What say the ‘texters’ of doom and gloom, now the SC has upheld GMA? - BY THE WAY by Max V. Soliven

It’s all systems "go" for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo now that the Supreme Court has ruled, 13 to zero, to confirm the legitimacy of GMA’s takeover of the Presidency from Mr. Estrada.

This unanimous vote of the High Court should be a signal, too, to La Gloria to stop saying "thank you" to those who have been bullying her with ersatz claims that they helped put her in power. None of them did. The voters who gave her a landslide victory as Vice President put her in line for the Presidency. If anyone has to be "thanked" (but only in her mind), it is Joseph Ejercito Estrada. She became the President as his constitutional successor after he shot himself in the head – almost literally.

If Erap had been a good President, instead of wallowing in decadence, graft and sybaritic pleasures, GMA would still be only Vice.

Now that her mandate has been fully established, GMA can and must go full speed ahead. She has to shove aside the "whisperers", the opportunists, the poseurs, and the "godfathers" (including former Presidents, generals, and court jesters) and make her own decisions and appointments. And, kindly, no "cronies", please. We’ve just gotten rid of one bunch – why should we have to suffer through a new batch of Auld Acquaintances and Palace favorites? We want and need a new government (as Franklin Delano Roosevelt termed it, "a New Deal"), not something that eerily resembles the old.

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The texters and Medusa-type harpies of the Uncivil Society who besmirched the integrity of the 13 members of the Supreme Court by spreading around the allegation that they had been "bribed" (at P100 million each, would you believe?) by Erap to bring him back to Malacañang and junk GMA should now have the honesty and candor to eat crow. These sneering detractors and doomsayers even suggested in media and at cocktail parties (without a single shred of evidence outside of their own sour attitudes) that the Justices had been "gifted" kuno with trips to Europe, aside from cash. I suspect the venom ladled on the heads of the High Court members was intended to erode the credibility and the reputation for integrity of the Justices of the Supreme Tribunal in pursuit of some sinister motive.

When I learned beforehand the identity of the Justice who had been chosen as ponente to write the SC decision, my confidence on the matter, which never wavered, was further reinforced. I expected that Justice Reynato Puno (who had penned a number of earlier landmark decisions as well as brilliant dissenting opinions) would come through with flying colors. And he did.

Although, of course, I’m happy about his ponencia upholding the legitimacy of the Arroyo Presidency, I am equally elated by his strong admonition in the Epilogue of the ruling, which states: "Rights in a democracy are not decided by the mob whose judgment is dictated by rage and not by reason. Nor are rights necessarily resolved by the power of numbers for in a democracy, the dogmaticism of the majority is not and should never be the definition of the rule of law."

A warning was also issued by another member of the Court in his separate concurring opinion on The Rule of the Mob. Justice Jose Vitug said in a 15-page separate opinion: "After the non-violent civilian uprising within just a short span of years between then, it might be said that popular mass action has fast become an institutionalized enterprise. Should the streets now be the venues for the exercise of popular democracy? Where does one draw the line between the rule of law and the rule of the mob, or between ‘People Power’ and Anarchy? If, as the sole justification for its being, the basis of the Arroyo presidency lies alone on these who were at EDSA, then it does rest on loose and shifting sands and might tragically open a Pandora’s box more potent than the malaise it seeks to address."

Let’s stop all those threats and wild catcalls about still another People Power II "revolution" if things don’t go our way, or the prospect of an EDSA TRES. Enough already! It’s time to get back to work. Good government and a just and honorable society are not achieved by harkening constantly to the howl of the mob, riding the whirlwind of emotional frenzy, or wavering over every decision or act with one ear cocked at all times to the roar of the crowd. Why call the people at the slightest quiver of anxiety or angst back into the streets? By crying "wolf" too often, we’ll collectively grow indifferent to real danger, when, indeed, the wolf is at the door. Fix the streets, instead – starting with potholed, disgracefully dirty EDSA. How can we "honor" a place when it’s kept untidy, choked with polluting and frustrating traffic, and strewn with garbage? Get the people moving, not forever shouting and shaking their fists.

