Why is there so much 'mob lynching' of CGMA?
Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI
Posted at 11/27/2011 12:03 AM | Updated as of 11/27/2011 12:19 AM
Tweet
Peace to All!
Today, we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent and I cannot help but ask the question why there is so much 'mob lynching' of the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo? No doubt, if we go by the continuous barrage of text surveys, there is a public demand for 'blood' and PGMA has been demonized as if she were the personification of evil.
I am a friend of PGMA for many years since she first became public servant as a Trade Undersecretary under President Cory. It is a friendship that has known ups and downs depending on the vagaries of politics, especially in the last years of her presidency. I am no stranger to her virtues as wells as sins, yet I can always stand as her friend, especially in times of needs and sickness. It is a friendship that goes beyond the vagaries of politics which in practical terms have been translated as 'weather weather lang'.
I am a strong believer of justice and the rule of law and for this reason, I uphold that indeed if PGMA has committed any wrong during her nine years as President of the Republic, let the issues or cases be PROPERLY filed in Court and not in public forum for mob lynching.
I visited her in the hospital last Thursday to honor a sick friend remembering that when I was similarly confined in the hospital after my open heart surgery in 2002, she was the first visitor I had after I was released from ICU. And during my visit, she fondly remembered that the first Muslim Cabinet member she had upon assumption the Presidency was due to my text message. This she also acknowledged publicly during her first Presidential visit to ARMM. She also told me that never in her nine years as President was a Muslim was lacking in her official family.
I cannot overlook the fact that I had the special 'privileged' of having 'mutual contact' on Mindanao Affairs and on the peace process by text messages until we parted ways when I joined the former President Cory Aquino to ask for her resignation post the nbn scams.
PGMA as President could be characterized as a worker, at times, bordering to being a 'workaholic'. She had the discipline and the stamina to sit, read and act with determination what she believed to be good for the country, with a special concern for Mindanao. She was, definitely, grounded and focussed!
In nine years as President of the Republic, her administration was also equally characterized by scams that led to coup attempts, impeachment attempts, and call for resignation.
In short, she has almost equal share of successes and scams. Yet, I believe that to resolve all these controversies we should be guided by our high ethical standard and rule of law NOT by any tinge of vindictiveness and definitely NOT by mob lynching albeit it seems popular!
I am not ashamed to visit her in her sick bed... and I am not embarrassed to say that I have brought her some joy in times when she feels she is all alone seemingly abandoned and feeling being the victim of government's fixation to bring her to prison before Christmas at all cost.
I also believe that government has bigger concerns and much bigger agenda other than PGMA's travel to seek medical assistance. And definitely, I feel that it is a tragedy if PGMA from the looks of media coverage and debates has become seemingly the main and only agenda of government. I thought when Justice Conchita Carpio Morales has been appointed as 'Ombudsman', the prosecution of wrongdoing now belongs to her jurisdiction and government can attend to more important things other than PGMA!
Moreover, though we are a Republican government where all are equal before the law, yet by tradition and culture I too subscribe both in spirit and praxis to the French maxim: 'noblesse oblige'. Former President of the Republic like our elders command that 'noblesse oblige' - perhaps no longer on basis of royalty and blood but on the basis of the good work done.
We remember not only the bad deeds but also the good ones, specially in times of sickness and needs. In fact, even in times of war, sickness demands magnanimity of spirit and on this basis, sanctuary and truce are, often, declared even among mortal enemies and combatants.
I am truly saddened that people are being goaded to leer for mob lynching of PGMA even in times of sickness and definitely I see this as wanting in magnanimity of spirit. I have observed this with trepidation and I have asked myself where all these cruelties are coming from... I have seen many battles fought in Mindanao and so much casualties and victims. Yet I have always examined myself if I have been wanting in remembering our tradition as well as our magnanimity as a people? In the final analysis, I believe that each one shall be measured by this yardstick of magnanimity...!
SGD FR. ELISEO 'JUN" MERCADO, OMI
Mindanao Peace Advocate
Director, Institute for Autonomy and Governance
26 November 2011
Cotabato City