Chilling out

Will communing with our dearly departed and contemplating our mortality somehow lead to a way out of the enormous mess the nation is now in? Let’s hope so. The nation’s founding fathers must be turning over in their graves, seeing what we have made of the republic they had shed buckets of blood, sweat and tears to build.

When our national leaders visit the cemeteries this weekend, they should take time out to consider whether years from now, their graves will be spat upon by Filipinos who will blame them for bringing the nation to ruin.

Perhaps the abrupt adjournment of the House of Representatives was all for the best. Everyone is on holiday mode anyway. You can’t expect our pampered lawmakers to work when the rest of the nation is on a grand vacation.

* * *

In fact some politicians will be hard at work this holiday weekend, trick or treating of sorts with congressmen, conducting house-to-house calls to persuade some lawmakers to withdraw their endorsement of the impeachment of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. With 86 signatories, the troubleshooters need only a dozen names withdrawn to stop the House from forwarding the impeachment case to the Senate on Nov. 10 for Davide’s trial – unless the forces of Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. persuade even more congressmen to sign up.

The hecklers have a point: if President Arroyo and Speaker Jose de Venecia will apply their persuasive powers on their partymates in the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, enough signatures can be withdrawn. Then the case won’t have to be forwarded to the Senate, and Franklin Drilon need not agonize over choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea. Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. will keep his seat and finally get some sleep, and Supreme Court justices need not tackle the constitutionality of the impeachment of their chief.

Everybody happy.

But that’s presuming that we live in an ideal world, where sanity prevails in all three branches of government.

Since we live instead in one of the most chaotic democracies on the planet, De Venecia and Drilon will have many more sleepless nights as both pro- and anti-impeachment congressmen conduct man-to-man guarding during the holidays, making sure no one receives an offer he can’t refuse in connection with the Davide case.

One nagging question: What if the President herself gave tacit support to the impeachment, as many people suspect? The speculation has not died down that she cut a deal with Danding Cojuangco and his Nationalist People’s Coalition in connection with the 2004 elections.

Meanwhile, there are rumors once again of the usual opportunists craving power and publicity teaming up with the usual bunch of malcontents in the military. They’re all supposedly sniffing around for an opening in this crisis to grab power or at least wreak maximum havoc. Security officials are on alert for this fire to break out.

* * *

Amid the impeachment confusion, the government appears set to allow deposed President Joseph Estrada to leave for the United States to undergo knee surgery. If Erap has more brains than our current crop of leaders, he won’t come back.

Does Erap have Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to thank for this Christmas gift? Absolutely. How can she be President of both EDSA Dos and Tres if Erap is in detention?

To be fair, the talk is that President Arroyo from the start had wanted to send Erap into exile after EDSA Dos, and keep him out of the country for the rest of his unfinished term. But because he belatedly insisted that he was still president, and probably because he never foresaw that he could end up in detention, charged with a capital offense, Erap refused to leave.

Will Erap abroad spell less trouble for the Arroyo administration? It could mean one less rallying point for the fragmented opposition. Will he, out of gratitude, tell his followers to vote for GMA? Dream on. Or as he probably would say it, "Ano kayo, sinuswerti?"

What happens to his plunder case and all that Arroyo rhetoric about the battle against corruption? People will forget everything as soon as the next scandal hits the headlines. Just as people will forget Davide’s impeachment and the Judiciary Development Fund. People quickly forgot Danding Cojuangco’s ties to the Marcos dictatorship. The Marcoses themselves are fully rehabilitated, even gracing Philippine society pages.

Corruption? The Constitution? The rule of law? Everything in this country is negotiable.

That’s what our politicians will be busy doing during the All Saints’ Day break – negotiating. This is better than fighting.

Somewhere in the maze of political compromises, however, we have to clearly define what has happened in this latest impeachment case and why, and decide the proper legal course to take when it happens again. Because without a definitive legal remedy, this crisis is bound to erupt anew, at another time. And the next crisis may even involve the same players.

* * *

AGING SOCIETY: October started with the observance of the International Day of Older Persons, which kicked off Elderly Filipino Week.

It’s only fitting that the day of the dead follows the month of the elderly. As you contemplate aging, it’s easy to move on to contemplating mortality. No one is getting any younger. You know you’ve left the carefree days of youth behind when you find yourself murmuring more often about how short life is and how fast time flies.

Pretty soon most of us will be worrying about what we will do past retirement age. And those of us who cannot rely on extended families will be worrying about what the State can do for us. Will our monthly salary deductions for social security amount to much?

So while we still have the energy for it, we should work for a better deal for older persons. The ranks of the elderly are growing around the world as advances in medicine increase life expectancies. Governments must figure out ways of tapping this growing segment of the population for national development.

Lawmakers, many of them already losing their hair, should turn their attention to such measures. But with the impeachment crisis, everything is on hold in Congress.