Antonio C. Abaya - Moral Force

It is gratifying to note that in the past two weeks, developments in the political arena have been focused on the need for moral renewal, on the need to search for and find leaders whose primary selling point would be their perceived capability to bring about a moral revival in our public life.

For a country seemingly hopelessly mired in immorality, from the top down, this is a Herculean task. Can our new moral leaders succeed in cleaning up the Augean stables? Or will they be swept along by the culture of immorality that pervades our political culture and be co-opted by the Forces of Darkness without making a dent on their armor?

We shall see what we shall see.

The most promising of these neo-moralist initiatives is the Moral Force Movement that was first proposed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno in several public pronouncements in the past six months or so. The Movement seems to have finally gelled last Tuesday, April 7 with the identification of the members of its core group. A hard launch is being planned for May 8.

I say â€˜promisingâ€™ because the members of its core group were well chosen. Among them are former Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See Henrietta de Villa who is also chair of the Catholic Churchâ€™s Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting; Marixi Prieto, chair of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Retired General Jaime Echeverria, president of the Association of Generals and Flag Officers; former Finance Undersecretary Milwida Guevara; Andres Bautista, dean of the Law School of the Far Eastern University.

Also members of its core group are student leader Noorain Sabdulla, one of the Ten Outstanding Students awardees in 2008; Msgr Gerardo Santos, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines; and Methodist Bishop Emerito Nacpil. PLDT chair Manny V. Panganiban is said to have been invited to the core group but has not yet given his consent.

The prominent individuals in its core group give due representation to key sectors in Philippine middle-class society: the Catholic laity, the Catholic and Protestant Churches, civil society, the military, media, the uncorrupted bureaucracy, the students and the Muslim minority, and, if Pangilinan joins, the business community. The presence of Mrs. Prieto ensures adequate exposure in print and cyber media. In Lawyer Bautista, a telegenic fixture in TV talk shows, the Movement would have an effective spokesman and public face on TV.

Notice, too, that there are no trapos and no Communists in its core group. I have lamented many times in the past that the failure of earlier protest movements against the Arroyo regime have been due to the presence of trapos (especially the convicted plunderer Erap, who has been trying to make a political comeback since Oakwood 2003) and the Communists and their red flags in the (largely poorly attended) street protests.

I have written several times that for the protest movement to gain the participation of the crucial middle class, trapos (like Erap) and Communists should be excluded from its leadership. I am glad that some people are finally realizing the validity of that limitation.

And to keep the Movement from acquiring a narrowly Roman Catholic complexion, the inclusion of Methodist Bishop Nacpil was wise and was no doubt pushed by none other than CJ Puno, who is a Methodist lay preacher himself.

Unlike Nandy Pachecoâ€™s Ang Kapatiran Party (recognized by the Comelec in May 2004), which bases its much ballyhooed political platform on the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, a turn-off for many middle-class Filipino Roman Catholics who favor and use artificial methods of birth control.

And unlike TV Evangelist Eddie Villanueva, who launched his Bagong Pilipinas political party (not yet recognized by the Comelec) last March 28, whose gatherings have a distinctly Born Again Protestant revival meeting atmosphere.

(In the 2004 presidential elections, many Roman Catholics flocked to Villanuevaâ€™s side because of the perceived absence of a moral alternative among the candidates then, which gave him six percent of the total votes cast.. I suspect many of those Roman Catholics will now flock instead to the non-sectarian, religion-neutral Moral Force Movement.)

And unlike Harvey Kehâ€™s Kaya Natin movement which has coyly pushed for the candidacies of Pampanga Gov. Fr. Ed Among Panlilio and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca for offices not yet clearly spelled out but generally inferred to be those of president and vice-president.

Like Shakespeareâ€™s Hamlet, Gov. Fr. Among Ed Panililio has been debating with himself â€“ discerning, as he likes to call it â€“ whether to resign from the priesthood and run for president OR to retire from politics and return to the priesthood. To be or not to be, and all that.

Actually, he has been â€˜discerningâ€™ for a very long time, if Bro. Eddie Villanueva is to be believed. According to Villanueva, his supporters have been talking to Gov. Panlilio since November 2007 or some 17 months ago, on the possibility of a Villanueva-Panlilio team-up for 2010.

On March 25, 2009,.according to Villanueva, Panlilioâ€™s supporters, led by Keh, tried to convince him (Villanueva) to join a â€œselection processâ€™ for a common standard bearer. But Villanueva said he turned down the offer because Panlilioâ€™s supporters had already made up their minds on a Panlilio-Padaca team-up. (Inquirer, March 29).Previous to, or simultaneous with, this, Panlilioâ€™s supporters also tried to team him up with Liberal Party presidential candidate Mar Roxas, with Gov. Padaca apparently demoted to a senatorial slot in the LP ticket.

It must come as a shock to Panlilio supporters who thought they had nothing less than Godâ€™s chosen Avenging Angel, to learn that he or his backers have been trying to engage in some serious horse-trading with other presidential wannabes. Besides, what does it say about the character of the man that he has been â€œdiscerningâ€ (or indecisive) for the past 17 months?

And if he could not find it in him to file criminal charges against his predecessors, Mark Lapid and his father now Sen. Lito Lapid, for unexplained shortages (about P325 million a year) in the collection of quarrying fees, why should we believe him when he says that he will run after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo if and when he becomes president?

The imperative of a Moral Force is that one must confront Evil and wrestle it to the ground until one defeats it, or one dies or is killed trying to defeat it.. Anything less than that is only Moral Farce.

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