Strengthening our political institutions by imbibing the spirit of democracy
By Corazon C. Aquino
The Philippine Star 09/15/2005
(Delivered before Jesuit priests of Ateneo de Manila University during the Misa para sa Katotohanan on Sept. 13, 2005)
Let me first of all thank Fr. Danny Huang, SJ, Fr. Ben Nebres, SJ and all their brother Jesuits as well as the Ateneo community for inviting us today in this Misa para sa Katotohanan.
The past week might be described as a period of heightened confusion. After the dismissal of the impeachment complaint against the President in Congress, concerned citizens seemed at a loss as to what to do next. Should they give up the ghost and go back to "business as usual"? Should they take to the streets? Contemplating either option left them feeling uneasy. Something remains clearly amiss in our society.
So you say, Ms. Aquino. But there is no real heightened confusion. There is no real "questioning", it is merely the rabble-rousing of your group and your recruit, Ms. Susan Roces and the real and visible riotous situation between and among your various organizations in the destabilization group. You cannot seem to agree on your principles, on who will lead the entire movement, on how you and the Marcoses could work together after you had been stabbing them at the back during the Switzerland-R.P. Negotiations for the transfer of the Marcos deposits to the
When I sat in the gallery during the congressional privilege hour and when I joined the rally the following day, many were just as befuddled. Text and email messages came thick and fast. What is Cory's agenda, they asked? Why is she allowing herself to be used by this or that political group? Why is she associating with those people – doesn't she realize she's sending the wrong signals?
Befuddled? Your allies in the destabilization group were more than befuddled. They did not know what to do, except throw dirty accusations, lift the dirty finger and hurl innuendos and comical arguments against the government. Whereas, they had nothing by way of evidence. All they could come up with was to let the media and the public take peeps at what they considered evidence. Sadly, evil-intentioned people like you could do anything just to besmirch the government and justify your eventual grab for power. As for Agenda, you have lots and lots of it. Ask your mahjong classmates anytime for an Agenda, and they will give you plenty.
To preclude any more confusion on the part of those who insist on deciphering what animates my actions, allow me today to send one signal, loud and clear.
Are we confused over your actions? No! We knew you sought Ms. Susan Roces immediately after FPJ died. That speaks a lot of your Agenda, you damned fool. Please stop playing the Filipino people for idiots!
I am PCCA, Private Citizen Cory Aquino, Filipino. I do not claim to represent anyone's views other than my own. When I take to the streets to express my opinion, I do so with no vain expectations that others will follow my lead. I do not fancy myself as a 72-year-old Pied Piper who can summon the so-called "magic" of People Power. Whether in the company of ten or ten thousand, I will be there if I believe I should let my stand be heard. Those who march beside, behind or in front of me on the streets may hold views and convictions quite different from mine. I have no control over that. Such is the nature of democracy.
My Goodness, please don't make too much value of yourself. You are simply a selfish, dastardly creature who does not even know what democracy means but can recite the piezzas of mahjong in her sleep any place, all the time.
In the light of recent events, now is one good time to share some of my deepest and strongest convictions.
First, I believe in the truth.
We need to lift ourselves from the current state of confusion by seeking moral clarity, by re-affirming our fundamental values. Before we scrutinize personalities and agenda, let us look inward first. Before we try to discern whom to believe, let us be certain about what we believe. Before demanding anything of our leaders, let us first demand it of ourselves. Let us be true to ourselves and to everything that we profess to hold dear.
Unfortunately, we are living in a time of "relative" moral values. The line between good and evil — between black and white — has been blurred into varying shades of gray. Many of us tend to rationalize our moral choices. These days, it seems all right to settle for "the lesser evil," to dismiss wrongdoing simply because everybody else is doing it, or to achieve ostensibly noble ends by whatever means. Is that the value system we want to live by? As a legacy to the next generation of Filipinos, strong core values take precedence over any short-or long-term promise of material prosperity — for any society built on weak moral foundations will not endure.
