We're just wasting the time of the nation.
This was what Rep. Luis Villafuerte said to explain his decision to throw in the towel on his Charter change resolution. After causing the nation so much trouble, it came down to this.
Of course, it was not because of Villafuerte's lack of initiative. The head of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino did everything to get the infamous bill off the ground. It is not dead not because of Villafuerte – but in spite of him.
"This is now a terminal case. Let us remove the life support system and bury it," Villafuerte declared with some measure of eloquence to describe the fate of the bill that polarized the nation throughout its existence.
The death of Villafuerte's Cha-Cha is more a credit to the fight waged against it by a curious mixture of people genuinely enraged by its stupidity and those who once pushed it for the same reasons that they oppose it now.
As everybody knows, Villafuerte's bill was aggressively sponsored by his patron and all those who shamelessly played the fiddle with her while the Philippines burned.
Today, only Villafuerte could summon the courage (or shall we call it temerity?) to send it to its burial ground. That's life. Defeat is an orphan.
Villafuerte of course has little reason to sulk. This administration is known for its generosity to those who serve its purpose and there is no reason to doubt that he was treated differently.
If there was anybody entitled to fume and rage over the late, unlamented Resolution 1109, it is the Filipino people. They had to channel precious energy and resources they have to fight the good fight.
While Malacañang and its stooges danced the Cha-Cha using the people's money intended for other purposes, the Filipino people who fought back had to dig deep into their pockets to fight it.
That it sapped the energy, strength and creativity of a nation, there was no doubt about it. Still it was one fight that had to be fought and won. The nation cannot afford to auction its future, if not sell its soul.
It is a pyrrhic victory in more ways than one. We fought hard and long, spent so much in the process - and not get anything much in return at the end of the day.
Still, a victory is a victory. This is one win worth taking credit for.
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