The will of democracy

I received last week a pouched mail which came all the way from Cagayan de Oro City from Reuben R. Canoy, a man who I only know by name as a newsperson.

The pouched mail, including a short letter from Canoy, requested The STAR to make a news report out of a court decision in a libel case rendered in his favor 15 years after he first filed it in 1990.

However, our editorial policy discourages such play-up of libel cases involving other newspaper outfits.

And since this is just a lower court decision, it is still subject to review by the Appeals Court, all the way to the Supreme Court.

But while reading through the decision, my attention was caught by the similarities of the situation of the country at that time under former President Corazon Aquino and the present political turmoils now facing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

It was a 14-page ruling rendered by judge Noli T. Catli, Branch 25 of the Regional Trial Court of Misamis Oriental on the libel case filed by Canoy against Teodoro Locsin Jr., who was then writing a column at the defunct Daily Globe where the latter was also its publisher.

Canoy himself, like Locsin, was a member of media, being an active broadcaster from dzXL, now known as the Radio Mindanao Network.

Although the decision was handed down on March 8, 2005, Canoy apparently received a copy of the ruling only recently, while Locsin, when I called him up about it, told me he got a notice about it only last week.

Canoy was awarded P950,000 in monetary and exemplary damages, plus litigation and attorney’s fees, which were lower than what he originally asked – P1.2 million.

Canoy filed the libel against Locsin who wrote in his articles on various dates referring to the petitioner as "a veritable mental asylum patient," a "madman," and "certified lunatic."

Locsin wrote the offending descriptions of Canoy in October 1990 when the latter was implicated in the rebellion against the Aquino administration launched in Mindanao by rebel soldiers led by then Col. Alexander Noble, a former officer of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

Locsin, who is now a Congressman, told this writer he and his lawyers tried to settle out of court this case with Canoy but the former leader of the now inactive Mindanao Independence Movement (MIM) refused them.

Locsin recalled he was still the speechwriter and chief presidential legal counsel of Mrs. Aquino when he wrote those articles against Canoy.

"At that time, we were really worried that he (Canoy) was trying to bring in the civilian and the Army component at the south (against the Aquino government) and if it continued, patay kami," Locsin admitted to this writer.

Locsin, who is also a lawyer by profession, argued his case with no less than former President Aquino and ex-PSG commander Voltaire Gazmin issued "direct" testimonies to the court that the accused writer made these articles "to protect the Republic from threats of rebellion" at that time posed by Noble’s group and supported by Canoy’s civilian followers to secede Mindanao from the rest of the country.

Mrs.Aquino, through a deposition submitted to the court, testified on the existence of intelligence reports which positively identified Canoy and his followers as part of the civilian component of the Noble-led military rebels.

It was under these circumstances that Locsin claimed in his defense he was tasked to write the questioned articles against Canoy to dissuade any support for the rebellion in Mindanao that might result to dismemberment of the Republic.

But judge Catli found no merit in Locsin’s defense to write such "libelous" articles against Canoy merely because the latter had a different political belief from the incumbent government at that time.

"In a democratic republic such as the Philippines, having a political belief, however contrary to the standard belief of the government, is no crime," the judge stated.

"In a democratic country, such as in this country, it is the battle of the will. It is the duty of the minority to convince peacefully the majority to change that will," judge Catli pointed out.

This was what caught my attention in the seeming deja vu of the same threats of secession in Mindanao now being foisted by supposedly supporters of President Arroyo.

Unlike in the case of Canoy who was opposed to the former Aquino administration, the threats of secession of Mindanao under the present dispensation were not coming, ironically, from the Muslim rebels.

But these threats were being made by no less than elected local government officials led by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, one of the staunchest allies of President Arroyo.

Mayor Duterte, who has been zealously loyal to President Arroyo, warned they would do this if only to assert that the national leadership should not be determined by mere large scale protest actions being staged in Metro Manila.

Duterte, who is feared for his strong-hand rule in Davao, has publicly declared his threats should anti-GMA forces succeed to oust her from office in yet another EDSA people power revolution.

In fact, Duterte demonstrated he was not making any empty threats when he even showed the proposed new flag for the Federal Republic of Mindanao they would put up in case the Arroyo administration is removed by another EDSA-like change in government.

Taking the cue from Duterte, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson also threatened to secede the Ilocos provinces from the rest of the country should anti-GMA forces, which included loyal supporters of his former buddy and now arch enemy, deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Singson, feared like Duterte as a political warlord, was credited for having triggered the EDSA-2 revolt that ousted Estrada from Malacanang Palace after the jueteng payola accusations he hurled against his erstwhile buddy.

But we don’t hear any national government authorities, not even from Palace officials, taking any actions, not even a slap on the wrists against these local government officials for such declarations that are definitely violations of their own oaths of office to protect public interest.

Is it because these statements by Duterte and Singson, no matter how illegal they may be, would serve in favor of status quo in the national leadership?

Perhaps, if local government officials from the opposition would make similar public declarations, they would not enjoy the same indifference from the national government.

It was a source of relief that I got a forwarded text message from Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn who called upon his fellow local executives that no single group can stop the slide of our country towards possible anarchy, military rule or dismemberment except the local government units.

I hope Mayor Duterte would clarify his pronouncements when he joins other pro-administration LGU executives like Hagedorn, Mayors Feliciano Belmonte (Quezon), Lito Atienza (Manila), Hernani Braganza (Alaminos) and Benjie Lim (Tarlac) who are scheduled to hold a press conference today to make such warnings against any plots to topple the government through unconstitutional means, including secession.

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