March 1-7 (2010)

At long last Eduardo Ermita, the master paikot (a Tagalog term for fooling around) in peace processes with rebels since Martial Law in 1972, has finally exited from government post. He is running for a congressional seat in Batangas.

Will his exit change anything in the ongoing GRP-MILF Peace Talks now on its final four months before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leaves office on June 30 this year?

The answer is a big NO. The resignation has very little impact, because the template of paikot in the peace process has already been in place long time ago. And there are still two more masters of paikot left: DILG Secretary Ronaldo Puno and DND Secretary Norberto Gonzales, who converted to Islam for convenience while staying in Sabah with MNLF Nur Misuari during the dark days of Martial Law.

Ermita was joined in the exit by four other cabinet members including Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, the ex-Solicitor General who did not defend the initialed Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) during its deliberation in the Supreme Court, and Presidential Management Staff chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who could have been easily the hero of the MOA-AD after he saw to it that the document was initialed on July 27, 2008 just in time for the Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address the next day.

Devanadera’s “we will not sign the MOA-AD is its present form or in any other form”, only brought to fore the real decision of the Arroyo administration not to sign the document. The so-called power gridlock involving three branches of government in this country is only used to dramatize and justify this withdrawal of the government from its commitment to sign the MOA-AD. In short, the government had already decided not to sign the document even before the zarzuela in the Supreme Court.

Ermita’s exit is only a little sigh of relief. Even if he loses in his candidacy, he can still come back and continue to influence the direction of the process. We don’t know why he seems happy in making people wait for the falling of the moon.

Imagine his involvement in the various peace processes for more than 30 years has only produced frustration and enmity amongst people. The Moro Question and the armed conflict in Mindanao continue unabated, because the government is just managing --- and not solving them.

In fairness, however, Ermita is very friendly, soft-spoken despite being a military man, and at times appearing very accommodating. These traits, whether innate or assumed, are truly hard to misconstrue. They can enthuse people; they can disarm people of their vigilance.

Moreover, he never has the say in making the final decision; it is always the president’s, whether Marcos, Ramos, or now Arroyo. If he is a tomfoolery, the one who has the final say is more.