Polarized

The split among the "friends of the court" was but a reflection of the growing social divide resulting from the impeachment of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.

Our national leaders who still have their heads firmly in place and have genuine concern for the nation should give top priority to defusing the tension and preventing this dangerous polarization.

As the Supreme Court’s amici curiae showed, both sides firmly believe they are on the side of the law in this controversy. While this legal confusion is being sorted out, it may be prudent for the principal players to shut their mouths, even temporarily, and stop all that agitating blather about defending democracy.

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Mike Velarde’s El Shaddai will return to Rizal Park this weekend, and they want their special guest to be Joseph Estrada, the man whose ouster was sealed by the Davide Supreme Court. Does that make the Shaddai rally anti-Davide, and does that make the Catholic charismatic group an enemy of democracy when it exercises its freedom of expression and assembly?

And we haven’t even heard yet from the Iglesia Ni Cristo, kindred spirit of El Shaddai.

As I have warned, no particular group holds a franchise on people power in this country. Denigrate El Shaddai members’ motives all you want, scoff at their level of education and their inordinate fascination with show business. Such denigration and snobbery, however, simply drive these people closer to the likes of "Brother" Mike, who can mobilize them in an instant against the original forces of people power.

What comes next, the Catholic Church’s own show of force in Rizal Park? Go ahead, but please, no more teachers and children trucked in from Catholic schools. And please limit the rallies to weekends. Other people have to go to work.

For all the touted clout of the Roman Catholic Church in this country, there is no Catholic vote. Otherwise neither Fidel Ramos nor Erap would have become president, and Juan Flavier would never have made it to the Senate.

There is, however, an El Shaddai vote, and an Iglesia Ni Cristo vote. They are voting blocs so solid their leaders can promise support to a candidate and deliver. In a democracy, the power of the ballot is people power. These two groups voted for Erap in 1998, and EDSA II took him away, with the blessings of the Davide Supreme Court.

It will be good to remember those events before anyone turns up his nose at the El Shaddai crowd this weekend.

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It’s a tragedy that a man as respected as Davide would be at the center of this crisis. Considering the integrity – or lack of it – of many of Davide’s accusers, public indignation is understandable. Many other public officials deserve to have been impeached and kicked out a long time ago. It would be a typical Philippine tragedy if Davide were ousted in an impeachment trial while someone like Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco of the Commission on Elections gets to keep her seat.

It is even more tragic that the institution under assault in this crisis is the one that still enjoys high public esteem. Justice is crucial in making a democracy work – sometimes even more crucial than free elections. Take away justice and you have anarchy, you have democracy gone awry. In the years since the first people power, the Supreme Court has fulfilled its role as the court of last resort.

This crisis, however, is not going to be resolved by strangling every congressman who insisted on endorsing a second impeachment complaint against Davide. It’s not going to be resolved by infantile name-calling either. You want to get rid of a congressman, don’t vote for him.

Neither is it going to be resolved by rally after rally, whether pro- or anti-impeachment, which the usual military misfits with too much time on their hands are watching closely.

Remember, there is still the provision in the Constitution that Angelo Reyes, at the time the military chief of staff, invoked when he abandoned his president and commander-in-chief Joseph Estrada in January 2001.

Ironically, the provision is part of the one that states: "Civilian authority is, at all times, supreme over the military."

So what happened to Erap’s civilian authority over his military officers? Oh, that. Reyes pointed out that the constitutional provision also states: "The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State." Since people power was once again on display at EDSA, it was the duty of the AFP to protect the people. The courts later threw out a rebellion complaint against Reyes.

Amazing document, this Constitution. You can read anything you want in it.

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Another military attempt to save the nation at this time is the last thing we need. Any soldier with an ounce of patriotism left should immediately report any troublemaker who even whispers a pitch for recruitment for another mutiny or coup.

We don’t want a military junta, or a civilian-military junta, or any type of junta composed of people with no chance of ever winning high public office in free elections. So we should avoid creating the social polarization that coup plotters can exploit.

Amid the confusion, President Arroyo is on the right track when she tries to reassure the business community that the nation – or at least the economy – will weather this crisis. Laugh at her if you want, but this is the time to show the world that for all the mess we make of our country, Filipinos are a resilient lot, quick to bounce back from the worst adversity.

We will survive, although we’re bound to simply muddle through instead of passing this test with the highest marks. What doesn’t kill us will make us strong? We’ll be close to death when this is over, and I doubt that we will learn enough lessons to gain strength from this sorry episode.

And the hardest thing to shake of will be the polarization that worsens as each day passes with no resolution to the crisis in sight. Unless we all move to heal these rifts, the deepening divide will keep coming back to tear the fabric of our nation.