Destabilization Talk and the Decline of Freedom
Everyone’s getting ready for tomorrow’s Sinulog Festival here in Metro Cebu.
Thousands are going out to the streets today to observe and participate in the fluvial and solemn processions for Sto Niño. It’s also my younger brother’s birthday today and the whole family will be out of the house to join in the ceremonies.
But according to President Arroyo’s spokespersons, the next few days also happen to be the occasion when another destabilization plan hatched by opponents of the government will go out in the open.
Not surprisingly, the police have arrested six “plotters†kuno while (In)Justice Secretary Gonzales again rattled about another supposed coup attempt scheduled on January 22 – the anniversary of the infamous Mendiola Massacre that will of course be commemorated with a rally by the Left.
The fact that only people connected with the Palace and the military are the only ones vocal on the existence of such conspiracies makes it all suspect to me. Such quarters have been known to do anything to defend their vested interests. Many have in fact pointed out that all the talk of plots is used to justify the extension of General Hermogenes Esperon’s term as AFP chief of staff. While others fear that this marks the unraveling of the President’s moves stay in power beyond 2010.
Coupled with the release of a government advisory that threatened to jail media men covering coups and other political emergencies, this mumbo jumbo about coups and other such conspiracies do not only show the insecurity of the present administration but also highlights the horrible state of affairs of the country in general.
Freedom House, a New York-based organization that conducted the 2008 Freedom in the World survey found a decline of democracy and political rights in the country “as a result of serious, high-level corruption allegations; the pardon of former President Estrada; and a spike in political killings in the run-up to the 2007 legislative elections.â€
The group’s overall findings also don’t bode as it saw “a notable setback for global freedom. The decline, which was reflected in reversals in one-fifth of the world’s countries, was most pronounced in South Asia, but also reached significant levels in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa.
In Freedom House’s Map of Freedom that accompanies the survey findings, the Philippines has been categorized as PARTLY FREE – a country “in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. Partly Free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and often a setting in which a single political party enjoys dominance despite the façade of limited pluralism.â€
And indeed, as today’s Inquirer editorial muses, “Freedom House might as well have tailor-made its description to Philippine conditions.â€
But of course, we really don’t need an international group to tell us that.
The same editorial concludes:
…the grounds cited by the American organization for the poorer rating it has given the Philippines don’t tell even half of the horror story. For instance, while the survey speaks of “serious, high-level corruption allegations,†it doesn’t point out that the cases have mounted and the amounts involved have grown to shocking magnitudes. While it notes a spike in political killings during the 2004 elections, it doesn’t mention the vote-buying and cheating that marred the polls. While it mentions the Estrada pardon, it makes no reference to the culture of impunity that has allowed the murderers of activists and journalists to remain free and continue their rampage and let big-time grafters enjoy their loot. Neither does it mention the administration’s continuing attempt to intimidate its critics among the members of the press with threats of arrest and the use of “reasonable force†against them. Nor does it highlight the worst abomination of all: the extrajudicial killings of Left-leaning activists and journalists that remain unchecked.
