Davide: The New Moses
Now that Hilario Davide, Jr. is no longer Chief Justice, he can unrobe himself and revert back to the politician that he was during the Batasang Pambansa years.
In this political cauldron, all the ingredients for a change of government are abrewing except for one: a credible unifying standard bearer of the opposition.
To date, no one has filled those shoes yet. Cory’s time has passed; Cardinal Sin has moved on; Erap is not acceptable and so are his children and spouse; Susan Roces hems too much and haws often; Noli de Castro is banking on the impeachment complaint to be filed this year so he can seamlessly take over power; Tito Sotto has simply not divested his “Eat Bulaga”roots; Serge Osmena would have been my preference, a credible and very smart figure but his marriage to a Lopez may be a factor against him; Mar Roxas would have been too but unlike Serge, he is too tentative and seems calculating.
Davide is the one man who can hold a candle to Mrs. Arroyo. I hope he is just biding his time. Survey says people want change but are not in favor of people power. And I think the underlying reason for people power fatigue is the unhappy thought that the Erap boys or Noli’s know-nothing countenance will take over government and it will be as Yogi Berra exclaimed: “It is déjà vu all over again!”
After all, with the prospect of incompetent buffoons running the government, and with an “out with old, in with the old” revolving crop of leaders, who would be excited to face down the tanks or lay his life on the line?
And I hope in his daily quiet time with God, Mr. Davide would cut his Bible and turn to Exodus with God commanding him: “Let my people go!”, then take up his shepherd rod and staff and lead the people out of this Egypt of blindness and apathy.
Let us pray for that day to come and for Davide to lead us out of bondage and darkness.
In this political cauldron, all the ingredients for a change of government are abrewing except for one: a credible unifying standard bearer of the opposition.
To date, no one has filled those shoes yet. Cory’s time has passed; Cardinal Sin has moved on; Erap is not acceptable and so are his children and spouse; Susan Roces hems too much and haws often; Noli de Castro is banking on the impeachment complaint to be filed this year so he can seamlessly take over power; Tito Sotto has simply not divested his “Eat Bulaga”roots; Serge Osmena would have been my preference, a credible and very smart figure but his marriage to a Lopez may be a factor against him; Mar Roxas would have been too but unlike Serge, he is too tentative and seems calculating.
Davide is the one man who can hold a candle to Mrs. Arroyo. I hope he is just biding his time. Survey says people want change but are not in favor of people power. And I think the underlying reason for people power fatigue is the unhappy thought that the Erap boys or Noli’s know-nothing countenance will take over government and it will be as Yogi Berra exclaimed: “It is déjà vu all over again!”
After all, with the prospect of incompetent buffoons running the government, and with an “out with old, in with the old” revolving crop of leaders, who would be excited to face down the tanks or lay his life on the line?
And I hope in his daily quiet time with God, Mr. Davide would cut his Bible and turn to Exodus with God commanding him: “Let my people go!”, then take up his shepherd rod and staff and lead the people out of this Egypt of blindness and apathy.
Let us pray for that day to come and for Davide to lead us out of bondage and darkness.
posted by Edwin Lacierda | 1:21 AM
7 Comments:
ed,
I think davide hit the zenith and the nadir of his career all in the same week, five years ago. But until we die, we have hope for salvation. I am obliged to give the benefit of the doubt, since you seem to vouch for the man. He's not nearly so interesting to me though, unless he somehow recognizes the failure of his understanding of the Law, a concession not to my or your intelligence, but just to acknowledge how terribly wrong the country has gone since 20 Jan 2001. He did it, I know, out of good intentions, though I wonder really, whether the failure of the trial made him agree to a kind of judicial deus ex machina. I claim he procrastinated on ruling on the Clarissa Ocampo testimony, or even, turned down the demand that he not admit her testimony. With no where to run later that week, where else could he go? But I can't see Estrada vs. Arroyo standing the test of time. I dare the legal profession to give a public seminar defending it in the light of Gloriagate and the attempts to unseat Gloria.
Ed,
I just wish that more lawyers, especially academics, would make an earnest attempt to engage the concept of CONSTRUCTIVE RESIGNATION. Under the principles established by Davide in Estrada vs. Arroyo and Estrada vs. Desierto, I think a case could soon be made that GMA herself ought to be declared "constructively resigned" -- and it doesn't require violence. Even a simple declaration by the AFP COS of a withdrawal of support due to the inability of the CIC to defend the nation in some yet unforeseen emergency, because SIGNIFICANT portions of the military won't take her commands (they might be incompetent or foolish or self-presevering commands). What I am suggesting is the legal profession can't have it both ways. Either use Estrada vs. Arroyo on GMA or abjure it. What legal elements that got Erap booted out, already apply to GMA? 90%?
ed--have you seen ishmael kahn's commentary on isagani cruz and the independence of the Supreme Court. I think a fair test of their independence will be Garci's Second Petition. I have a post on it today. How do you think they will rule on Garci's prayer?
Sir Dawin,
Mukhang hindi dininig ng langit ang ating panalangin...
Davide is no longer the Moses or even the Lenin we are all waiting...
He joins PGMA as its Senior Adviser on Electoral Reform, which we all knew is actually not a genuine attempt to reform the electoral syste, to clean up the mess Garci made.
Sad. :-(
In a word, yes.
If you listen to the speeches of Ninoy Aquino and count how many times he calls FM Mr. Marcos, you will realize how effective he was in dissociating the office and prestige of the presidency by referring to him as Mr. Marcos.
Calling FM Mr. Marcos had a psychological effect on the Filipino people. Mr. Marcos continuously lost credibility as Ninoy pounded on him and called him Mr. Marcos.
I have no problem calling her Mrs. Arroyo since I would not be facing her anytime soon. And the more we learn to call her Mrs. Arroyo, the more we Filipinos believe that her credibility is shot.
Dawin, I share gari's lament over Mr. Davide's acceptance of that advisory post. What happened? How could he have made such a lapse in judgment? I cannot see Mr. Davide being that misinformed. Doesn't he realize that true electoral reform under the administration of Mrs. Arroyo, an alleged cheat, is near impossible?
Salvation is available to our dying breath. Curious fact: Davide DISAGREED with the Supreme Court Majority on killing the automated counting system. His separate opinion is very interesting. Salvaton is available to our dying breath...
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