I used to have this major crush on Joker Arroyo, as people who were there when he visited UST in 2001 (or is it 2002?) can attest. I liked Joker because he had funny hair, because he was wrinkly, and most of all because he was an honest, righteous government official, which isn’t really common this side of the world.

Now, well, I’m not sure. It started with the elections, I suppose, when he ran under the administration ticket. By the way, I really can’t figure out why we seem to have only two parties in this government, namely the Administration and Opposition, both with no moral fiber and determined only by political alliances and necessities. Never mind Nacionalista and the Liberal Party and all those acronyms. This country hasn’t even begun to grasp the rudiments of democracy.

But I digress.

Joker Arroyo had always been a symbol of honesty for me. He was frugal, simple and courageous, fighting for human rights and unsullied by issues of corruption. Unlike other senators and public officials, he enjoyed general goodwill from the Filipino people. And so it was horrible for me when he decided to join Gloria, refusing to speak up even when allegations of cheating, corruption and murder assailed the little-girl-who-could.

Honestly, I tried to make excuses for the man. I liked him too much to condemn him immediately. Today, though, after watching him make a fool of himself on national television, I just realized I didn’t like him anymore. He was tripping all over himself, trying to give the witness a show of temperament to intimidate him.

This, darling Joker, is goodbye:

You fought tooth and nail against two oppressive regimes, suffered the consequences of bravery and lived to tell the tale. You never wavered in the face of martial law, fighting to keep the people free. Yesterday, February 11, 2008, you insulted everything you ever stood for, questioning a man kidnapped and coerced by government because his wife dared go to the Supreme Court to seek a writ of habeas corpus. You arrogantly questioned the wife’s decision to protect her husband, calling it a “cheap” move that insulted your very intelligence.

I suppose you didn’t realize you were merely insulting yourself. You have belittled everything you have ever stood for: freedom, democracy, human rights. You stood idly when the Garci scandal surfaced; you turned away when allegations of corruption hit the highest woman in the land; you kept silent even as journalists were murdered all over the country.

What the hell happened?

Joker, you’re too old to be corrupted. If, like Maceda, you had been young and corrupt, it would have been understandable. A young man sullied by the corrupt ways of mucky politics? Understandable. But you, a bastion of integrity, succumbing to the dirty world of politics at your age? You could have retired and maintained a legacy of morality instead.

But no, you had to go on. You just had to destroy whatever was left of your integrity.

So, Joker, this is goodbye.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 8:04 am and is filed under pinas, politics, rant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.