President GMA can turn the tables around

President GMA has been vilified almost daily during her term after the presidential elections of 2004. Her enemies are making sure that she would have no legacy when she leaves Malacanang. She would be known simply as “the most unpopular president” or “worse than Marcos”.

Those who disagree with such disparagement know she is not perfect.

She committed mistakes for which she has suffered the combined assaults from senators, sectors of the Church, oligarch owned media and big business in a parody of the ouster of Marcos. But it is not hopeless. The just resolution of the coco levy scandal could be a weapon to turn the tables around. In a single act she returns the power of government to manage the country’s wealth for the public good.

It is time to confront the issue of symbiotic relations between big business and big government. The coco levy fund is a good example of how these relations played out through different governments.

Under President Marcos, coconut farmers were deprived of billions of income from the sale of copra when he issued PD 276, PD 414, RA 6260, PDs 961, 1468 and 1699.

With Cory Aquino as President, the PCGG declared coco levy funds “as systematic plunder of the coconut industry led by Marcos cronies and COCOFED” but it did not go any further.

The P100B coco levy fund was sequestered by the government and the move sustained by the Supreme Court.

President Fidel Ramos issued EO 277 and 481 declaring the coco levy fund as a public fund. However the courts stopped the implementation of the two Ramos executive orders.

President Erap allegedly used his influence with Supreme Court Chief Justice Narvasa to delay the decision. A “compromise settlement” between Danding Cojuangco and the coconut farmers was also initiated.

Surprisingly it was the “pro-poor” Estrada who issued EO 313 to declare levy funds as private. He further authorized the proceeds be used to pay creditors.

Under President GMA, EO 313 of Estrada remains in force. The talk is that some SC justices have agreed to delay the decision to declare the coco levy funds as public until the coconut farmers agree to an out of court settlement.

President GMA could leave a significant legacy if she repealed Estrada’s EO313. Simultaneously the Supreme Court should support President GMA with a judicial decision immediately. That is a point of departure for good governance not sanctimonious declarations of who is good and who is evil.

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Last Wednesday I decided to bring my grandchildren to Rizal Park to commemorate his execution. It was the first time that I brought them to such an outing. We had been to the malls but I thought it was time to usher the new year with a new experience for them. As I told my son, children should have a wide array of early experiences, a treasure trove from which they will choose what to remember.

Having grown up in London where historical events are widely observed he was hesitant to let me bring them to the park on Rizal Day. There will be thousands of people there, he said. I have not gone there for years on Rizal Day so I told him we would remain in the car if there were too many people.

Imagine my surprise, apart from a couple of old women, we were the only ones standing in front of the guarded monument to our national hero. The women were allowed to come closer to the cordoned monument to bring in their flowers. But since we did not have any flowers we remained at a distance.

It was a first experience for my grandchildren, Rafael 10 years, Daniela, 7 and Alexi, 4. I could see the wonder and bewilderment in their faces when I told them what the monument was all about. They had passed this way before but never to come particularly to it. I decided to bring them to the Light and Sound Museum in Intramuros where they could better appreciate the story of Rizal. Horror of horrors, it was closed and there was not a soul in sight so I called a staff member of Senator Richard Gordon. In a way this is also a monument to him as secretary of tourism.

The story told in the Light and Sound Museum is more than just a story of Jose Rizal. It also told of the Filipino’s pursuit for freedom and recalls revolutionary leaders like Lapu-Lapu, Rajah Soliman, Emilio Aguinaldo and Andres Bonifacio among others. By teaching our children about their heroism we will instill pride in our country and make them always conscious they are descendants of brave men and women. “Light and Sound Museum” use props of light and sound to tell the story behind Filipino resiliency, intelligence and self-worth throughout its history.

Rizal might have been executed by the Spanish colonizers and Americans might have squelched nationalism both in subtle and blatant ways but the heritage remains. We need to awaken our children to those memories.

Why was there no one there on the day when Filipinos were supposed to commemorate the execution of our national hero? If the Light and Sound Museum was a reminder for our youth of how our ancestors struggled for our freedoms why was no one there?

We need to snap out of that attitude.

Such an attitude is best developed while children are still young.

Recently I read an article on why Korea became rich, leaving behind other countries in similar or better condition in the 1960s, such as the Philippines? How can we explain the gap in economic and social performance between these two countries in East Asia. Was it simply a difference in their economic development models?

The author does not believe so. He thinks there are other explanations apart from economic indicators. Social and cultural factors are also important explanations. “Variations in work ethic, values such as pride in one’s nation and culture, and even climate and geography are likewise significant. Differences in history and politics should not be ignored as well.” What had been a simple outing with my grandchildren gave me so much more — the resolve that in little ways, all of us have a duty to keep our history and culture alive. Only then can we cope with present tribulations and trials.