. (Well, as pundits themselves would say, the leftists have always been unsupportive of the democratically elected whenever they perceive him/her as belonging to elitist circles, not the least because they view our young democracy as hopelessly elitist in the first place - not an entirely invalid view, if you ask me.)
Now, if I am brought back to all this, it's because my real interest lies in the Shakepearean dramedy or tragicomedy of errors that ensues after secrets are outed, after the code of silence (omerta) is violated. It's always been like releasing a series of curses after the sacred seal of confession is broken. From this point of view, the accusation of hypocrisy on the part of the Arroyos and her government, plus civil society backing it, and the Church that animates and inspires civic circles, makes sense. However, that view is problematic when one considers that nobody is ever pure or perfect. Everyone lies, cheats, and steals in one form or another - doesn't that make all of us hypocrites in a sense? Who can claim to have credibility? Who is so clean as to cast the first stone when even Jesus Christ refused to do so despite his innocence and sole right to condemn? Definitely not the disgraced Estrada, who sadly brought down a lot of quality Ateneans with him.
This must be the reason why most people are impervious to heckling by key media and leftist persons even though, admittedly, cracks are beginning to appear in civil society circles. (Cory Aquino has broken her usual fond ties with Ms. Arroyo, for example.) I don't think the pro-Arroyos will ever budge or give in until their sitting president finishes her term by 2010. This must also be how many military officers and those in government service, not to mention the Catholic Church hierarchy (and perhaps foreign media/governments too), view the things that transpired that's why they'd rather be cautious, not speak up, and toe the line, as when CHEd Chairman Romulo Neri chose to invoke the executive privilege of E.O. 464, with Sen. Joker Arroyo et al. reportedly advising him to do so (yet another case of omerta violated), over directly causing the downfall of the post-EDSA 2 government.
The thing about outing, from outing private secrets to state secrets, is that it is much like Judgment Day has come and all our sins are finally exposed for all the world to see. Christian thought itself holds that all the dirty laundry and deepest secrets are being witnessed by all the angels and saints all along anyway, not to mention God (of course) and all the devils in hell (if I might remind so). Seen from this context, where everything that shouldn't be exposed has been exposed, the local political scene is one comic scene where everybody insists he is right and pure and blameless after being stripped naked and totally outed.
But to go back to the ugly political repercussions of it all: What I have described as Arroyo's edge over her political arch-enemy (her being the Opposition-persecuted, thrice military-highjacked underdog: a pitiful sight in the eyes of the majority) is further enhanced by her public apology, couched though it may be in non-forthright, even evasive, legalspeak. Such self-humiliation, however, is unfortunately something that will never be expected of Erap and company, which again may well be to Arroyo's political advantage. I didn' even mention yet Winnie Monsod's annoyingly correct assertion that, whether GMA cheated or not in the area disputed, she still officially won by a respectable margin.
Meanwhile, the overly complicated plot continues to thicken, holding government, media, the military, business, and the people in thrall, curious as to how everything would play out in the end, what with the convoluted twists and turns beating all the primetime TV melodramas combined.
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