Pinoy kidnappings, national hijacking

'Hua fei'

Public spaces, public health

Getting tough on kidnapping

New challenges for health professionals

Flip-flop Gloria

FLIP-flop word is an intriguing word, first coined in the 1970s to refer to rubber sandals but which, over the past 30 years, has come to refer to the way politicians change their minds on social issues. When applied to politicians, the term conjures images of acrobats and gymnasts flipping about in the air.

Our President is rapidly becoming the authority on flip-flops, epitomized by her December 2002 declaration that she would not run for president, followed 10 months later by, well, a flip-flop.

Her latest flip-flop relates to the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty. Let's do a chronological review of what's been happening here. When she first assumed office, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said she would continue the moratorium on the death penalty that had first been imposed by Joseph Estrada, the latter's decision made because of the Catholic Jubilee year celebration in 2000.

But in her 2002 State of the Nation Address, Macapagal-Arroyo began to backtrack, announcing that perhaps drug traffickers should be executed. Nothing came out of that, presumably because the Catholic hierarchy protested.

Then we had this current rash of kidnappings of Chinoys. Just two weeks ago, the Chinoy [Chinese-Filipino] community converted the funeral of kidnap victim Betti Chua Sy into a protest march against government for its slow action in dealing with crimes. Among the placards at the funeral were those calling for the execution of kidnappers.

The President first responded by saying she was sticking to the moratorium but flip-flopped last week. Legally, capital punishment still exists in the Philippines but the President has been able to impose a de facto moratorium by granting reprieves to death row convicts as their execution dates approach. She has said she would no longer do this starting in January.

My political views are clear to those who follow my column, falling into what people would call "liberal." This includes opposition to the death penalty. But I have always respected people, including conservatives, who fight for their views, no matter how different they are from mine.

That respect is something I have never been able to extend to the President. I have said before she lacks sincerity. I will say now she lacks convictions. She wants to look tough but really lives day to day on public opinion polls, flip-flopping her way through her presidency as the nation crumbles.

There is no better proof of this than in the way she's handling this issue of the death penalty. When she announced she would allow executions to proceed, she said she was doing this for the greater public good. Catholic Church officials and anti-death penalty advocates protested. Now she's done another flip- flop by qualifying that "only" kidnappers will be executed. No wonder the public perception is that she did this mainly for the Chinoy community.

This selective policy is totally ridiculous. I have gotten phone calls from Chinoys who favor the death penalty but who see Macapagal-Arroyo's selective policy as contradicting their arguments for capital punishment. They see the death penalty as an effective anti-crime deterrent only if it is applied consistently. Why, for example, are drug traffickers exempted, when they inflict so much more harm on so many people? Some Chinoys are even worried that Macapagal-Arroyo's decision will fuel anti-Chinese sentiment, that the President might be seen as coddling the Chinese, especially since so many drug traffickers are Chinese nationals.

For those of us who oppose the death penalty, the President's selective policy shows, precisely, how arbitrary capital punishment can be. We've pointed out how the death penalty usually victimizes the poor, targeting the small fry in criminal syndicates rather than the big bosses. Now, with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, we see how it becomes a political tool, applied according to presidential whim. Last year she wanted drug traffickers executed. This year it's the kidnappers. Maybe next year, if she wins in the election, she might want it implemented for plundering ex-presidents.

Flip-flops reflect an amoral mind-set, an inability to spell out one's convictions and to stand by them. Given Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's flip-flops, even her "tough" stands become suspect. I've always felt her stubborn loyalty to George Bush has nothing to do with a belief in fighting terrorism or bringing democracy to Iraq or Afghanistan. No, she is subservient to Bush because she needs the US government as an "anting-anting" [amulet] to stay in power, to protect herself from other politicians and the discontented military.

If there is anything that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seems convinced about it is that she is God's gift to the Filipino, that we need her another six years... or more. She'll flip as often as she thinks is needed to fulfill that divine mandate, but she better be careful because eventually, Filipinos just might give a new meaning to political flip-flops, wondering if this President has flipped and that it's time for them to declare her a flop.