AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo (The Philippine Star) Updated October 10, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (3) View comments
We’ve gotten wearily accustomed to the Left making loud noises and rabble rousing. Sometimes they are called militants by media. Sometimes they are referred to as Socialists. Whichever way you would prefer to call them, they’ll never miss a beat in trying to bring down the establishment.
They became real threats to our democracy during the term of Presidents Elpidio Quirino (in the early 1950s) and Ferdinand E. Marcos (in the 1980s). Those threats were considered the biggest contributors to the undoing of Presidents Quirino and Marcos. The threats had prodded the United States to take an active role in preventing the rise of a Leftist regime here. The lack of social justice and the Wealth Gap connived to promote the extreme political remedy offered by the Left.
Unlikely heroes emerged and stopped the Leftist threats of the early 1950s and the 1980s. They were Presidents Ramon Magsaysay and Cory Aquino, the respective successors of Presidents Quirino and Marcos.
The influence of the Roman Catholic Church, Islam and the other Christian sects served as the biggest impediments to the Leftist threat. The early religious persecution in Communist Russia and Communist China simplified somewhat the choice for most Filipinos to that of Marx versus Christ and Marx versus Allah. The Filipino deep faith in God, be it Christ or Allah, proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for the Left.
It’s not surprising though if the Left had gained a new round of momentum after the Joseph Estrada and the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) regimes. With the recorded poverty and hunger index in the last 5 years of the GMA regime, it is surprising that the armed component of the Left, the NPA (New People’s Army), is not yet poised to overrun the major AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) camps.
The way the political fronts of the Left have been very hyperactive lately would suggest that they smell blood in much the same way that the Left smelled blood in our dysfunctional democracy in the early 1950s and the repressive dictatorship in the 1980s. The deep cynicism created by the GMA regime is too good for the Left to pass off and not to test the political waters again. Deep cynicism and grinding poverty are like gallons of blood in the water to a Great White Shark that is always hungry.
Oddly, the biggest thorn to the ambitions of the Left — the Catholic Church — is now looming as a potential ally against the President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) administration. Like the Left and all its political fronts — using sectors like the youth, overseas foreign workers (OFWs), farmers, teachers, urban and rural poor — the Catholic Church leaders are up in arms against P-Noy. They have been threatening P-Noy with fire and brimstone, civil disobedience and even excommunication. The main beef of the Bishops revolves around the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill which P-Noy favors.
Unless the Catholic Church leaders want to add stupidity to their problem of being anachronistic — it is unlikely that they will actively pursue a tactical alliance with the Left. Expect the Pope to step in and read them the Riot Act if ever they show signs of doing so. However, that does not prevent a situation from developing where the Left is able to take advantage of the Catholic Church leaders without them realizing that they have unwittingly become Leftist pawns.
One of the moments when retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz sounded credible was when he said that once the Catholic Church mobilizes to fight against the RH Bill, then a lot of other forces — parties at interest — will join the chorus. However, judging from the commentaries, opinions, feedback from Twitter, Facebook and other media websites — there is an overwhelming support for the RH Bill and these supporters are seeing the leaders of the Catholic Church as overstepping their bounds and infringing into matters of the State.
Assuming that the leaders of the Catholic Church plus the GMA forces, the jueteng lords, the Left and other dissenters mount a combined operation against P-Noy — what are their chances of succeeding? Your Chair Wrecker will think that their chances of success will be better than none and nil but highly unlikely.
Why so? The answer is simple. On one side, who is the Filipino in his right mind who will lend credence to such a mixed bag like that alliance? On the other side of the equation, P-Noy is no pushover and will not be easily brought down — especially by an alliance like that which cannot expect to be credible at all.
The Catholic Church may pose a big threat to an administration but that is if they have a strong moral issue and if the incumbent is unpopular like Marcos. On the issue of the RH Bill, P-Noy is supported by an overwhelming majority of Filipinos. Add to that the fact that an alliance, whether formal or informal, with the GMA forces, the Left and the jueteng lords will kill any cause.
The SWS (Social Weather Stations)-BusinessWorld Survey that was released last October 6 shows that the public support for P-Noy remains very strong. Conducted on September 24 to 27 among 1, 200 adults, the survey showed P-Noy’s net satisfaction rating at +60 percent, with 71 percent satisfied with his performance and only 11 percent dissatisfied.
Other highlights of the survey findings are, as follows:
1. Per SWS, “Mr. Aquino received ‘very good’ ratings in all geographical areas, with a net score of +66 (76 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) in Metro Manila, +65 in the Balance of Luzon (73 percent satisfied, 8 percent dissatisfied), +54 in the Visayas (68 percent satisfied, 14 percent dissatisfied) and +52 in Mindanao (67 percent satisfied, 15 percent dissatisfied).”
2. SWS also stated that: “Respondents in urban areas gave Mr. Aquino a +62 net rating (72 percent satisfied, 10 percent dissatisfied) while in rural areas his score was +58 (70 percent satisfied, 12 percent dissatisfied).
By socioeconomic class, Mr. Aquino was rated “very good” by those in Class E and D: +64 (73 percent satisfied, 9 percent dissatisfied) and +59 (71 percent satisfied, 11 percent dissatisfied), respectively. His score was a “good” +49 among the class ABC (65 percent satisfied and 16 percent dissatisfied).
By gender, Mr. Aquino obtained a “very good” +62 (73 percent satisfied, 11 percent dissatisfied) among women and +68 (69 percent satisfied, 11 percent dissatisfied) among men.”
Do you think an unpopular Catholic Church stand against the RH Bill and the un-sellable Left can really pose a serious threat to P-Noy?
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