Lacson's gambit

Any conscientious Filipino citizen must be quite at a loss on how to properly regard the recent allegations of Senator Panfilo Lacson against Mr. Mike Arroyo. The country�s political atmosphere has simply been too poisoned following EDSA 2 that one does not know whom to believe anymore. In fact, with all the muckraking going around, it is arguably judicious for one to simply tune out, assume a pose of Laodicean neutrality, ignore the venomous words being spattered everywhere and forget all things political like long-suffering docile citizens do most of the time.

Members and sympathizers of the political opposition are all too eager to believe. Administration stalwarts and sundry critics of Lacson are all too sure the allegations are nothing more than sick convolutions in the mind of an inveterate dissembler. Caught between the two camps of opposing faith are citizens who simply are at a loss, citizens who would only be too happy that the accusations be proven wrong but who nonetheless continue to harbor nagging suspicions that Mahusay�s accusations could all be true.

Granted, Sen. Lacson is throwing the kitchen sink at Mr. Arroyo for his own self-aggrandizement. No doubt, his explosive speech at the senate floor is part of his concerted effort to malign the present administration, destabilize the current political configuration and lay down the red carpet for the opposition�s ascension to power. By the senator�s reckoning, anything remotely dimming the President Arroyo�s political star couldn�t possibly hurt his own bid for the presidency. His legal problems in the United States are also effectively brought to a less harsh light given the far sexier controversy involving Mr. Arroyo.

Yet the allegations made by the senator cannot all be readily dismissed simply because the senator is a polluted source. Governor Chavit Singson, not so long ago, was also a polluted source. Singson then, as Sen. Lacson now, was also doing the exposes for equally self-aggrandizing reasons. Singson then wanted to stay alive; Sen. Lacson now wants to be president.

That the media are treating these news reports in what may appear to some a carnival manner is understandable. After all, President Arroyo came to power with a promise to begin things anew. It is only natural for people who were outraged by the corrupt Estrada administration to hold the Arroyo administration against the same exacting standards they set against Estrada.

The solution to the sorry impasse we are now is, alas, the one championed by Ms. Bunye, Mr. Arroyo�s spokesperson. The courts must now thresh out all these accusations. (I do not know how this will all work out since the allegations in Mahusay�s sworn statement are not exactly actionable criminal offenses: entering the LTA Building, calling Mr. Arroyo on the phone, receiving money from messengers, making bank deposits.)

The papers this morning reported that Mr. Arroyo has already filed libel charges against Sen. Lacson et al (including Rep. Gilbert Remulla of the NPC and Lacson�s chief of staff Lito Banayo). All well and good. The only hitch is that the Senate seems to be unstoppable in its own investigation regarding the matter. Some senators, no doubt, deeply regret that Mr. Arroyo, unlike former President Estrada, cannot be impeached (as what? husband to the president?) With elections just around the corner, I guess many of the senators can make use of some time appearing on the television, hugging free publicity and confounding our minds.

A more irenic political atmosphere is much desired nowadays. It is not congenial hearing anyone�s reputation besmirched with such freedom and ill will, be it one�s neighbor or the president�s husband. The president must do whatever is in the legal power of her office to settle these recriminations once and for all so that we could all apply our faculties to far weightier matters, like the coming WTO Cancun meeting, or, thank God for the Chinese, the Meteor Garden.