Heroes Die Standing Rather Than Live On Bended Knees

The brouhaha stirred by the recently published poll survey conducted by Pulse Asia has shaken,
so to speak, the walls of Jericho (Malacanang), and shocked the Senate floor. The feisty ally of
Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senator Miriam Santiago, went into a mad frenzy of vituperating,
in high pitch staccato, the architect/s of this negative propaganda about her idol lady
president.

The survey tags President Arroyo as the most corrupt in Asia and one of the top 10 corrupt
leaders in the world. She is even rated as more corrupt than our late dictator Ferdinand
Marcos. Her advocates in the Palace and Congress are screaming - FOOUULLLL! To me this is
amusing because ten devils swearing she is not Mrs. 60% tong receiver, will not make her
honest. A certifiably corrupt person will always have that smearing labeled. As simple as that.

By now she should be politics savvy - in that dirty game they play back home, no one comes out
unscathed, whether you deserve the stigma or not. In fact, if you are honest, good and
efficient, your enemies will invent your sins. So why flatter yourself with nightmares, Gloria. In
the first place you jump into the frying pan by choice, then sizzle with the heat. Just do your
best Madam, because the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Besides, the damage control machine of the president which begins at the press office running
all the way to the floor of Congress and the gamut of PR agencies of the government, is well
oiled to finance a massive counter survey to cosmetics her disheveled integrity that would make
her political figure more glamorous than Angelina Jolie is in her silver screen turf, analogously
speaking. So who cares.

Madam, just do your level best to govern with integrity and the rest will follow. You can still
make your political enemies eat their words by acquitting yourself through a reformed
government. Most certainly your rating then as a great president will make the Pulse Asia
survey a tissue of lies in the garbage. It should not cause you nightmares after that. Anyway
Juan de la Cruz will be the final judge of your performance; he will know what to believe, then.
Capis?

Since the arrest of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his men last November, rumors of police
brutality inflicted on the plotters are buzzing around. It appears Sen. Ping Lacson got wind that
the “rebel” officers and men were physically and verbally abused by the arresting policemen.
This was corroborated by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel after he interviewed the prisoners who
admitted having been beaten up and castigated with biting insults in jail. Sen. Trillanes was
stoically reticent to reporters. He gave the impression of preferring to die standing rather than
live on bended knees.

According to rumors as the prisoners lied prone on their faces in jail the lights were put out. In
utter disregard of rank and position, the police began subjecting them to physical punishment.
True, one’s rank and station in life cannot be invoked when the charge is rebellion. But neither
can their right to civil treatment in consonance with human rights just be jettisoned. The
Geneva Convention shields prisoners of war against inhuman acts by their captors, what more
with our own people. It is inconceivable that in prison cells Filipino prisoners are brutally
attacked by policemen. The barbarity they were subjected to demeans the honor of the military
and police.

Were they taught in the academy to assault suspects though their guilt has yet to be proven
beyond reasonable doubt as the law explicitly provides? If this method is to extract confession
from prisoners, the question would be - does the end justify the means? Does the government
observe the cockeyed rule that a prisoner is presumed guilty until proven influential? That is
what brutality amounts to.

Is insulting and beating prisoners to a bloody pulp the hallmark of military/police method of
investigation? Since when? It seems beyond the understanding of dimwits (torture artists) that
even criminals are entitled to humane treatment. In and out of the confines of military prison
camps soldiers should always observe and respect individual rights. Is there no traction in their
brain that those they brutalize are also soldiers and officers?

A badge is not a license to arrest someone who makes a statement denouncing corruption in
the government and asking the president to step down under the principle of command
responsibility. Sure, a police badge is a symbol of authority but the kind that protects citizens,
not to viciously violate them.

Western and detective comics or James Bond movies are fiction, in case some idiots in uniform
think otherwise and mimic the theatrics of Sean Connery, Dick Tracy or Rambo. Officers must
instruct their barbarian subordinates to respect the rights of prisoners, not to beat them up,
especially when they are prostrate on the floor and handcuffed. The style of Dirty Harry is
detouring the law by shooting helpless people he unilaterally decides are criminals. Talks have
it some officers also joined the brutal session. With lights out it was hard to distinguish
whether those beating were officers or low rank maniacs gone berserk with unrestrained
power inside the prison cell.

