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“Our political system is degenerative”

A statement from Concerned UP Baguio Faculty

“Our political system is degenerative.” Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said it herself in her 2005 State of the Nation Address. According to the Dictionary of the English Language, the word degenerate, as an adjective, means “having fallen to an inferior or undesirable state, especially in mental or moral qualities.” As a noun, a degenerate is “a depraved, corrupt, or vicious person.” If there is one institution in our country today that best shows the extent of degeneracy of our political system, it is the House of Representatives. It is the one institution that is proof of the entrenchment of political patronage and elitist politics in the country. Long has it been an institution housing self-serving political leaders who would do everything to ensure that their political as well as economic survival is assured.

In the past days, the House of Representatives showed how a group of degenerates, acting as the majority, can work in concerted effort to deprive the Filipino people of finding out the truth about the wire-tapped conversations between Arroyo and Garcillano. By hastily dismissing the impeachment complaints, they have exposed themselves as representatives for Arroyo and not of the people who elected them. They have given Arroyo a new lease on life, knowing fully well that such an act of goodwill shall be rewarded generously by the administration. Arroyo survived the impeachment thanks to a corrupt political system that she benefits from. It is the same degenerative political system that she inhabits, supports and nourishes.

Arroyo once pleaded to the Filipino people to be given the chance to prove her innocence at the proper venue, through a legal process. We gave her that chance even though we believed that the Gloriagate scandal was not only a legal issue but also moral, if not more so. The people banked on a constitutional process to resolve this outstanding issue even if it is common know-ledge that the administration has all the means and resources to manipulate an impeachment process at Congress.

We were right. A so-called legal process has failed the people once again and the nation lies prostate from the corruption and insolence of power as Arroyo and her representatives celebrate what she has called a “glorious moment in Philippine history.” What we truly face is infamy, a shameless “victory” slapped in the faces of the people. Arroyo remains accountable for the moral and ethical implications of her actions and she remains answerable to the Filipino people. History will be the judge.

We, the undersigned faculty members of the University of the Philippines Baguio reiterate our call for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignation. #

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