Not to be taken lightly

I don’t know if it is their summer of discontent but activists and “leftist” groups have become increasingly active with their protest marches, “Noynoying,” “Planking” and early this week they have added “Arts & Crafts” to their list of activities by splashing multi color paint on the Seal of the United States of America.

Judging by the fact that the Police security detail at the US Embassy were reportedly sleeping on the job, it is clear that the authorities have not been taking the activists seriously. I would even venture to guess that most law enforcers are now bored with the never changing styles and tactics of activists particularly the so-called students.

I suppose this is what happens when conflict or activities become “generational.” I personally recall the first time I saw activists splash red paint on the seal of the United States was sometime in 1971 when I took a summer job as a press photographer for the now defunct Evening News of Fred Elizalde. Back then the prominent activist groups were the KM or Kabataang Makabayan and the SDK or Samahang Demokratikong Kabataan (I think).

Back then Roxas Boulevard and the area in front of the old Congress was no man’s land. There were no rules except don’t get shot, don’t get arrested and above all stay clear of pillboxes thrown by activists. For a while people engaged in the unrest on both sides treated the whole thing as a bloody version of “patintero” or “Agawan base.” Yes, everyone was fair game for target practice and if you ask the veterans it might shock you to learn that snipers shot protesters from the rooftop of the old Congressional building.

But one day Ferdinand E. Marcos realized that the nation itself was in dire danger. There was a serious and real Communist threat to overthrow the government and sow terror. No less than Joma Sison claimed that the communists masterminded the Plaza Miranda bombing. As bad as Martial law had turned out to be, no one can argue that it prevented the communists from taking over the Philippines.

Marcos was smart enough to realize that troublemakers, rabble rousers and poverty was a bad mix that could lead to serious trouble. The question is, does the current administration and those responsible for peace and order even recognize the tell tale signs of a “revival” of activists growing in numbers, taking to the streets and hammering out their own version of progress?

In the early ’70s the “Radicals” were mostly collegiate or educated middle class idealists who were lured by the utopian promises of a new and poorly understood concept of communism. But today the leaders of the new movement are not purely middle class, but radical working class or poor but ambitious individuals well versed in media management and luring reporters with sound bytes and action video. Today, activists have combined forces with squatters groups who willingly advocate force and violence to retain what is NOT theirs.

My concern is not about activism or activists, but more about radical expression of opinion through violence and anarchy. I have long supported the move of leftists and activists to participate in the political process. What I can’t and will not support is the disregard for law and order.

So again, I have to remind the people responsible: do not take the anarchy and political violence of “kids” or radical students lightly simply because there are 50 or less of them in a “rally.” No one, not even the dreaded Metrocom expected or imagined the “Diliman siege.” No one thought it possible that thousands of marchers would ever color Roxas boulevard red with their flags. But it happened and many more such things, simply because some people took things lightly!

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There is now a proposition addressed to the COMELEC to allow members of media to vote early because of their “professional special circumstance” which is similar to law enforcers and teachers during elections.

This is all nice and well, but I have serious misgivings about how the advance voting and its results could be used to sway the public in general. Based on a recent survey, 30 to 70 percent of the population make their decisions based on what the media say or believe. Imagine how much influence the results of the advance voting can have on any election if the results conveniently leaked out!

Besides, in all the years I have been in media, I have not heard one practitioner ever complain about not being able to vote. As a rule we either vote early before going to work, or we file our first reports from the voting center we vote at and report about the experience as well. However well intentioned the early voting idea maybe, it can also end up becoming a poisoned fruit.

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Senator Koko Pimentel recently rejected the position of the Department of Justice to offer immunity to 2 COMELEC officials in exchange for their damming testimony against their former Chairman Benjamin Abalos. The DOJ clearly wants to nail Abalos, but why let go two for the price of one?

As far as I remember, the deal on state witnesses is that you give it to the least guilty or the one who has the most damning testimony or evidence. So why 2 for 1?

Since Koko Pimentel has already made his position clear, the Senator may want to study whatever law or memorandums there are regarding plea bargaining and state witnesses. For one, plea bargains have become the easy way out of too much work for lazy lawyers particularly in government. Then as suspected by some, it is an instrument of deceit where the guilty can get off on lesser charge for monetary or political considerations. Between the case of the former AFP comptroller Garcia and the Abalos case, “methinks something is rotten in the state of Denmark.”

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