National Union of Students of the Philippines

GMA vs. Aquino with the intervention of the Supreme Court in a plight of flight, flee , and fight. The unravelling clash among co-equal branches of government and power-players leading to an eventual stand-still with the prospect of a break-down in an already fractured country. The  Watch List Order (WLO) by the Department of Justice (DOJ), within the ambit of its circular ironically signed under the former President. It is the one with, precisely, which the former president herself is being held in the country. There is apparently no need now to squabble over this as the Supreme Court has already issued a TRO against the DOJ WLO allowing GMA to fly [free?] from the country. But why the fiasco? Does the public have anything to gain?

Noy’s sin of omission.

For more than a year after he promised to seek justice for the administrative and criminal offenses of GMA we have not seen a single case has been filed. What seems to be in abundance is the multitude of press statements and accusations from the Aquino camp of alleged wrongdoing in the previous Government. What is abundant is keeping up appearances of an incompetent President Aquino being victimized by the sins of a past corrupt Arroyo. It is not so much as owning up to Aquino’s continuation of flawed policies as his effective assault on the rights and welfare of the people. He has also shown an utter absence of political will and a thorough strategy as to how to seek justice for what GMA has wrought. In fact we see that this inaction is criminal neglect in itself. Had the Aquino administration levelled charges against the former president we would not have had to face this conundrum in the first place. It leads us to suspect how determined and genuine this administration really is in pursuing justice and putting an end to impunity. While there is no dearth in documents, testimonies, witnesses, and evidence upon which any case can be filed against GMA. Surprisingly no case has been filed—at least from the side of the Aquino Administration. Now that this show of incompetence is blowing up in his government’s face they revert back to their tried and tested formula of rhetoric and childish statements.   Like children being disciplined, the Aquino administration is in direct defiance of the Supreme Court order further aggravating their sorry state, while the people  await justice to be served.

GMA’s commission.

Like a game, both GMA and Aquino camps have apparently started media wars to sway the public to their cause. With the Aquino administration winning no points looking childish and the Arroyo’s looking so eager to depart the country it betrays her words. Using the argument of human rights and GMA’s apparent entitlement to it, her camp pleads for sympathy and appeals their case to leave the country for health concerns. It is simply absurd now how the Arroyo’s use the same rights they themselves have trampled upon in their regime as if they were or are genuinely concerned for these rights.

The need for decisive action.

Decisive action will not happen at the top while economically and politically invested parties battle it out for their interests. It is necessary for the people to collectively express their will through mass demonstrations to sway the tide of history in the path of serving justice. The problem we face now is not so much as the issues of procedure or merely the letter of the law. While the Aquino administration remains inutile in filing charges, the people through our mass/people’s organizations and alliances have been the first to level charges of corruption, plunder, and human rights violations. In the end it has always been the people who have been decisive in levelling charges against GMA like the NBN-ZTE, the fertilizer fund scam, and her liability in perpetrating extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. What is evident is that while government is busy in the clashes of its officials the people must decide this through their militant assertion for GMA to face her raps here in the Philippines. We need to condemn and expose Aquino for his disservice, and turn the wheel of justice as a people united.