The proverbial cat is now out of the bag!

This week the nation celebrates the 26th anniversary of the EDSA People’s Power Revolution and surely by now we as a people must have already realized that we have not progressed as a nation since those tumultuous times. In fact, after the 1st EDSA Revolt, we experienced military coups and another People’s Power revolt dubbed EDSA Dos, yet still we haven’t seen the changes that made us proud to be a Filipino 26 years ago. So it is time to ask ourselves, “Where did we go wrong? What lessons have we learned from the EDSA Revolt?” More importantly, we should ask, “Where do we go from here?”

Tonight, we have with us a power team of guests who flew in from Manila to be on our show. We have former National Security Adviser and former Defense Secretary Norberto B. Gonzales on his first public interview since Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo stepped down from power. With him is Fr. Romeo “Archie” Intengan, Associate Professor on Moral Theology and Father Provincial of the Jesuits in the Philippines from the 1980s to 2004. They will help us celebrate this week’s EDSA Revolt and give their thoughts as to where things went wrong and why the nation has not progressed or matured since then. Watch this very interesting interview on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight followed immediately with a replay at 9:00pm on My TV channel 28.

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Last Friday, the Inquirer came up with a front-page story entitled, “P-Noy: Reforms impossible if Corona acquitted.” If you ask me, this is a sweeping statement! In the first place, we still have to see what kind of reforms Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III is proposing because he’s merely talking about reforms as a lip service. I have always said genuine reforms can only be had if we had a charter change because the 1987 Constitution is no longer working to help the poor Filipinos.

From this highly sweeping statement, it seems that PNoy is prepared to accept the inevitable… that CJ Corona will be acquitted simply because his prosecution team are a bunch of bunglers and amateurs who presented to the senator-judges highly-spurious documentary evidence. Now he will pin the blame on all this to one man? Give us a break! In all honesty and truth, we’re all sick and tired of this word war that PNoy started.

Never in the history of Philippine politics have we seen so much hatred by a President of one man… it’s beyond comprehension! Before the weekend, the nation witnessed tirades and brickbats thrown by PNoy to CJ Corona and the Chief Justice giving the President tit-for-tat! They’ve literally thrown everything in this fray including the kitchen sink!

One issue thrown by CJ Corona against PNoy is whether he is mentally fit to be President. Wow! This was an issue that began to swirl just before the May 2010 elections. In fact, I will never forget the column written by fellow Philippine Star columnist Chit Pedrosa on April 30, 2010 which she entitled “Ninoy sought Psychiatric help for Noynoy in the US.”

Honestly, I thought that the Star editors would not have allowed that article to be printed. But it was printed anyway. Unfortunately, the elections was barely a week away and Chit’s article wasn’t given any attention or rather it was merely looked upon as just another black propaganda. The “Yellow Fever” had caught many people because of Tita Cory’s death. But what made me believe that Chit Pedrosa wasn’t lying was simply, the Aquinos didn’t file any libel cases against her for that article… hence it must be true.

But the euphoria of PNoy’s winning the Presidency despite all those under-the-table attacks against his person was drowned out. But the truth about the President’s mental state should not be considered a state secret. We the “boss” would want to know what really is the President’s mental state. Perhaps because CJ Corona finally made that public disclosure of the President’s mental state, the senators led by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Joker Arroyo, Loren Legarda, Gregorio Honasan and Francis Pangilinan have now asked both parties to exercise restraint.

I fully concur with their observations, especially of Sen. Sotto who said, “It was improper for both camps to malign each other publicly, with Corona even asking the President to prove that he is mentally fit to govern the country. It was not only improper but also unbecoming of their stature.” But do we have to ask, “Who started it?”

In fairness to CJ Corona, he never issued nor even uttered a hateful word against PNoy. But the latter just wouldn’t stop his personal tirades to the point that people who usually speak in hush tones in the coffee houses of Cebu and Manila are already openly discussing that only a crazed man would do such a thing. So now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, the question of the President’s mental health has been thrown into this ugly impeachment mess. But we warned PNoy that this will backfire on him.

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