June 29, 2012


Soldier's Pen
By BGen. Alexander Cabales (Ret.)

More of 
the ‘Matuwid na Daan’


An old friend who regularly reads my column commented that she could not appreciate my particular article-"Corona Case, A Model for Good Governance"-because it dealt so much more of other matters than about the case of Corona itself.  Since the title mentions the name of the former Chief Justice, she somehow expected that I would be tackling more about him.  Perhaps, the title of that article should have been different.
Who is Kumander Dante? A headshot of the legendary Bernabe Buscayno, of the CPP. Imprisoned during the Marcos regime, he broke out, joined elections as senator before returning to his farm in Tarlac. 
Photo source: http://pcij.org    

She was right! That article had a rather long narrative about the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) Chairman Jose Maria Sison getting a younger CPP member pregnant with his illegitimate child. I cited this grave error or weakness in the top echelons of the CPP before proceeding with the Corona case. 
As mentioned, the impeachment of the former Chief Justice for betrayal of public trust could become a good model or parameter for judging the virtues of other top government officials in the future.  Therefore, it results to good governance if implemented to everyone. 
Yet it may be a dangerous precedence because our President may not be able to make everybody toe the line especially his friends and buddies, most of whom are now occupying top positions of confidence in the government hierarchy.  It is dangerous in the sense that if this higher expectation of the Filipino people could not be fulfilled, it would surely cause a greater feeling of dissatisfaction and may result to unrest, at the least.
The CPP is an organization composed of dedicated, idealistic and disciplined members.  They have the brightest bunch of leaders and during many times in the past, they almost succeeded in taking over the government.  Yet, they remain to be human and from time to time they are racked with some of the scandals that weakened the organization.  They had a number of blunders, too, like the famous Operation "Ahos" and the Operation "Zombie" when they killed their members en masse and buried them in shallow graves. 
My article on the matter therefore insinuated that the dedication, idealism and discipline of the people surrounding the President should be more than that of the CPP for him to be able to implement what he wants to happen.  He should have the strong will to discipline even his close allies and buddies.
Kumander Dante (Bernabe Buscayno) "cried like a baby" (as narrated by Professor Miclat, a former CPP member who was present during the incident) when he learned of Sison's indiscretion and grave abuse of power. 
He must have cried because of great remorse for killing many of their good and dedicated comrades in the past for simple and sometimes unconfirmed reports of sexual opportunism.  He cried also because he could not afford to kill his good friend despite his grave and confirmed misconduct.
President Aquino may have all the good intentions for our country, but can he do the 'Matuwid na Daan' that he is preaching?  Or would he be quick to defend his buddies as what he had done many times in the past? Would he just simply look the other way and pretend that everything is fine?
Or would he just also "cry like a baby" when a dear friend commits a violation against his 'Matuwid na Daan' program?

No comments:

Post a Comment