So why don't all of us Filipinos know about your percentages in the side agreements on top of the contracts R.P. signed with Switzerland on the transfer of the Marcos deposits? Why doesn't every average Juan and Pablo know there were even agreements like these made in the first place? And why don't you confess like GMA had the courage to do, why you wanted a private, secret, personal account that belonged to you to be used as the sieve or conduit of the Marcos deposits during the course of their transfer to the Philippines? Who are you, Cory Aquino to become the conduit of money or deposits --- as it were --- that belong to the Filipino people and was obtained by someone whom you had defiled and lambasted each time you had a mike?
Second, I believe in democracy.
Twenty years ago, I found myself thrust into a role I did not seek. Against all odds, I consented to run for the presidency primarily because the political opposition at the time needed a candidate to unite around in order to end the Marcos dictatorship and restore our democracy. However, the elections were mired in lying, cheating, stealing, and killing. When the rubber stamp parliament proclaimed Ferdinand Marcos as the winner of the 1986 elections, around one million Filipinos joined me in a rally proclaiming the people's victory and there I launched a non-violent protest movement.
Por dios por Santo! You never won in the elections. And your cousin killed Ninoy as well as cooperated with Gen. Ver and a faction of the American government to sow turmoil in the
Our campaign got support from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
"According to moral principles, a government that assumes or retains power through fraudulent means has no moral basis. For such an access to power is tantamount to a forcible seizure and cannot command the allegiance of the citizenry... If such a government does not of itself freely correct the evil it has inflicted on the people, then it is our serious moral obligation as a people to make them do so."
Ergo, allies then, allies now?
After I assumed the presidency, one of my very first official acts was to free all political prisoners, including top officials of the Communist Party. This was an affirmation of my faith that our democracy can only flourish if Filipinos of every creed are given the space to enrich it.
Enrich the deaths of the Armed Forces and PC/INP elements? You bastard. Your placed the leader of the Communist Party under the private custody of Ninoy's mother. Would he have agreed to it? No. You betrayed the ideals of EDSA by succumbing to advice that was political hogwash. Why? Because you never understood any of it and believed it to be wonderful just because it was novel to a nincompoop like you.
This came at a steep price for my presidency. Rightist factions in my government perceived my pro-democracy moves as a weakness. Seeing me as being soft on the Left, they mounted a series of coup attempts that undid much of the socio-economic and political gains during the first three years of our reborn democracy. As a result, many of our democratic institutions lost their chance to mature.
Why not? You hated them. You allowed them to be killed. You vilified them. You took away their rights, their budgets, their dignity and honor. You spat on these venerable institutions from where the defense of freedom in this country had relied upon over the years and centuries. They had a right to fight back against ogres like you.
We do need to strengthen our political institutions. But before we start tinkering around with our Constitution anew, let us first make sure that we have truly imbibed the spirit of democracy. For no matter how impressive our political structures may become, they will be of little value in the hands of despots and traditional politicians.
What? Are you sure about what you are saying? You changed the Philippine Constitution to suit your family's and your pressure groups' greed and demonic wishes and machinations.
And if there is any single political institution that we need to free from blemish here and now, it is the electoral system. The sanctity of the ballot lies at the heart of democracy because it embodies the voice of the people and confers legitimacy upon those who would govern us. Once this sacred document is smeared or rendered inutile by whatever means, the whole democratic system crumbles.
So why did you have you're A-Team of election cheaters who made deals with the so-called "devil" --- the specialists of the late Pres. Marcos in electoral maneuvering? What is Jun Simon to you? Carrascoso? Peping Cojuangco? You are certainly full of shit.
This brings me to my third point. I believe that in any democracy a public office is a public trust, and none more so than the presidency.
That which you squandered, you have not right to gripe about. You kept playing mahjong day in and day out, save when there were foreign dignitaries that the state must receive. What public office public trust are you talking about you carajo! Simberguenza! Demoña!
Certain allegations have cast serious doubt on the electoral victory of the President in the recent elections. Unfortunately, the only legitimate avenue by which to evaluate that evidence and to vindicate the President —the impeachment process — was abruptly closed. This has severely impaired her credibility and has made it virtually impossible for her to unite and govern the country effectively.
