GEMMA CRUZ ARANETA WRITES ON JOSE W. DIOKNO

Diokno’s political will

Gemma C Araneta

A PERIOD of national mourning for the demise of Jose W. Diokno, was declared by the year-old government of President Corazon Aquino from the second to the twelfth of March, 1987. The nation mourned the loss of a nationalistic political leader, a staunch defender of human rights, and a legal luminary who offered his services to the poor. Thrown in prison at the onset of martial law, Jose W. Diokno was released in 1974, and immediately set up FLAG ( Free Legal Assistance Group) to offer free legal services to victims of martial law. He was a fearless “street parliamentarian,” in constant touch with Sen. Benigno Aquino who was then suffering the indignities of a kangaroo court. To no one’s surprise, after EDSA 1, then President Corazon Aquino appointed Jose Diokno chairman of the Presidential Committee on Human Rights, with rank of minister, and the negotiating panel which arranged the return of rebel forces to the fold of the law.

President Aquino’s Revolutionary Government phase was not yet over when the “Mendiola massacre” occurred on 27 January, 1987. To everyone’s horror, fifteen farmers were killed during what started out as a peaceful rally. True to his principles, Jose Diokno resigned both government positions as a rightful protest against the Aquino administration’s blatant disregard of human lives. Notwithstanding the significant role he played to install Corazon Aquino in Malacañang, Jose Diokno was first and foremost a principled man. He had political will.

Today, we should remember the “political will” stories about the late Sen. Jose Diokno . I think the most awesome had something to do with Harry S. Stonehill, a GI turned carpetbagger businessman who made a fortune in the Philippines using methods and channels too familiar to us all. There were tales of how the unscrupulous Stonehill amassed billions in reclamation projects and by monopolizing trade in natural resources like tobacco. By the late 50’s, he had become so economically powerful he bribed and bought his way to high echelons of political power.

(Business personalities of other ethnic origins have since taken Stonehill’s place.) Stonehill was also a shameless tax evader. To make a long story short, Jose Diokno had Stonehill arrested at a casino in front of his gambling buddies or at a high society function, something like that. All jaws dropped in Manila and to everyone’s surprise, Jose Diokno resigned as Secretary of Justice. He was pressured into doing so by the person who had appointed him.

Undaunted, Jose Diokno ran for the Senate in 1963 and won handily. He became the chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs where he worked for the passage of proFilipino legislation like the Industrial Incentives Law. He believed that the direction and development of our economy should be placed in Filipino hands and that local investors and entrepreneurs needed incentives to grow in number and strength.

In 1968, at the height of the USA’s war in Vietnam, Jose Diokno and three other senators, Jovito Salonga, Benigno Aquino Jr., and Tecla San Andres Ziga, vigorously opposed the “Philcag Bill” which provided for Filipino troops to be sent to Vietnam, an early version of today’s ” coalition of the willing.” The bill earmarked an annual release of R35 million which Diokno considered an affront to our national dignity. How could the government spend R35 million each year when the school house-building program was already three years late?. As indomitable fiscalizer, Diokno exposed suspicious budget appropriations of the Marcos government , like the R100 million which were supposed to be given out in slivers of R2,000 each to 31,000 barrios, throughout the country. Senator Diokno smelled the stench of rotten pork. Instead, he advocated a humanized system of taxation which could burden the rich, not the poor. He supported the imposition of taxes on travel, real estate and luxury items like private automobiles.

Together with Sen Lorenzo Tañada, Jose Diokno made serious studies about the local petroleum industry only to discover that it was controlled by four foreign-owned refineries. Because of that research work, committee hearings and investigations, legislation was passed regulating the petroleum industry.

National dignity, pro-Filipino economic policies, defense of human rights and upholding democracy in the face of dictatorship — these are the legacies of Jose W. Diokno. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. gemma601@yahoo.com

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