By Alejandro Lichauco
The Daily Tribune
01/22/2009

Is there a Puno-Lim-Erap triumvirate programmed as transition government?

And programmed by whom? By the inner logic of events, of course. For events have an inner logic of their own and that logic dictates what is to be the future. And if events today have one commanding feature, it is the overwhelming desire for change — even revolutionary change in the political and economic situation. That explains the ongoing clamor for Chief Justice Reynato Puno to run for president.

The public is tired of politicians. It is tired of civil society. It is tired of businessmen. It is tired of the Church. All these have run, managed and determined the nature and course of the national situation and that situation has spelled only two things: Corruption and poverty, with both worsening rather than diminishing with time. Hence, the search for a new “establishment” has grown desperately with time and that desperate search is what explains the mounting clamor for Chief Justice Puno. An unprecedented event in our political history.

The Chief Justice, of course, isn’t all pure and all white. His critics, and enemies, murmur much against his morals and even competence but just the same, whatever they might murmur against him are far outweighed by the positives which surround him and which constitute his public aura.

And that explains the sudden emergence of a clamor for him to run for the presidency in 2010.

Truth, however, is the moral crusade for a Puno presidency doesn’t really have elections in mind. The Chief Justice doesn’t stand a single strand of a chance of winning any presidential election. He doesn’t even have the makings of a successful candidate for town mayor.

Those behind the clamor for Puno have only one thing in mind. And that’s to persuade the AFP to mount a revolutionary government and install Puno as head. In much the same way that the AFP mounted Cory as head of a revolutionary government in 1986.

But if that’s the plan, then the Puno crusaders underestimate the daunting challenge of the times. The Chief Justice will be deluged by problems — political, economic and military — which would be far beyond his solitary capacity to meet. He isn’t made to govern. What he is made for is to stand as a symbol of moral rectitude at a time when moral degeneracy has become the order of the day and the way of life.

And for that Puno will be ideal. But that wouldn’t be enough, a new government, committed to change and installed for that purpose, requires much more. It will need, for one, the new face of a morally rejuvenated military establishment. And that new face finds its maximum expression in Gen. Danny Lim. If Puno represents moral rectitude, particularly in the judiciary, Danny Lim represents moral rectitude in the Armed Forces. And since a transition government can be possible only through the intervention of the military, it is imperative that the new face of a morally rejuvenated military be represented in that government.

Danny Lim is the one military figure today that so powerfully represents the face of integrity and valor expected of the nation’s soldier, and one can’t conceive of a transition government, mounted by the AFP, without him. Besides which, Lim is the only military figure who has dared defy the face of colonialism and foreign domination by calling for a nationalist, sovereign and independent government. There isn’t anyone in the military who has dared do that — and dared it while in his prison cell.

As for Erap, why include him in the new government when, as said, the public is tired of politicians? And besides, hadn’t he admitted guilty to the criminal charges raised against him by the GMA government?

The answer is simple. Erap won’t be in the transition government as a politician and former President who had pleaded guilty to plunder but as the one public personality in the Philippines who has the capacity of appeasing the masses and of persuading the masses to support the new government.

The central problem of any new government is the masses: How to persuade them that the new government means business and that the new government needs their support. Only Erap has the capacity, or at least the potential, of doing that for the new government. Nobody else can take Erap’s place in that role. What does the new government do should the masses break out in hunger riots — and that is bound to happen because there isn’t an end in sight to the global crisis. As to Erap’s guilt, everyone knows that he would never have obtained justice as long as this government is in place. And so, he did the only practical and politically intelligent thing to do — which was to withdraw his appeal and accept the absolute pardon.

And besides, hasn’t Cory herself said that Edsa ll was a mistake and had asked Erap’s forgiveness? That was Cory’s highest moment, and Erap’s vindication too.

A revolutionary government simply would have to include Erap, because, rightly or wrongly, he incarnates the hope of the masses. And any revolutionary government must stand first and foremost for the masses and be perceived so. Otherwise, it collapses.

The Puno-Lim-Erap triumvirate is the political future.

Another Magdalo officer wants to join Trillanes in Senate

By Charlie C. Lagasca
Philstar.com
January 18, 2009

SOLANO, Philippines - It seems that another Magdalo soldier has been bitten by the political bug.

Detained Army Brigadier Gen. Danilo Lim is reportedly eyeing a seat in the Senate where his colleague, former Marine Lieutenant second grade Antonio Trillanes III, now sits as a senator despite also being under detention at Camp Crame’s custodial center.

Supporters here indicated that Lim, a native of this Ilocano and Gaddang-dominated booming town, is seriously considering running in next year’s election.

Lim, former head of the Army’s 1st Scout Ranger Regiment, and Trillanes are presently detained for their involvement in the Manila Peninsula incident in 2007 to topple the government.

Aside from a seat in the Senate, Lim, known to be charismatic here, is also eyeing the mayoralty post of this province’s premier town in next year’s national and local elections.

Talk of Lim’s political plans started when, besides posters and calendars, his streamers expressing congratulations to the town and barangay fiestas started to surface. Volunteers for Lim said they were also distributing leaflets and membership forms in support of Lim’s possible senatorial or mayoral bid.

DANNY LIM’S NEXT TARGET: NV MAYORSHIP

By Ted Boehnert
18 January 2009
The Daily Tribune

One of the 28 military officers detained in connection with the alleged February 2006 coup against the Arroyo administration is reportedly eyeing a local position in the coming 2010 election.

Supporters of Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim are floating his name as a possible candidate for mayor of Solano in Nueva Vizcaya province after calendars of the former commander of the elite First Scout Range Regiment and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a former (Marine) Navy lieutenant and colleagues in the Magdalo group who is also detained for leading several coup attempts against the government, started circulating in the town.

Lim and Trillanes also led the Nov. 29 standoff at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in 2007,

According to Lim’s supporter, the general who comes from Solano has reportedly expressed serious interest in running for the mayorship.

Residents of the town affiliated or sympathetic with the Magdalo group said membership forms and other materials were being circulated as a sign of support for Lim’s candidacy.

Aside from being considered for the mayorship, Lim’s name was also being floated as a possible senatorial candidate.

Supporters, however, said that the local positions seems to be more of a priority to Lim.

High school batchmates of Lim, who was salutatorian of St. Louis School Batch 1972 in Nueva Vizcaya, responded positively to the information of his imminent possible candidacy.

Batch valedictorian Marilou Gilo-Abon, president of the Neuva Vizcaya State University, said her noted batchmate was “upright” and “a good friend.”

A graduate of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and Westpoint Lim was born into a poor family in this town and head to work his way through high school until he entered the Academy, always staying at the top of his class.