Let us assume a reverse scenario wherein the same brave policemen are mercilessly beaten in
captivity by Abu Sayyaf bandits. Would they still be tough? Those cruel policemen who
brutalized Trillanes and his group will surely beg for mercy. Bullies are cowards under their
skin.

Trillanes and Gen. Lim marched to Peninsula hotel to make their demand that the president
should resign because she no longer has the moral ascendancy to govern vis a vis the
excesses her administration is guilty of. Included in the manifesto were the abuses perpetrated
by the military, aside from myriad issues cogently articulated in the written mantra.
Notwithstanding the non-adversarial posturing of the marchers, still the monsters in uniform
arrested them in such a barbaric manner that horrified the public, especially civil advocates in
the free world viewing the arrest on television.

Because Sen. Trillanes is so charismatic with the electorate, Malacanang is waging a smear
campaign to mangle his reputation. Sergio Apostol, the Palace hatchet man, demonized Sen.
Trillanes by exposing his request for the release of the P100 million pork barrel allocation for a
senator. The Palace apologist said that this is not possible because the rebel senator seeks to
overthrow the government. He deliberately avoided to mention that the projects were
scrupulously itemized with the intended budget for each. No chance anomalies could sip into
them. Trillanes preempted that possibility. In no uncertain terms he categorically told
contractors kickbacks were out of the question. Nevertheless Malacanang’s spokesman insists
that the projects were not intended for good. His consensus is that given Trillanes’ belligerence
to President Arroyo, he will just use the money to topple down the government. Does he also
read minds like a circus freak who deceives his awestruck audience in the carnival?

Without having actual proof that that was the intention of Trillanes, Gloria’s charlatan readily
assumed the beleaguered senator had the sinister motive in mind of using the money to
unseat GMA. This discrepancy spells out the mental dishonesty of Sergio because corruption
gulps up the yearly allocations in the hundreds of millions in pork barrel for administration
senators and congressmen. All the while he becomes the three monkeys - I see nothing, hear
nothing and talk nothing. Of course, to the victory goes the spoils.

The opposition in general will not be given pork barrel. This meanness will freeze vital projects
in the domains of minority solons. Does not the administration realize that if it cripples the
opposition, citizens will suffer the brunt in crumbling infrastructure, hospitals, schools, roads
and failed improvements beneficial to the people, etcetera? Since when have we become a one-
party system democracy that only the lapdogs of Pres. Arroyo could avail of the pork barrel
bonanzas?

What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. Trillanes and the opposition are
equally entitled to make use of the allocations meant for them for the development of
important projects in their bailiwicks. The law does not and should not discriminate when it
comes to projects that benefit the people. Only totalitarian countries play dirty politics by
suppressing those benefits, but it seems we are now congruent to that mode of heartless
governance. Must the administration copy those reprehensible ways of totalitarian
governments that undermine the welfare of the community, just because it will enhance the
opposition? How can the Philippines be great again with our dirty politics?

Lastly, the Senate is missing the point wasting precious time trying to craft a law that will make
the press more effective in covering incidents like the attempted coup last November 6 in
Makati. Investigating the arrested of 40 journalists covering during the failed Trillenas-Lim coup
is an exercise in futility. It should strike the head of the nail and that is to abolish the criminal
aspect of libel. Only then, if that is corrected will the media be really free to work without
reservations or fear of being hauled to jail on false charges.

If criminal libel is not the root cause of the media being intimidated to be more aggressive to
expose the truth then why is this a government of arrogance and brute force? Unless they
tackle the crucial issue of criminal libel, the press will always be docile and the administration
and military will ride roughshod over civil and human rights with no hindrance, obstacles or
censure to worry about. This garrison state puts us back to the Stone Age when barbarism
was the only way to survive.

Countrymen, ask, demand for a snap election or live on bended knees!

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Heroes Die Standing Rather Than Live On Bended Knees
By
Joe Mari Mercader