What everyone needed was a jolt to reality, that our country is lead by men and women who are supposed to embody what is the best and the brightest among Filipinos.
Yes, the best and brightest are indeed elected into the highest offices, but what are they best and brightest at?
In an epic Clash of the Titans-like episode between the multi-awarded, top-of-her-UP Law-class Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and the Martial Law architect, Harvard graduate Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, the nation witnessed what the “best and the brightest” can do.
Sadly, not for the nation, but for each trying to decimate the other in terms of their litany of sins.
It seems these Senators have forgotten the words from the Bible: He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.
In fairness, the former Senate President Enrile drew the first blood. As expected, Lady Miriam unleashed her fury with equally mind-boggling, stunning revelations, a recount of history and Enrile’s role in it.
It was not hysterical, to the disappointment of some, but historical and astonishing to those who were cowered into silence by the iron fist of Enrile.
The generation who lived through the Martial Law years knew what Miriam was talking about. In the 1980s, when it was clear that then President Marcos was clinging to power with Imelda as conjugal rulers, and with no plans of leaving, Enrile (Defense Secretary that time) formed a group of young idealistic military men (among them, Sen. Gregorio Honasan) called the Young Officer Union-Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), with others loyal to him.
These were the same men who enforced the iron fist of Martial Law. Disappearances, assassinations, liquidations, Arrest and Seizure Orders (ASSO), logging, land grabbing, “mining” business (This is mine, that is also mine, etc.).
Most importantly, the issuance of the ASSO was so feared especially in Dumaguete as students, businessmen, priests, pastors, faculty members, and other community leaders were “invited” for questioning, then detained, jailed, by virtue of the Order.
There was indeed an atmosphere of fear. No one could trust anybody because there were informers in their midst — in aschools, churches.
Whatever happened to the people who disappeared? Only God knows. To this day, the whereabouts of Redemptorist Father Romero remain unknown, and he has since been presumed dead.
Yes, Senator Miriam was right: Enrile’s hands are stained with the lives of innocent people who were victims of the ASSO.
Then Enrile was ready to mount a coup against Marcos together with then Gen. Fidel Ramos, when his plot was discovered. Pushed to the corner for liquidation by Marcos, Enrile took refuge at Camp Aquinaldo, and was saved by the people in the now-iconic People Power/EDSA Revolution on Feb. 25, 1986. But Enrile was the brains behind several coup attempts against Cory Aquino because he wanted to be President. That is the correct narrative.
The litany of sins enumerated by Lady Miriam were all based on facts.
Senator Enrile is accused of being an architect of the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam. But what is the direct link? The husband of Janet Napoles, Jaime, was one of the RAM soldiers. This is the reason they were able to get a canteen concession at Fort Bonifacio. The rest is purely circumstantial: Enrile’s chief of staff Atty. Gigi Reyes directly dealt with Napoles, the same Gigi Reyes who used to preside over Senate meetings, the fact of which was exposed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes.
When the controversy was made public, Enrile confirmed that Gigi Reyes was fully authorized by him to preside over meetings.
When the PDAF scam broke out, Enrile said that Gigi Reyes did it on her own, and that he had no knowledge of the PDAF scam amounting to hundred of millions of pesos.
Will Miriam’s fury uncover the truth? Many believe that God works in mysterious ways.
This is one mystery that needs to be told.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
