Preferring military over civilian option

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile finally is speaking on the issue of succession in case of failure of the 2010 election. But it’s not to consent to give up his post this early to avoid a power vacuum when his term ends on June 30. In fact, he thinks it pointless to elect as new Senate President any of the 12 senators who will sit till 2013. In his view, that SP constitutionally cannot serve anyway as Acting President, in case no President, VP and new senators are elected. “The 12 remaining senators will have to elect with the 12 new ones the legitimate SP,” Enrile opines. Meaning, there will still be a political emergency if the May balloting flops due to rushed automation or, God forbid, a “Palace coup”.

Enrile’s constitutional construal is subject to Supreme Court validation. More so since it contradicts the assertion of Fr. Joaquin Bernas, one of few living framers of the 1987 Charter. Nonetheless it fans suspicions about Enrile’s ally Gloria Arroyo. That is, that she’s scheming to become congresswoman, then, in a failed voting crisis, have her newly elected Congress allies install her as Speaker and consequently as Prime Minister. That way she’ll continue to enjoy immunity from corruption and mass murder suits even after her presidential term ends on June 30. At any rate, Enrile sounds so sure that the Supreme Court will uphold him. That Chief Justice Reynato Puno would retire on May 17, a week after (failed) Election Day, does not assuage public fear. That the Tribunal would consist fully of Arroyo appointees, by June 30, adds to the worrying.

Enrile even offers a frightening scenario. For him, crisis inevitably will arise from failed balloting. Thence, it would be up to the AFP-PNP, as the state’s organized armed component, to step in to handle it. Soldiers and cops will decide which civilian official to follow, Enrile opines. That is if they opt to obey a civilian at all. If the PMA Class of ’78 is resurgent by then, and supports honorary member Arroyo, then her position is secure — to the nation’s blight. If there is deep division in the military ranks, then civil war could break out. Former President Fidel Ramos forecast as much in a speech Saturday against military adventurism. The 1986 People Power Revolt succeeded, he recounted as then-AFP vice chief, only because 96 percent of the AFP happened to back Cory Aquino. But had, say, only 80 percent supported, he shuddered, then the residual 20 percent pro-Marcos troops would have engaged them in protracted fighting.

Why does Enrile, and by consequence Arroyo, prefer to risk civil war than moving constitutionally to avert it? Most likely Arroyo has calculated the odds. If she doesn’t prolong herself in power, she faces certain charges of non-bailable, extraditable plunder and death squads. She might as well gamble on the vast resources of the Office of the President to avoid it. Strife favors her. The only thing going for the nation in a civil war is the slim chance that the anti-Arroyo military will confiscate and return all the ill-gotten wealth.

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Quick, go to www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-11/fashions-night-on-probation. It’s an interesting story on Timothy Mark D. Garcia, 25-year-old third son of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia. With a revealing photo too and tidbits on the sad-happy beneficiary of a father’s $6.2-million (P303-million) plunder. Some items from author Peter Davis:

• “Perched on a sleek white Armani Casa chair in his apartment in the modern, gilded Trump Plaza at 502 Park Avenue, Garcia is decked in head-to-toe designer: a supple caramel leather Alessandro dell’Acqua jacket, Alexander McQueen jeans, a thin white LnA tee shirt and YSL boots. His wrists are adorned with a big Cartier gold and silver Tank watch, a Cartier Love bracelet, a white enamel Hermes bangle, and a $1000 large gold plated spiked Hermes cuff called the Collier de Chien.”

• Garcia’s mother Clarita Depakakibo bought the plush apartment for him in 2004 for $765,000 (P38 million). In his bedroom are two laptops, two flat-screen TVs, three gigantic Louis Vuitton suitcases, and dozens of stuff by Hermes, YSL by Stefano Pilati, Dior Homme by Kris Van Assche, and Marc Jacobs.

• US lawmen had raided his flat and arrested him for complicity with his dad. His mom and two elder brothers were nabbed elsewhere in America. All four are American citizens. Timothy Mark was in jail for 95 days.

• Going by the name Tim Garcia, he has been hired as publicist for Marc by Marc Jacobs fashion house.

• Released on a million-dollar bail, Garcia is now under house arrest. He is allowed a few hours of work on weekdays and Mass on Sundays, but must be home by curfew. He can’t believe the charges against his dad.

• There’s one fashion accessory he’d rather not have: an electronic monitoring house arrest ankle bracelet, code number HGM94472. It’s uncomfortable and limits his fashion choices: “I can’t even wear my knee-high croc boots by Sergio Rossi for the fall.”

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Live for others and God will remember you eternally.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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