FPJ all the way? / Davide billet doux

So, finally the official United Opposition presidential bet is Fernando Poe Jr. His sponsors – a formidable cabal of power brokers – are ecstatic. They expect FPJ to streak like a runaway rocket, win the presidential elections hands down, and march into Malacañang Palace next year with unexampled pomp and heraldry. Even before FPJ was officially designated, Social Weather Stations (SWS) had vaulted him into the lead, 25 percent, to Noli de Castro’s 24. A statistical tie. Raul Roco, perennial front-runner, went down to 18, GMA to 17, Ping Lacson 10. Some eyebrows were raised, considering that SWS supremo Mahar Mangahas is FPJ’s cousin and buddy-buddy. It smelled?

I will not belabor that. FPJ was bound to rocket ahead anyway. And there the nation’s dilemma lies.

What happens if and when he wins? Most certainly, Da King, an absolute ignoramus when it comes to politics and presidential leadership, will dangle like a marionette in the hands of Eduardo (Danding) Cojuangco, Erap Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile et al. Not to mention Ed Angara and Tito Sotto. And looming over him will be the swooning, syrupy hordes of El Shaddai and Iglesia ni Cristo. Even some leading elements of the Left say very nice things about FPJ. Many political observers claim FPJ is the best recipe for national disaster. They say this is actually a Second Coming of the Marcos dictatorship which brought the nation to near damnation, but for EDSA in February 1986.

I personally do not look at the electoral campaign and the May elections with that kind of utter simplicity. I do admit FPJ, if events proceed normally, will wrap up the presidency with the ease of Shaq O’Neal dunking a basket.

But will events proceed normally? I do suggest and even fear that as FPJ lengthens his lead with murderous intensity, it will set off alarum bells in civil society, among the so-called middle forces. They will not take to the FPJ phenomenon kindly. They will plot. They will plant land mines along the way.

They will stir and shake the streets. They contend that if anybody should rule the nation, it is they and they alone if only by virtue of intellectual depth, vision and love of country. They claim that they alone possess Information Technology, the only asset that can save the country from its dire political, economic and social straits. FPJ may have the movie fists and the movie guns. Erap Estrada had that, too. But the republic stopped and slumped in mid-flight like a circus clown stricken with a big belly ache. Not again, the leaders of civil society say. Not again.

But that’s not all.

As we scan the campaign and the other presidential candidates, there’s a lot of rumpus in the roost. GMA, probably with American support or endorsement, certainly shielded by top generals in the military and police, seemingly backed up by the Church, will have FPJ in her cross-hairs. She won’t take FPJ lying down. She has all the resources to mobilize against him, against the Second Coming of the dictatorship.

What can she do? Her generals can pour gasoline all over Mindanao, set it afire again in a terrible Christian-Muslim conflagration. Failure of elections in Mindanao will lead to failure of elections in the Visayas and Luzon. Better this scenario, some observers say, than allowing FPJ to blithely march into the Palace and tear down the country. Cheating him in the count would ignite the masses, lead to massive turbulence.

Raul Roco and Ping Lacson cannot really complain very much.

The entry of FPJ into the campaign doomed their chances. The towering Panday is an avalanche and you cannot stop an avalanche. Once Ronnie Poe suits up for the campaign in cowboy clothing or panday attire, booms out his cinematic voice, flashes his smile, raises his arms, he will have the masses in the cup of his hands. They will be shaking, exulting and gyrating with ocho-ocho and delirium tremens. Even the Muslims in Mindanao will vote for FPJ, hands up, hands down, war-calloused hands holding up the only Christian they idolize – FPJ.

So with the campaign, with the elections, we have a grenade in hand. If FPJ wins, the pin is removed, Bethlehem breaks loose. If GMA wins supposedly with massive cheating, the pin is removed, and we have an ocean rising like a prehistoric monster to hit land. If the elections should be cancelled for one reason or another, we have the poet William Butler Yeats telling us in his epic poem The Second Coming:

Things fall apart, the centre cannot-hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world;

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and every-where

The ceremony of innocence is drowned.

And then? That’s as far as our crystal ball will venture. Maybe, as we have said so many times in this space, the system will crack apart completely, like a falling and splintering Humpty-Dumpty. The few who still believe in miracles intone with pretentious piety that God will never abandon the Philippines, the only Christian country in Asia outside of East Timor. It seems God abandoned us a long time ago. Maybe, the military ("the entire cannot hold") will take over, temporarily we hope, eventually yielding power to a provisional civilian government that will pick up the first broom to clean up the ruins of the old system.

Maybe, that‘s when BANGON! moves in as the spearhead of civil society. By the way, this column continues to receive a flood of letters and messages from here and abroad, all supportive, all encouraging, all grateful that BANGON! has urged to the fore. We in BANGON! hardly anticipating this deluge this early, will have to move faster to enlarge its membership ranks, sharpen its focus. In due time, as we have promised, we shall publish in this space some selected and representative messages.

Anyway, that’s the way we see things. That’s how we forecast the shape and substance of a dynamic situation.

In the meantime, we’re all taking snapshots. This is cinema verité. This is a moving tapestry of events, of personalities, of circumstances, that we’re seeing for the first time. To quote other passages of Yeats’ deathless poem, he also wrote: "Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the Falcon cannot hear the Falconer". And more: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

I can almost feel these words, almost see them disperse like poetic gunpowder into our situation today, almost see our political rivers bubble and burble in rhythmic cacophony.

Somebody asked me if, in the face of all these, I would shortly leave the country and seek respite and solace abroad. Because, after all, I was not getting any younger. To which I replied: "You kidding? This is the best time to be a journalist. I wouldn’t miss it for all the world."

* * *

The following letter should have been published in our Letters section but wasn’t; so, here it is:

Dear Mr. Benigno,

Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for the support you have shown me through your column Here’s The Score published in the October 27 and 29 and in the November 3 and 4 issues of The Philippines STAR under the headings "A Nation in Outrage," "Oh Yes, They’ll Chicken/The Demise of ConAss", "Open Letter to Congress/Chavez Dares Brat Pack" and "Congress Doesn’t Got It/Mike, Please Don’t", respectively.

Written in your inimitable style and caustic wit, your columns have not failed to deeply hearten and touch me. They were brilliant rays of light which illumined my path and disabused our people of the lies foisted by the unconstitutional impeachment complaint. In the end, the virtues that you wrote – honor, dignity, love of country – prevailed. These are the same things I hope I have shown in the course of my being a public servant and Chief Justice.

Rest assured I will return your high esteem of me in full measure. I will unceasingly do my best in the service of our nation. I will pursue the reforms I have commenced in the Judiciary, which shall be my lasting legacy to the country.

God bless and I wish you more power!

Truly yours,

HILARIO DAVIDE JR.