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The Supreme Court decision took only 25 days, which is the minimum due process such an instance entails. The two petitions of former President Estrada (it’s now official) questioning President Arroyo’s assumption of the Presidency on January 20 were filed in the Court on February 5 and 6, respectively. Chief Justice Hilario C. Davide, Jr. and Justice Art Panganiban inhibited or recused themselves voluntarily. The thirteen remaining members of the High Court voted unanimously to declare that the former’s (Estrada’s) "presidency is now in the past tense" and that GMA is the legitimate President of the Republic. Indeed, Justice Puno carefully narrated the chronological milieu of the case in his 67-page decision.

The third of four issues convincingly disposed in the twin cases is significant, for it determined the question of so-called presidential "immunity" from prosecution.

The Court pointed out that "the cases filed against petitioner Estrada are criminal in character" and that "they involve plunder, bribery, and graft and corruption." The ruling stressed that "by no stretch of the imagination can those crimes, especially plunder which carries the death penalty, be covered by the alleged mantle of immunity of a non-sitting president," adding that "petitioner cannot cite any decision of this Court licensing the President to commit criminal acts and wrapping him with post-tenure liability."

As for the final issue raised by the former President, which was that the Ombudsman should be stopped from conducting an investigation of the cases filed against him due to the barrage of adverse publicity against him, the Court held that "there is not enough evidence to warrant this Court to enjoin the preliminary investigation of the petitioner by the respondent Ombudsman," advising that the "petitioner needs to offer more than hostile headlines to discharge his burden of proof."

The Department of Justice, in a timely move, has just filed its seventh "plunder" case against the deposed Chief Executive. What must be extremely painful to the ex-President is that his cronies and mahjong pals, who once bragged of belonging to the Midnight Cabinet, are the ones ratting on him – enthusiastically, I must say – today. The latest is Mark Jimenez who signed an affidavit averring that he had issued a total of ten checks to Estrada from December 25, 1998, to August 7, 2000, amounting to P346 million. Which came first? The Mark before the horse? And to think that only last August, 2000, when pointedly asked by someone why he didn’t just "convince" Jimenez to "escape" from the Philippines so the Americans could grab him somewhere else, the ex-President replied: "I don’t want it said that I’m abandoning a friend." Friend Jimenez has filed his certificate of candidacy and is now running for a seat in Congress in Manila’s sixth district (the seat occupied by Rep. Sandy Ocampo at the moment). What is going around is that neither Sandy, nor her father, former Congressman Pablo Ocampo, would be opposing him. True?

From being threatened with "extradition" to a prospective seat in the Halls of Congress, that’s a fascinating turn of events.

I had dinner with Justice Secretary Hernani Perez last Thursday night. He didn’t tell me, but I discovered when I was leaving, from somebody else, that after the dinner Nani had gone "upstairs" to collect an affidavit from Willie Ocier (of the Tagaytay Highlands, etc.) What did Willie say? What song is he singing? Abangan.

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This writer had a heart-to-heart talk the other night with the new President of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR), Jesus N. Alcordo, and I’m convinced of his sincerity. Alcordo says he hesitated to take over the NAPOCOR job, particularly when he found out that the "wealthy" corporation was saddled with P400 billion in debts. Serving interest payments alone, he told me, would entail P16 billion in the current year 2001.

Alcordo asserted that, indeed, he was Chairman of the East Asia Power Resources Corporation (EAPRC), an independent power producer with operations in Metro Manila and Cebu (from March 1994 to June 1998). Then he served as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WG & A Philippines, Inc. from June 1998 to June 1999, before returning to East Asia Power as President and CEO, a post he held until January 31, 2001. Since then, I suppose, Bob Diffley of Hawaiian Electric and El Paso energy (of Houston, Texas) has been President, while the Philippine representative of El Paso is supposed, I’m informed, to be Howard Edens.

