Malaya Newspaper
Opinion, June 17, 2004

Pimentel’s principled stand
By: J.A. de la Cruz

‘As he has stated, he will do his constitutional duty the best way he knows how: fighting for the truth and the public good.’

Those who disparage Sen. Nene Pimentel for what they have come to dismiss as a quixotic quest to get the majority in the 22 man joint congressional canvass committee to agree to a reasonable, truthful and, ultimately, credible determination of the presidential and vice-presidential winners do not really know the man.

Or, if they have some idea who he is and what he has always stood for, they obviously have surmised that he is not really what they think he is and that in the end physical exhaustion if not exasperation at the bullheadedness of the majority will get the better of him. Thus, they are hoping that once they subject him to an orchestrated assault, he will not be able to thwart the majority.

Well, I can safely say he will disappoint them all. Not only will he withstand the physical rigors of canvassing the votes correctly, he will also be able to show that indeed his and his colleagues’ interventions in the canvass are necessary, proper and appropriate to ensure that the true will of the people prevails.

There is not question that by standing up to the majority’s efforts to transform the canvass into a mechanical vote tabulation exercise, Pimentel may have exasperated a number of people who are an anxious to have the winners proclaimed no matter how truncated the means. There is also no question that Pimentel has been getting some heat from ordinary folks (well not so ordinary actually if we go by the likes of Suzette Pido and company) who may already be suffering from election fatigue and are therefore easy prey to suggestions from the usual suspects that he and his colleagues are not really after the truth but are only interested in thwarting the inevitable proclamation of President Arroyo.

But no matter. He will take these criticisms and taunts in stride as he showed with this deft but firm dismissal of Sen. Mirriam Defensor-Santiago’s wild suggestions on how to gag if not cripple the minority in the canvass committee. As he has stated, he will do his constitutional duty the best way he knows how: fighting for the truth and the public good. As he pointed out in his riposte to the efforts of the joint committee chairmen, Senator Kiko Pangilinan and Congressman Raul Gonzales, he did not stand up to the martial law regime and go to jail four times in the process only to let our fledging democracy wither under the tyranny of a majority out to suppress the truth and the people’s will.

Indeed, the critics can fault Pimentel for a lot of things, but they cannot even for a moment claim that he is motivated by any other consideration than the truth and the people’s welfare. That principled streak was amply displayed during the Estrada impeachment hearings when he chose duty over friendship and voted to have the “second envelope” opened. Many now concede that his dramatic decision, coupled with his giving up of the position as Senate President turned the tide against Estrada and paved the way for EDSA Dos. There is no question now that his gallant stand in the ongoing canvassing, despite all the brickbats and pressures which have come and are coming his way, may just serve a similar purpose all over again.

Already, streams of text messages roughly suggesting (quite prematurely and maybe unfairly) that President Arroyo is out to steal the elections from FPJ in the same manner that she “stole” three years of the Estrada presidency are coming out. Maybe these are not portents of things to come but still these are manifestations of the increasingly deepening cynicism about the Arroyo administration now permeating the body politic. And, if the President and her cohorts do not watch out, they may just turn Senator Pimentel into a knight in shining armor. Knowing him, he will do his duty in the best way he knows how: Fighting for a just cause.