E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
What price patriotism?
Sunday, 07 28, 2002
Sen. Robert Jaworski’s pathetic posturing for “country and family” in breaking the impasse at the Senate flies in the wake of the revelation in the Tribune of his “price to join the GMA Senate Bloc.”
W.C. Brain in Old Glory said: “No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.” For the P620 million reasons disclosed in the Omnibus Agreement and the Joint and Solidary Agreement, the price was just too much to be ignored by the former basketball legend. That he has been reportedly assured accommodation on his PNB exposure assures him that his continuing claim to patriotism would not quite be on an empty stomach.
For Senate President Franklin Drilon to ask why this matter of the PNB loan was not an issue when Jaworski was with the opposition misses the whole point of the revelation made in the Tribune. You do not camouflage opportunism with patriotism. When Jaworski said it was for the country and family, he was not being truthful about it. He had in fact switched sides to put an end to his financial problems. The opposition could not possibly give him any guarantees, the administration did.
Switching sides across the Senate divide has never been an act of patriotism. It never will be. It is pure politics, such that Drilon and his allies should be honest enough to call it for what it is. Patriotism is answering the call to duty for country, like saving a hallowed institution such as the Senate. Switching sides to guarantee you a trouble-free passage out of your financial predicament carries not a whit of patriotism.
Jaworski basked in his 24 hours of glory as a patriot, according to his new allies in the Senate after switching sides, the public not knowing why he had done it. After all, he had assured everyone in the opposition he would not fall to the enticements of the administration. There were earlier reports of his financial difficulties with DBP and the GSIS, but not with the PNB. Still, he appeared to be steadfast in sticking it out with the opposition.
But one can always create his own enemies with his own acts of betrayal. Indeed, treachery in the end betrays itself. Soon, the truth was out. The bank records, which Jaworski cannot now disown, were quickly disclosed, to burst that claim to patriotism. It was not for country after all, but for his business that had gone from bad to worse, and still getting worse.
Jaworski will now have to face the consequences of these revelations, and not to have them dismissed outright as a political hatchet job and declare the extent of his indebtedness. The figures are there, the documents exist. He will have to settle it, the intramurals at the Senate notwithstanding. He should not ascribe any motive to any one for the revelations. He had it coming for feigning patriotism as a cover for his betrayal of the opposition.
Jaworski should not fall for the machinations of his allies. Administration propagandists will do everything to create an unbridgeable gap between him and the opposition. Already, the disclosure of the real reason for Jaworski’s switching sides is being exploited, with the Senate President himself attributing to the opposition the leak to the Tribune of the bank records. This prompted Sen. Gringo Honasan to remark that Drilon should discharge his role as leader of the Senate and the symbol of its unity, not exacerbate the division that now exists. Indeed, this is the best time, as any, for Drilon to be circumspect in his statements, and project himself as the Senate President of all, not only for the 12 senators on his side.
Jaworski erroneously blames Sen. Ed Angara as the source of the Tribune. The truth is, Angara would not do anything to hurt Jaworski; he has a soft heart for Jaworski. After all, it was Angara and his party, the LDP, who convinced Jaworski to take on a new career outside of the hardcourt, into the Senate. It was Angara and the LDP that nurtured Jaworski throughout his political career. He was saddened by Jaworski’s volta faccia. Having worked for Angara all these years, and having seen him betrayed by some whose careers he nurtured, Drilon included, I can say Angara is not one who will destroy those whom he put on their own two feet.
Jaworski should look instead at his new allies in the administration. His problem is how to make himself acceptable to them, beyond the usual expectation for his vote. He has, after all, been on the other side for so long, making it hard for him to imbibe the culture of intrigue and opportunism that pervades on his new side of the Senate divide. Jaworski’s new allies, after bagging him to their side, are not exactly enamored with having a malleable colleague who can easily switch sides once he has gotten what he bargained for. He is welcome for the moment, because his votes counts, for his financial woes make him vulnerable, and hostage to the administration. He will have to toe the line while the reported PNB accommodation is being worked out, and that can take until 2004, and even beyond. This quid pro quo for his switching sides will certainly be exploited, against which he has no conceivable weapon from which to extricate himself.