Our friend Roberto "Bobby" Aboitiz has already rung me up to clarify that the Aboitizes, including his brother John, don’t own East Asia Power. Bobby and Jess Alcordo both confirmed to me that El Paso Energy and Hawaiian Electric acquired control of East Asia Power (owning some 92 percent of the company). Moreover, our Cebu Bureau Chief Valeriano "Bobit" Avila faxed me a message from Roger Lim, who is President of East Asia Utilities Corp., owned by EAPRC in Mactan, Cebu, and an SVP of EAPRC, to the effect that Alcordo had already divested himself of all his shares at EAPRC. I hope this enumeration of corporate comings and goings clears matters up.

As Alcordo narrated, the firm in Cebu had been earlier owned by Magellan Power, then Van der Horst, then partly by Andrew Gotianun and Fil-Invest, and finally by El Paso and Hawaiian Electric, which took control in March 1999.

As for the P3 billion still owed by the firm to the Philippine National Bank, Jess said he had originally signed for the first loan of about $130 to $140 million during the 1992 energy crisis after President Ramos received emergency powers to deal with the debilitating daily brown-outs and power outtages. Two power-generating barges were acquired for the use of NAPOCOR at the time, and two other barges for the Manila Electric Company (Meralco). When El Paso took over the company it was on the understanding that the Texas company would assume and pay all the obligations of the firm.

Alcordo stated he is dismayed that this debt has not been paid, and that the American management is now talking about a debt "moratorium." He pointed out that during his own watch in East Asia Power, all interest and payments had been kept up-to-date. In fact, he is contemplating suing El Paso himself for non-payment of his proper retirement benefits and pension.

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Alcordo notes that in his study of conditions at the NAPOCOR he has already uncovered a number of scams and hopes, given enough time and support, he will be able to redress them. He plans to implement, to prevent fastbreak contracts and under-the-table deals, a system of "electronic bidding" which will be transparent and efficient, and provide NAPOCOR access to all suppliers around the world on the basis of above-board competition.

Some people are saying that I was wrong when I wrote that Alcordo comes from Naga, Cebu. The truth is that he was born in Naga, Cebu, on December 25, 1936, but subsequently was brought up in Carcar, Cebu – which accounts for the confusion.

His career trajectory spans 40 years as an engineer (he received a degree in B.S. Chemical Engineering from the University of San Carlos in Cebu in 1961) and in 1975 completed the Executive Program in Business Administration at Columbia University in New York City.

He started his professional life in 1961, it turns out, with my brother, Regulo "Regie" Soliven (now retired in New Jersey) at Procter & Gamble, as a job study engineer. He was President/General Manager of Union Carbide Central America, based in Costa Rica from 1980 to 1983, then moved to Indonesia as President/Director of Union Carbide Indonesia from 1983 to 1985. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Reynolds Aluminum from 1989 to 1994.

Jess Alcordo told me that he was actually recommended for his NAPOCOR appointment he learned by Father Paquing Silva, the legendary priest who heads the Cebu Electric Cooperative (CEPECO). In any event, my frank discussions with him have laid my fears to rest. I’m now convinced he’ll be a competent, dedicated – and (as all his friends assure me) honest – President of NAPOCOR, particularly if, as planned, its "privatization" is approved by Congress.

After all, independent sources confirmed to this writer that, to assume the "thankless" NAPOCOR position, he had turned down an offer from a friend, the rich Anthony Salim in Jakarta, to run a chemical conglomerate which was several times more lucrative than the NAPOCOR job. May he stay the course, despite all pressures and "temptations."

I hear, too, that President Arroyo intends to call a special session of Congress, now that she’s been confirmed, to wind up unfinished business, particularly the Omnibus Power Reform bill. With the campaign in full swing, how will she entice our legislators to "come back" from the hustings for one last hurrah? I hope she can.