Nasaan ang pagmamahal sa bayan?

"So ano ang ine-expect niyo, kayo nina Ado?"

MANG CESAR, MANG CESAR, you have to admit na ako ang pinaka-una sa lahat na nag-comdemn kay Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa email groups noong 2003 tungkol sa isyu ng korapsyon. ito ay habang ang grupo ni Loida Nicolas Lewis was trying to catch the attention of the plunder woman. hindi ko lang in-expose ang kademonyohan ng conjugal kleptocrats, nag-file pa ang grupo namin ni Marlene Esperat ng more than 20 cases sa ombudsman not just for the fertilizer scam but other plunderous fleecing of the agricultural treasury. these cases are still alive and we are just waiting for BS Aquino's ombudswoman to pick up the cases. definitely, we did not do this because we were jockeying for any position or contracts. in fact, if we wanted anything, we could have accepted the many deals that were counter-offered to us through the late Congressman Iggy Arroyo. just to keep quiet. WE DID THIS BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT AND PATRIOTIC THING TO DO.

I was villified. i was excoriated. i was called names. hindi ko na lang pinapansin dahil confirmado namang tutuli lang ang nasa pag-itan ng dalawang teanga. karamihan dito, bumatikos na lang kay GMA noong palabas na siya. biglang naging mga "born-again" reformers. pero noong malaks pa si GMA, nakikipag-unahan sa photo-opportunity noong dalawang beses na pumunta dito ang bruha. yung isa dyan sa California ginawa pang private chaffeur ni Mike at nakipag-tunggaan pa ng wine sa bayfront property ng first gentleman while discussing the facts of life fronting a window overlooking the San Francisco bay. tapos ngayong biglang GMA-hater at tinawag pa akong GMA hack.

Noong minani-obra ng Smartmatic ang 2010 eleksyon, isa ang grupo ko na nagsuri at nag-siwalat, kasama ng mga experto sa batas at information technology ukol sa harapang pag-yurak sa batas at malawakang pandaraya para ilukluk. hindi kami dumakdak lamang. isa ako sa nag-sampa ng kaukulang demanda sa korte suprema base sa argumento na ang walang eleksyon na naganap dahil null and void ito ab initio dahil it was in violation not only of the constitution but of many statutes, significantly the automation act itself and the e-commerce act. through the Philippine computer society and the UP center for people-empowered governance, we even rendered scientific forensics to illustrate to the court how the massive fraud and centralized cheating was committed. WE DID THIS BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT AND PATRIOTIC THING TO DO.

I COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO KEEP QUIET. I COULD HAVE CHOSEN TO TOE THE YELLOW LINE. IN FACT IT WAS LOGICAL FOR ME TO HAVE DONE SO BECAUSE I WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL YELLOWS AS FAR BACK AS 1983 WHEN IT WAS STILL DANGEROUS TO DO SO. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY FOR ME TO HAVE LANDED A JUICY POSITION OR CORNER A GOOD LAWFUL CONTRACT UNDER A SECOND AQUINO ADMINISTRATION. BUT I DID NOT.

WHY? BECAUSE I COULD NOT CONVINCE MYSELF THAT NOYNOY AQUINO WILL NOT BE TOXIC TO OUR NATIONAL INTEREST.

We no longer have to prove this to be true. it began one month after he swore into office, in his nonhandling of the hostage crisis involving the Chinese tourists at the Luneta Park, that eventually led to their massacre. it would relapse in his nonhandling of the typhoon pedring disaster because he spent too much time abroad and worse in his nonhandling of the typhoon sendong disaster because he was partying with Valerie Concepcion. it would show in his choice of amateurs in his cabinet, reaching a significant faux pas when he rejected the flexing of the truth commission coverage from one president (GMA) to a matter of hardheadedness, because the supreme court would have approved the fiat if it referred instead referred to "presidents" (that is plural), the point of simple contention being it was unconstitutional if the order referred to only a specific president but not unconstitutional were stated generically. his labor secretary would have gone through banning labor exports to 40 countries had it not been for the strong opposition by OFW groups. what did he do to slow down if nor eliminate extrajudicial killings? why does continue to divide the nation by certifying the reproductive health bill that is counter to the mores and traditions of our people? what has he started in our peace negotiations with our brother muslims? it would again manifest itself in a soft coup when he corrupted the house of representatives to impeach chief justice corona. what did he do to prevent our gross domestic product from sliding to 3.6% from the 7.6% that GMA left the country to his watch? has he even started doing somethign about redistributing Hacienda Luisita to the farmers? what did he do to prevent the spiral of gasoline price to $6/gallon and the LPG tank to P999, that sent the rest of the prices of commodities to rise suddenly? too many yellow flags have been waved before his face about KLM/Air France, now we no longer have direct flights to europe. time and again, Secretary Almendras and columnists led by by Mentong Laurel and Rene Azurin have been warning him about the volatility of power costs, but after two years of noynoying, he only setup a summit two weeks ago - too little too late. what has he done about human trafficking and ridding the urban thoroughfares of street children and street families? IN SHORT, OTHER THAN SUCCESSFULLY BANNING WANGWANG, WHAT HAS HE DONE?

Ang pinagtataka ko lang eh, sa dinadami-dami ng mga kapalpakan na ito, bakit nakasuso pa rin kayo sa child destiny na ito? saan tutungo ang pattern na ito? di ba sa kapahamakan? nasaan ang exceptionalism ninyo? ito ba ang prueba ng utak indio na nananalaytay sa mga ugat ninyo? magiging llamadista na lang ba tayo ganoong iyan ang weakness ng pinoy na pinagsasamantalahan ng mga naghaharing uri? nasaan ang pagmamahal ninyo sa bayan natin?

Adolfo Paglinawan