A government that has betrayed its people

In a democracy, the government is mandated by law to protect its citizens and promote their wellbeing. When this same government kidnaps, maligns, threatens its own citizens and, worst of all, blatantly engages in massive corruption at all levels of the bureaucracy, it loses its right to demand the allegiance of its citizens.
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.’s exposé of the fraudulent national broadband network (NBN) deal shows that corruption in this government has crept into the highest echelons of government. The Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, through its sycophants in the Senate, such as Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Juan Ponce Enrile and Joker Arroyo, tried vainly to destroy Lozada’s credibility. As veteran trial lawyers, they should have known that an honest witness is the most difficult witness to break.
The last persons on this planet who would qualify to pontificate about morality and credibility are Senators Santiago and Enrile. Senator Arroyo is a difficult case to explain. But a political theorist said that power oftentimes addles the brain and weakens the character of most mortals.
The Arroyo administration is like the Mafia or a criminal syndicate. Instead of using the law to promote justice and the truth, it wields the “rule of law” as an instrument of oppression and terror. Thomas Jefferson once wrote that when a government betrays its own people, it must be toppled from its arrogant perch.

RICARDO M. MAGTIBAY - Letter to the Editor, Philippine Daily Inquirer