Time for the opposition to tell the truth

Remember these names? Cory Aquino? Joseph Estrada? Panfilo Lacson? Eddie Villanueva? Aquilino Pimentel? Francis Escudero? Roilo Golez? Jacinto Paras? Alan Peter Cayetano? Edmund Reyes? Joel Villanueva? Crispin Beltran? Liza Maza? Satur Ocampo? Oscar Cruz? Dinky Soliman?

These are the names of just a few people we are capable of mentioning now (there are more, but they are too numerous to squeeze into such a tiny column space) who, over the past several months, have been beating their breasts about the search for truth.

The way these people frothed in their mouths about truth, it was as if they belonged to an exclusive club upon whom God, in his infinite wisdom, bestowed the rare privilege of being the only ones able to discern the truth.

Additionally, it was as if only these people, to the utter exclusion of the rest of the 87 million other insignificant Filipinos, have the exclusive right to claim understanding of what justice is, what fairness means, and what love of country is all about.

Well, Aquino, Estrada, Lacson, the Villanuevas, Pimentel, Escudero, Golez, Paras, Cayetano, Reyes, Beltran, Maza, Ocampo, Cruz and Soliman have all suddenly become deathly quiet in face of this earth-shaking news about espionage in America, specifically at the White House.

A Filipino-American ex-Marine who later became an FBI analyst by the name of Leandro Aragoncillo has been accused of stealing classified information about the Philippines, first from the FBI, and later from the White House, and passing them on to another Filipino.

That other Filipino is Michael Ray Aquino, a former PNP police officer and protege of, that's right, Lacson. This is the same Aquino who fled to the United States on being implicated in the murder of top Filipino publicist Bubby Dacer.

Both men have already been arrested by American authorities. As of this writing, Aquino has already been indicted and charged while Aragoncillo was in the process of entering into some plea-bargaining.

What is interesting about this story, aside from the fact that this was the first time the White House, the very residence of the most powerful man on earth, has been cracked by spies, and Filipinos at that, is that the stolen information was passed on to the Philippine opposition.

We are not pinpointing who among them. Only the Americans know that. But when you say opposition, these are some of the names that surface: Aquino, Estrada, Lacson, the Villanuevas, Pimentel, Escudero, Golez, Paras, Cayetano, Reyes, Beltran, Maza, Ocampo, Cruz, Soliman.

According to the Americans (no part of the story came from Philippine sources, making it unpolluted by political bias), the classified information obtained by the two were passed on to the Philippine opposition to help the movement to oust President Arroyo.

Official American government spokesmen in fact noted the huge embarrassment it was, that not only was the White House cracked by spies, but that the information obtained had been used to destabilize the government of another country.

The Philippine government has prudently kept quiet about the scandal, letting the Americans do all the talking. It rightly presumed that if it rode on the scandal, the opposition will likely find another excuse to cry harassment or persecution.

As of the moment, though, as the Americans continue making a big fuss out of the case, the members of the opposition, whose names we have mentioned, appear to be suddenly gagging on their unexpended spit, rendered voiceless by the unexpected turn of events.

A hand, or several hands, from among the truth-seeking Aquino, Estrada, Lacson, the Villanuevas, Pimentel, Escudero, Golez, Paras, Cayetano, Reyes, Beltran, Maza, Ocampo, Cruz and Soliman has been caught in the cookie jar but no one is telling whose.

Apparently, the search for truth has its limits, as far as the opposition is concerned. The light to illuminate the darkness does not penetrate the secrets of its own closet, does not apply on its own self.