E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
Devilry afoot
Sunday, 08 05, 2007
Would you sell out your best friend for your son? And without a pause to give you time to collect your senses and ponder the eternal verities of friendship and filial devotion, here comes another question: Would you sell out the presidency for a senatorial post?
Most fathers would probably answer “Yes” to the first question. “No” would be the unqualified answer to the second.
So whoever invented the so-called transcript of the alleged “Hello Erap” tape — where is the tape, anyway? — smartly figured out the answers and got the results he expected. Namely: bewilderment, dubiety and so much confusion in the ranks of the opposition, and a lot of finger-pointing for their debacle at the polls in May, 2004.
The transcript is too word-perfect for comfort. It has all the earmarks of a good script to cast detained President Joseph Estrada in a bad light as a scheming friend and put the onus of the defeat of Fernando Poe, Jr. on him.
The so-called stalwarts of the opposition (in 2004 and until now) are too busy going at each other’s throats that they do not realize that the administration has been tweaking their noses. They are too blinded with mutual disgust that they can’t see through the ruse. Putting the blame on Estrada through the Hello Erap tape is just one of the latest handiwork of a recent Manapat clone in an administration that is determined to expunge from the collective public memory the monstrous crime that the Hello Garci tapes inflicted on our national psyche.
Indeed, if Hello Erap does exist, then no one else is to blame for FPJ’s defeat but the members of the opposition themselves, and “Hello Garci” logically comes off as a concoction of the opposition to shift the blame to the administration.
But there is no mistake about it: The “Garci” tapes were real, and a clear evidence of the widespread cheating that made the 2004 elections a sham. Hello Erap is just a belated concoction of the administration to dispel that cheating. And what better time to release than now, when an unfortunate and stupid split has taken place in the ranks of the opposition in the Senate.
The babel of comments coming from members of the opposition who are not exactly fans of Estrada do not absolve him of the alleged treachery against his friend FPJ. It is a cause of concern when one hears somebody from the opposition saying, “Let me hear the tape first” or “I have my own experience on what was happening then” or, worse, “That’s possible, given the headlines in the newspapers the following day.” Why don’t they just say Hello Erap is the work of the devil in the administration.
What’s happening to the opposition, anyway?
The effect of Hello Erap is not much different from the Asoh jingle used in the last elections, although the latter is a concoction of some lamebrained members of the opposition. I can very well understand the reactions on Hello Erap by those accused of treachery in the Asoh jingle. I hardly expected a forthright answer from them that the tape is but an elaborate fabrication, and that the truth is that Estrada went all-out for his best friend in the 2004 elections.
It is unfortunate that the members of the opposition have never found a way to beat the devil in his own game. They have always fallen victims to the machinations of the devil’s disciples in Malacañang. They bicker among themselves, and that is exactly what these evil minds have always expected to happen.
The opposition has never learned its lessons. It did not know how to capitalize on the Hello Garci scandal. The multibillion anomalies in the administration exposed by the opposition have remained simply exposés that attain the lifespan of seven day wonders that clutter the tabloids. After that, the issue is forgotten, beclouded by yet another ineffectual exposé. Which perhaps explains why the Senate is now in the lap of Malacañang, notwithstanding the numerical superiority of the opposition. And why Estrada is being crucified for the defeat of his best friend and the victory of his son.
Who is the devil that is supposed to get his or her due for this latest devilry?
Before I end this, let me tell you somebody whispered to me that Hello Erap may not really come from the administration. It intrigues me to hear that it could have come from somebody claiming to be one with the opposition. That is one angle worth exploring.
No comments:
Post a Comment