Truth will set us free - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson’s charge that President Estrada has been receiving tong money from jueteng operators has placed the nation in the worst state of crisis since the People’s Power Revolution. The whole issue boils down to two questions. First, is Governor Singson telling the truth? Second, does he have proof to sustain his allegations that will stand up in our courts of law.

There is no doubt that in making his charges against the President, Governor Singson has incriminated himself. His main purpose in making the charge is to have the President impeached or resign. Here, he should be the first to set the example. To date, he has not presented his resignation as Ilocos Sur Governor.

The authorities should have given Governor Singson the opportunity to air his charges. But in the House of Representatives, Congressmen identified with the administration did everything in their power to prevent Singson from testifying. They were set to block impeachment initiatives before they had heard the charges and examined the evidence. In so doing, they did the President himself a great disservice. It is true that the majority in the House belongs to the party in power but as an Arab proverb says, "He who has the truth is the majority, even though he be one." And it is a legal maxim that "suppression of the truth is a false representation." The House of Congress had to deal with two kinds of truth – those of reasoning and those of fact. When they relied on the superiority of their number, they failed in the truth of reasoning. In so doing, they also missed the facts.

The present crisis that confronts the country today involves two things: truth and justice. Truth is harsh and justice should be uncompromising. We say "uncompromising" because when you spare the bad, it is at the expense of the good. If our law makers are not interested in truth and cannot give us justice, how can they enact our laws? Liberty and equality are meaningless without truth and justice.

What those in power want to substitute for truth and justice is double-standard, one for those in power and another one for the common man. As we have stoutly maintained, we are far from being a democratic nation. What we have is a plutocracy, better still, an oligarchy, a government controlled by a clique.

What we need is a second People’s Power demonstration.