W.C. Brain in Old Glory said: “No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.” For the P620 million reasons disclosed in the Omnibus Agreement and the Joint and Solidary Agreement, the price was just too much to be ignored by the former basketball legend. That he has been reportedly assured accommodation on his PNB exposure assures him that his continuing claim to patriotism would not quite be on an empty stomach.
For Senate President Franklin Drilon to ask why this matter of the PNB loan was not an issue when Jaworski was with the opposition misses the whole point of the revelation made in the Tribune. You do not camouflage opportunism with patriotism. When Jaworski said it was for the country and family, he was not being truthful about it. He had in fact switched sides to put an end to his financial problems. The opposition could not possibly give him any guarantees, the administration did.
Switching sides across the Senate divide has never been an act of patriotism. It never will be. It is pure politics, such that Drilon and his allies should be honest enough to call it for what it is. Patriotism is answering the call to duty for country, like saving a hallowed institution such as the Senate. Switching sides to guarantee you a trouble-free passage out of your financial predicament carries not a whit of patriotism.
Jaworski basked in his 24 hours of glory as a patriot, according to his new allies in the Senate after switching sides, the public not knowing why he had done it. After all, he had assured everyone in the opposition he would not fall to the enticements of the administration. There were earlier reports of his financial difficulties with DBP and the GSIS, but not with the PNB. Still, he appeared to be steadfast in sticking it out with the opposition.
But one can always create his own enemies with his own acts of betrayal. Indeed, treachery in the end betrays itself. Soon, the truth was out. The bank records, which Jaworski cannot now disown, were quickly disclosed, to burst that claim to patriotism. It was not for country after all, but for his business that had gone from bad to worse, and still getting worse.
Jaworski will now have to face the consequences of these revelations, and not to have them dismissed outright as a political hatchet job and declare the extent of his indebtedness. The figures are there, the documents exist. He will have to settle it, the intramurals at the Senate notwithstanding. He should not ascribe any motive to any one for the revelations. He had it coming for feigning patriotism as a cover for his betrayal of the opposition.
Jaworski should not fall for the machinations of his allies. Administration propagandists will do everything to create an unbridgeable gap between him and the opposition. Already, the disclosure of the real reason for Jaworski’s switching sides is being exploited, with the Senate President himself attributing to the opposition the leak to the Tribune of the bank records. This prompted Sen. Gringo Honasan to remark that Drilon should discharge his role as leader of the Senate and the symbol of its unity, not exacerbate the division that now exists. Indeed, this is the best time, as any, for Drilon to be circumspect in his statements, and project himself as the Senate President of all, not only for the 12 senators on his side.
Jaworski erroneously blames Sen. Ed Angara as the source of the Tribune. The truth is, Angara would not do anything to hurt Jaworski; he has a soft heart for Jaworski. After all, it was Angara and his party, the LDP, who convinced Jaworski to take on a new career outside of the hardcourt, into the Senate. It was Angara and the LDP that nurtured Jaworski throughout his political career. He was saddened by Jaworski’s volta faccia. Having worked for Angara all these years, and having seen him betrayed by some whose careers he nurtured, Drilon included, I can say Angara is not one who will destroy those whom he put on their own two feet.
Jaworski should look instead at his new allies in the administration. His problem is how to make himself acceptable to them, beyond the usual expectation for his vote. He has, after all, been on the other side for so long, making it hard for him to imbibe the culture of intrigue and opportunism that pervades on his new side of the Senate divide. Jaworski’s new allies, after bagging him to their side, are not exactly enamored with having a malleable colleague who can easily switch sides once he has gotten what he bargained for. He is welcome for the moment, because his votes counts, for his financial woes make him vulnerable, and hostage to the administration. He will have to toe the line while the reported PNB accommodation is being worked out, and that can take until 2004, and even beyond. This quid pro quo for his switching sides will certainly be exploited, against which he has no conceivable weapon from which to extricate himself.
Jaworski has come out the loser, and this miscalculation on his part will always return to hound him, and that indeed is high price to pay for his alleged act of patriotism, contrived over lunch at Malacañang at the dying hours before the Senate was called to session on July 22.
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