Accents
By Julia Carreon-Lagoc

Reprise: The winter of our discontent

“Now is the winter of our discontent.” I thought I would never have to quote my friend Bill S. again. The winter of our discontent I had used as the title of an article I wrote last year to describe one of the coldest among the sixtysomething winters of my life. Ever loyal Bill S. always has the words to capture my feeelings. Shakespeare anyway, the guy entombed in hard covers, coming to life with a flick of the page, fleshing out in sterling words the moods of the moment.

What could have brought about the winter of my discontent in tropical Philippines? No chill of winter here that gets into my bones. What is so dismaying is to be back to Bayang Magiliw and find it in the same shoddy situation as the U.S. of A., if not worse. We are at the crest of a political crisis with the walkout of the opposition in the House of Representatives in the Aug. 30 impeachment hearing.

Watching on TV, I couldn't help being infected by the heat emanating from Representatives Alan Peter Cayetano, Edmundo Reyes, Jr., Teddy Casino, Nereus Acosta, Roilo Golez, et al. after they had walked out from the session hall. The opposition denounced the “orchestrated,” Lozano complaint which in canto boy lingo means “lutong macaw.” They were pushing for the amended impeachment complaint and resolutely working to gather 79 kindred souls, the number required to send the amended complaint for trial in the senate.

The footages went on and we see former DSWD Sec. Dinky Soliman revealing how she, along with several others, overheard GMA herself telling Political Adviser Sec. Gabriel Claudio to push for the “weak” Lozano complaint which was subsequently endorsed in congress by Alagad Party List Rep. Rodante Marcoleta. Interviewed on the same night, the puzzling Atty. Oliver Lozano went overboard with his metaphor saying he doesn't know Marcoleta “from Adam and Eve.”

The next day, Sec. Claudio was on government TV refuting Soliman's claim. Why is the administration in favor of the Lozano complaint? The law allows only one impeachment proceeding in one year's time and with the “weak” Lozano complaint, it would take another year for the opposition's amended complaint to be heard. Hence, came up the Tagalog saying, “A-anhin mo pa ang damo, kung patay na ang kabayo.” In other words, too late the hero. Meanwhile, both Claudio and Soliman agreed to be subjected to a lie detector test. The outcome, if they do go through with it, remains to be seen.

Now the big question: Is the parliament of the streets or another EDSA far behind? What we usually say on crucial issues at crucial times is that only the event will tell us in its hour. Wait then for the impeachment drama to unfold.

As we wait, let me cite a film clip that resonates with what is happening in our country. It is the Academy Awards night, the spotlight on Michael Moore as he accepts the Oscar and gushes: “We live in fictitious times. We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president.” A quote of Shakespearean magnitude!

Loren Legarda finds common ground with David Cobb of the Green Party asking for a ballot recount in Ohio. Says Cobb: “We are standing up for the right to vote, and the right for votes to be counted.” I thought the Florida and Ohio brouhaha could never happen in a country touted as having the greatest democracy in the planet? Power corrupts and corrupts absolutely, says a world leader his name I cannot now recall. George W. Bush and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, son and daughter of former presidents, do not possess the strength of character to prove this wrong.

Back to my favorite dramatist. In Shakespeare's play King Richard the Third, the tragic king takes pride in his villainy as he compares himself to the previous king: “… [If] King Edward be as true and just/As I am subtle, false and treacherous.” Richard III bares his naked self. Beyond the “I'm sorry” confession, can we expect one Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to bare her naked self—“subtle, false and treacherous”—as King Richard the Third does? Next to impossible, would you say? As it is, her administration is leaving no stone unturned to thwart the amended impeachment complaint from being passed in congress. An evidence of guilt, don't you think?

Gosh, how easily morning coffee gets cold. If only four-year old Danika (my daughter's daughter is in South Carolina) were around to run for a hug and make the world bright again. Lovable tyke guaranteed to thaw her grandmother's “ice of cynicism.” (Comments to lagoc@hargray.com )