Weak

It is now being derisively called the Coalition of the Weak: the group of 18 countries that succumbed to China’s enticements/threats and boycotted last week’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

It is an unspectacular group of countries, united only by a certain lack of conviction about the importance of democracy and human rights in the evolution of civilization. In this list are: Afghanistan, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam.

This is now a blacklist of sorts: countries cursed with governments that wantonly violate human rights, imprison dissenting voices, stone women to death, criminalize homosexuality, control the media, operate corrupt syndicates from the presidential palace or hold farcical elections. These are governments led by funny characters like Ahmadinejad, the Castro bothers and Hugo Chavez.

The Philippines stands out in this list like a sore thumb — only because we once had a peaceful democratic revolution, we consistently and loudly professed democracy and human rights as the cornerstone of our state policy, and, we are presently led by one whose father was martyred and whose mother carried the banner for democratic restoration. Otherwise, our human rights record is spotty, our reputation for corruption is embarrassing, our rule of law is fragile and our mechanisms for accountability are wanting.

Still, I am not quite ready to concede that our government is led by a funny character. Perhaps one whose capacity for conviction on essential principles is suspect. But not funny.

However, Benigno Simeon Aquino’s rationalization for the odd Philippine boycott of the Nobel ceremonies is, well, odd. First, he says this is at the dictate of “national interest.” He could have left it at that ambiguous level. But he continues on and on, as he often does, and ends up saying the lives of 5 Filipino drug mules held in Beijing jails are more important than the fate of one Chinese national in jail for espousing human rights.

Duh!?! I humbly submit Aquino misses the point completely. This is not trade-off between one Chinese man in jail for believing in freedom and 5 Filipinos in jail for transporting drugs.

Attendance in the Oslo ceremony meant affirming our commitment to human rights and democracy as the hallmarks of civility. A boycott of that ceremony in the face of Beijing’s bullying says simply that we are ready to sacrifice our values for some other miniscule and transient consideration. That is the measure of our commitment. What an embarrassment this incident brings to the Filipino people.

Aquino’s Batman-and-Robin tandem of mouthpieces — Carandang and Lacierda — tried to build a barricade of lies to conceal the boycott from our own people. Then Aquino himself demolished that barricade (and the credibility of his spokesmen) by succumbing to the truth.

Aquino’s leftist friends, themselves still hopeful about Beijing’s largesse, were more effective than Batman and Robin in clouding the issue. They weave this grand narrative around the Oslo boycott about Poor Philippines being trapped in the games big powers play.

That grand narrative attempts to excuse both Beijing and Aquino for what they have done, even as it unfairly pictures the Nobel Prize as nothing more than an instrument of western powers to make things miserable for the rest of humanity. That overlooks the fact that the Nobel Peace laureates have stood the test of time and circumstances while those who persecuted them did not.

More important, this contrived narrative conveniently extricates one important thing: we might have stared down Beijing’s threats and resisted her temptations if our leaders were true to our public values, if our convictions about democracy and freedom were strong. Unfortunately, our leaders waffled under pressure and, consequently, our convictions are now under doubt.

If there is anyone playing the games political narcissists play, it is Beijing. We see a consistent pattern, from the Spratlys to the Taiwan straits to the recent instances of bad behavior by Pyongyang and, finally, the Nobel Prize. Beijing has shown itself only too willing to use its newfound economic muscle to force lesser regimes to publicly kowtow to its will just for the narcissism of it all.

The Philippines has just been dishonored when Aquino chose to dance to Beijing’s tune.

Bankrupt

Among the things we found out because of the Senate hearing on the special treatment received by Globe Asiatique from the housing agencies is that the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC) is now bankrupt. Blame this on the faulty design of this particular GOCC, the HGC’s vulnerability to being bamboozled by unscrupulous housing magnates, possible corruption or, simply, incompetence.

This is bad news for RII Builders, which filed a collection case trying to extract P1.8 billion from the HGC. Recently, the Ombudsman threw out a case filed by RII against HGC officials. The ruling observes that this case was clearly used to harass the public officers, making them more vulnerable to RII’s demands.

There is more bad news for RII. The HGC recently produced a document showing that RII was already fully paid way back in July 2002 for all the expenses the company incurred in the messed up Smokey Mountain housing project. RII was paid through P255 million worth of land in the Manila Harbor Center and over P258 million worth of common shares in the Harbor Center Port Terminal, Inc.

When RII failed to raise the financing needed for the project, several government corporations were forced to cough up the cash. The RII contract was, justifiably, scrapped.

Now it turns out the P1.8 collection case filed by RII against the HGC is for “residual value” — or the amount of money it might have earned if the contract stayed. Translation: this is not some amount of money actually laid out for the project but a hypothetical amount that might have been made if things did not go awry.

No wonder the HGC is bankrupt.