RICHARD GOMEZ is one actor and talk show host who has prided himself
on speaking the truth. "I may be arrogant, but I speak the truth,"
he said in a recent message to Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist
Dolly Anne Carvajal.
When it comes to speculations concerning his political ambitions,
he has not only been truthful about it; he has also been arrogant
in admitting that he intends to run for public office in the near
future. Not only that; he has not had any qualms about telling the
people which presidentiable he would be supporting in the 2004 elections.
"The Filipino is basically hard-headed," he said in an interview
with GMA 7. "We need a tough leader. Ping would be a good choice."
He was talking about Panfilo "Ping" Lacson.
But being truthful in expressing your views is different from knowing
the truth. Goma is definitely truthful with regard to speaking his
mind (if he indeed has one), but he cannot claim to know the truth.
For he knew not what he said when he opined that the Filipino is
basically hard-headed and in need of a tough leadership. That line
of argument (I dare not call it reasoning) is too simplistic it borders
on imbecility.
Hard-headedness
In the first place, there is need to study the roots of the Filipino's
"hard-headedness." In one of his speeches more than forty
years ago, the late Senator Lorenzo Tañada explained that Filipinos
usually have a hard time obeying those tasked with implementing the
law because historically, the law has served mostly to oppress them.
The three colonial periods the Philippines passed through are enough
proof of this.
But law as an oppressive mechanism exists in the country even today.
Whatever do you call the law which allows oil companies to increase
petroleum prices for no reason at all? Whatever do you call the law
which allows schools to increase tuition fees for no reason at all?
Whatever do you call the law which allows the Manila Electric Company
to charge power consumers for electricity they did not consume? Many
other such laws exist in the country today.
Is it thus a wonder why Filipinos find it hard to obey the law?
Tough leadership
Besides, Goma has no idea what kind of leadership he is proposing
for the country.
In 2001, Richard Gomez was one of those actors who were seen at Mendiola
falling short of hurling invectives at the President for banning the
film Live Show. Last January, he was seen with fellow actors, as well
as health workers, who rallied against the imposition of the Value-Added
Tax on the incomes of artists and professionals.
If he runs for public office, he would probably tell the people in
his campaign sorties that in 2001 he fought for the freedom of expression,
a right enshrined in Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution—and
exercised it when reason called for doing so.
But then who is Ping Lacson, who according to Goma should lead the
country?
The martial law years were a long period when human rights existed
only on paper. Writers, artists, academicians, and students were arrested
by the hundreds, among other things, for advocating and exercising
the freedom of expression. Many of them were tortured, and not a few
were murdered by the military—like campus journalist Liliosa
Hilao.
Ping Lacson played a prominent part in this period. He was an officer
of the Metropolitan Intelligence Service Group, more widely known
as the Metrocom. The Metrocom carried out arrest orders on dissidents
and tortured a good number of political prisoners. According to the
study Closer than Brothers by Alfred McCoy of Yale University, Lacson,
together with the late Rolando Abadilla and Roberto Ortega (father
of former actress Michelle Ortega), "tortured together"
for more than a decade.
Strange
It is strange that Richard Gomez, who would probably claim to
have fought for freedom of expression in 2001, is promoting the candidacy
of a former police official who played a part in the violation of
freedom of expression which was perpetrated during martial law—one
whose leadership would not be a real solution to the problem of Filipino
"hard-headedness" to begin with.
---------------
