Jan.-Feb. 2000

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‘Civil government must be visible in times of crises’- Nene Pimentel

 [Remarks of Sen. Nene Pimentel before delegates to the 1971 Constitutional Convention at the Sulo Hotel, Quezon City, December 31, 2000]

Senate President Nene Pimentel

   We were young by thirty years when we first met as delegates to the 1971 constitutional convention.

   We were, then, so full of idealism that we thought that the convention, by ourselves, could work miracles that would remove the political, social and economic blights that afflicted the country at that time.

Events proved us wrong

   Martial law, however, caught up with our work and subsequent events proved us wrong. For even as the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos was sent to exile in 1986 and democratic space was restored to our country, still the political, social and economic problems that beset the country continued and do continue to confront the country to this very day. The problems of massive poverty, rising criminality, government graft and corruption and the attendant ills of bad governance still mock us today as they did in - or even before - the martial law years.

   Understandably, then, many of us, delegates to the constitutional convention of 1971, who had survived martial law as well as the Aquino and the Ramos administrations are displeased, disgruntled and disgusted.

Frustrations compounded

   Our frustrations were certainly compounded yesterday, as the current year was ending, because bombs exploded in many parts of the metropolis wounding and killing several innocent citizens.

   The explosions were certainly the handiwork of terrorists who want to sow fear, panic and pandemonium among the people, destabilize the government and pull down its institutions to create commotion, confusion and chaos.

Responding to terror threats

   How are we supposed to respond to these terrorists threats?

   There is no other response possible in a democratic society and that is, life must go on as usual under a rule of law.

   The greatest temptations in the face of terrorist attacks are one, for government officials to tighten up their security and seclude themselves from the public out of fear for their own lives; two, for the police authorities to use criminal methods to stop the criminals they are looking for; and consequently, for a terrified people to go into seclusion, themselves.

Visibility of civil government

   In these times of crisis, government people, especially the civil authorities, must all the more make themselves visible in serving the people. The president, no less, the cabinet members, the members of the legislature, the local governors and the mayors, and all government functionaries must be seen and perceived by the people as doing their jobs and not cowering in fear of the terrorists.

   We, the civil authorities, cannot allow terrorists to paralyze us into inaction. In safe times as in parlous times, it is our sworn duty to continue serving the people. If we allow ourselves to be cowed by terrorist attacks, we will be playing into the hands of terrorists. And they will have achieved their nefarious objectives without our fighting back as we should to prove that civil government is in control of the situation.

   The high visibility of the civil government is all the more urgent because there is a tendency of extremists in the right and the left to advance extra legal or supra constitutional solutions to the problems posed by terrorism.

Militarists threat

   If the civil government is perceived to be weak or weakening, militarists – right or left - will definitely be tempted to make a play for a more superior role in administering the government. It is for that reason, among other things, that the civil government has to demonstrate its democratic capability to crush terrorist threat wherever it may come from.

   In demolishing the terrorist threat, the police – and our military –authorities must be reminded, if they need reminding, that they can use only such methods that are sanctioned by law.  Otherwise, if they resort to criminal methods to wipe out criminals, the distinction between the two would be erased and worse, the line that wisely separates the rule of law and the rule of the vigilantes would be extinguished.

Unavoidable prescription to national upheaval

   When that happens and there is no longer any law but force that people have to reckon with, the question of how the masses of the unlettered, the unarmed, and the unconnected, let alone the literate, the armed and the powerful, are to get protection for their lives, their freedoms and their properties become critical, indeed. The answer, of course, presents itself: by the use of force. And everyone knows that when people resort to force or as the more prosaic way of putting it - when people take the law into their hands – even in the guise of protecting themselves –  national upheaval cannot be far behind.

   That is why our police and military authorities have no choice but to follow the rule of law and uphold the processes of the constitution even as we are trying to stamp out terrorism in our midst in this troubled times.

   If the people see and perceive the civil government is doing its utmost to bring those responsible for the carnage yesterday to the bar of justice soonest and prevent its recurrence, the people’s fears might yet be calmed down and normalcy might be restored to the nation’s daily life.

   Some years ago, my wife, Bing and I, went to the Israeli town of Metullah, which borders Lebanon. We went to a park in Metullah that a few days before our arrival had been shelled by mortar fire from the Lebanese side that killed three picnickers. The town, we learned later, had been more or less regularly hit by terrorist attacks.

   Bing and I were, thus, amazed to see no signs that the town was under siege. Life was, to all intents and purposes, normal. School children were at school. Stores were selling their wares.  Government was serving the people.

Not allowing terrorists to dictate

   I asked the mayor who had kindly hosted our visit how was it all possible that life seemed to go on as casually as it did in Metullah as if it was not under constant threat of terrorist attack.

   The mayor had a curt reply: Metullah is our city. We live here. We will not allow terrorists to dictate the pace of our lives here. We will fight for our right to live here as a free people.

   I wish that the fighting spirit of the people of Metullah would somehow permeate our own national spirit in the face of the cruel, craven and cowardly terror tactics employed by those responsible for the bloodbath yesterday that had claimed so many innocent lives and wounded many more.

   For Manila is our city and the Philippines is our country. We live here and, therefore, we will not allow terrorists to dictate the pace of our lives here. We will have to fight to keep our country free, just and peaceful in accordance with the rule of law. For that is the only way we can live democratically as a free people under a regime of justice and an environment of peace.

   Towards that end, I would like to ask my fellow delegates to the 1971 constitutional convention to dedicate the remaining years of our lives as we slide into the sunset of our days in the service of our people with honor, dignity and integrity.