Organized chaos

The other day, I talked to some foreign observers who have come to the conclusion that the elections were generally credible except that things are rather chaotic at this point. In fact, they dubbed it as "organized chaos". What is really chaotic here is the fact that so much time is being wasted in Congress by the antics of some politicos. We should just go through the process, determine who won, and if there were any cheating, refer it to the proper electoral tribunal. If the opposition’s "organized chaos" gets out of hand, we might all be engulfed by disorganized chaos. As Cato the Elder said, "Patience is the greatest of all virtues." But the Filipinos’ patience is fast running out.

This nonsense about "Oplan Evergreen" – the No Proclamation scenario that supposedly plans to discredit the Congressional Canvassing and force the Administration to accept a coalition government – does no one any good.

There seems to be funds coming in for bribing targeted witnesses like teachers, Comelec officials & canvassers, soldiers, and policemen to testify that there was massive fraud during the May 10 polls.

This is another kind of organized chaos that is being imposed on the country. Whatever these plotters are after, people are just sick and tired of the old mob rule trick. EDSA-type destabilization attempts are no longer an option. Even if they succeed to a certain extent by perverting the constitutional process, ultimately it will fail. They should know by now that this quick-fix solution will be doomed from the very beginning.

If there is in fact anyone who can refute this, the level of electoral cheating like corruption in any country is an accepted norm. For both corruption and cheating, anything above 10 percent is bad. And I tend to believe that there was no massive cheating as the opposition has been claiming. Let’s face it, GMA used massive resources from the government.

But can we prove that she used it inappropriately? That is the "equity of the incumbent" that we have to accept.

She parlayed campaign spending and services to pump-prime the economy by going around and delivering resources and basic services to the people.

With an incumbent President, the lines are blurred between governance and campaigning but that’s what the game of politics is all about. The bottomline is she used all resources available to fuel her determination to win. Everybody knew that would happen and it is too late to cry "Foul".

As Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmeña said when we visited him in Cebu before the elections, "Why am I not going to support GMA when she is helping the province of Cebu? That is why we’re for her." That’s the reason Cebu went all the way for her. It’s as simple as that. GMA had one-on-one meetings with barangay officials from almost every barangay. In contrast, FPJ hardly talked to anyone. His cordon sanitaire succeeded in keeping him away from them. In fact, one of them was heard telling local officials, "You need us more than we need you." When they realized that this wasn’t true, their attitude changed towards the end but it was just too late.

Unfortunately or fortunately for FPJ, he was way ahead at the start of the year with a lead of 12 percentage points, but it was for him to lose the elections. Why? Because the disqualification move made him go on a defensive mode instead of on the offensive. His inability to articulate his platform of government scared the hell out of businessmen and put the issue of his competence to run a government at the forefront. It reached the point where the level of apprehension of many foreigners and sectors became so high that they concluded that there was no other choice but GMA.

FPJ’s handlers, who had no coherent leadership to begin with, didn’t address this problem and they had no real strategy. Of course, his relations with the media didn’t make things any better. So with all those, he had no organization and less funds. He just couldn’t get his act together early enough and fast enough. In contrast, GMA worked hard at it and had the resources to even import a top TV director from San Francisco – Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara whom I worked with during my days in RPN9 – to coach her comprehensively from projecting a more presidential image to connecting with the poor. Even her smile was directed by Lupita.

So for whatever its worth, patience is a virtue. Let’s just all wait until the count is over and done with. An EDSA quick-fix solution is no longer an option for the opposition because people generally believe what the outcome will be. While people are waiting for the final proclamation, the only good news so far is that Rodolfo Biazon, an outspoken advocate for population management, will go back to the Senate after winning by the skin of his teeth. The other good news is that Angie Reyes has so far done such a great job in his anti-kidnapping and anti-smuggling efforts. GMA is just so grateful that she’ll keep him there and not give him another Cabinet post like the Finance portfolio, as he wants to. That’s what you get Angie for being too good at what you do! At any rate, this chaotic situation we are in should end soon enough so we can start moving this country forward fairly quickly. Everyone is already anticipating a new GMA who will finally become a "good" and "strong" President with no political debts to pay.

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The other day, my college alma mater De La Salle University honored some of its alumni in media and advertising in an event they coined, "We Salute Our Own" with the likes of Francis Trillana of Loewe Advertising, Andre Khan of J. Romero & Associates, my favorite newscaster Mike Enriquez of GMA7, Marc Roces of ABC5, and Philippine STAR sports columnist Quinito Henson. But to me, the one who stood out the most – and I salute him – was Chito Sta. Romana. He was an activist during our schooldays. I was very glad to see him and looked up to him during our days in school as a real nationalist.

If it weren’t for my last name, I would probably have joined him in China, where he went into self-exile during the Martial Law years. He now lives in Beijing with his Filipino-Chinese wife and their two sons. He is presently the bureau head of the US network, ABC. I’ve always known Chito to be a soft-spoken and extremely intelligent person, but most of all, a true nationalist. He proudly proclaimed that he still carries a Philippine passport up to this day.

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