Electoral Victory? So now you are the spokesman of the widow whom you approached after the death of her husband! Were you there at the precincts when the counting was being done? Everyone, that is, Everyone, wanted to cheat on FPJ! Why? Because he could not afford to run in the elections much less to pay watchers before and after the counting of the ballots. And you blame the President for having cheated? FPJ's people were cheating all over Metro Manila, for the love of you demon! They also had selected bailiwicks where they did everything to cheat. But the might of the people placed HE PGMA at Malacañang. They love her, more than the communists used to love you and perhaps now want to use you and therefore proclaim their affections for you.
Who will eventually be answerable for making the government fail in uniting the people and pursuing good governance? It's you and your monstrous lot. You hideous Satanistic group that are promoting division and war. Mongrels in a society that is growing in intellect and maturity. You are misplaced. You should be exiled back to the Dark Ages.
Last July 8, I made a plea for the President to make the supreme sacrifice of resigning from office. I still hold that to be the least painful constitutional path out of our present political crisis. To be clear, I am not demanding her resignation nor prejudging her guilt. But I am firm in my believe that she owes her countrymen more than just a vague and legally calibrated apology for what she had termed a "lapse in judgment."
Why sacrifice? Because you want to control the loot? You want to be there at the top when the Marcos deposits will be divvied up or you might not get a share? Shame on you!!! You thieved and lied and engaged in the dirtiest extra curricular acts and made a derelict showing as President by merely engaging in your addiction to mahjong instead of caring for the people. And you have the gall to ask an incumbent President who is doing her utmost to serve the people, to resign? You must be beyond shame, soulless and stupid!
My fellow Filipinos, democracy often demands that each of us make a stand, to take risks – just as I am doing now. I know that I am antagonizing some quarters who believe that I should just let things be. I know that my critics will revive familiar caricatures of me as a naive housewife with no political savvy. I can live with all that, after all, enduring those brickbats is a small price to pay for what I believe in my heart to be a just and noble cause.
Naïve housewife? No you are not, but you are an inconsequential nincompoop with a great hunger for money, the good life, forever mahjong sessions, large objets d' art like those of your former lovers', and a child who is just like you off screen and on screen, which is probably not her fault but had merely been contaminated by you.
I am well aware of my shortcomings as a human being, which is why I always seek God's intercession. And I enjoin all of you to join me in prayer, introspection and discernment. Not one of us has all the answers – we must always seek divine guidance to find the right path.
Why? But of course you must be, because you represent the worst kind of shortcoming present in a human being, beast or mammal. But invoking divine things is way, way out of your league. So just stop that!
I shall go to visit and pray in as many of our churches and schools. For the right answer as to where duty lies from here on, is surely to be found wherever people are gathered in God's name. For that was His promise.
Pray? Recruit for destabilization? Are they the same? You should be struck by lightning thrice over for lying like that. And for using the name of God in vain.
In the same spirit, I also urged you to act with greater compassion toward the poor in these difficult times. While the political uncertainty persists, we all know that the most vulnerable sectors of our society will be the hardest hit by its economic consequences. This is why I am helping mobilize multi-sectoral support toward microfinance projects and other initiatives to empower the poor. These efforts on the part of thousands of selfless Filipinos, I believe, is the new dimension of People Power that we need to nurture. As we move along this track, I am confident that we will not only find a way to strengthen our democracy but hopefully discern the compassionate hand of God and rediscover the values that truly give meaning to our lives.
What political uncertainty? What mobilize for projects? You shithead. Go back to your mahjong and go shit on your mahjongera, mahjongero classmates and stop fiddling with our lives. You have done enough damage to the country in your incumbency when everytime you suffered your dyslexic attacks, anyone, albeit any Tom, Dick and Harry would shove any piece of paper for you to sign while your fingers did the signing although your mind was dead.
Allow me to end with this prayer, Almighty God, have mercy on us and bless us with Your love and peace. Give us the intelligence, the fortitude, the patience and the strength to acquit ourselves well in this present trial of our democracy.
God bless all of us! Thank you and good evening.
May the Lord God punish you interminably, exile you to Hell, bar you from Heaven and make you rot in your clothes and undies while you are still living!
Bitch!!!
Amen!!!