GMA must not resign. Protest against corruption must continue.

Amidst the ZTE scandal I decided against throwing my two cents into the murky political well. First, I do not want to let go of my last two silver coins. Second, the political noise is so discordant that I think it's wise to just keep mum.

In the 1986 Edsa revolt and in the Estrada impeachment I was one with the people who opted for change. This time I chose to sit it out and wait for the dust to settle. I don't want to brand my fence-sitting as a sign of resignation that things will stay the same and that corruption will continue to eat up our political life.

But tell me, when the people booted out Marcos and installed Cory Aquino was corruption stabbed to death? Was cronyism demolished? Duh, there was "kamag-anak incorporated" during Tita Cory’s presidency. After Erap fell from power and was later convicted for plunder, the church, civil society, the left and the right banded together to catapult President Gloria Arroyo to the highest office of the land. The communal hope was for her to lead the eradication of corruption in government.

But, what happened to our nation after Edsa Dos. GMA's administration since then until now continues to be rocked by scandal after scandal. In fact, gone are the days when we hear about 100 million pesos of loot. Now were hearing stories about billions of pesos of kickback.

I don't think GMA and her cabals are solely to blame for the continued wanton plunder of our country’s meager wealth. In fact, I don't think Erap was totally to blame for the massive corruption in his time. The Marcos dictatorship destroyed our nation's moral fabric. It eradicated this country's sense of right and wrong. When Cory took over, the government leaders whom she worked with during her reign were lured to the same corruption that Marcos practiced for 20 years.

The poor sensing the futility of their predicament continues to beg from every politician. The politicos whose lust for power is unprecedented will not hesitate to steal from the government coffers to feed the poor and deepen their own pockets.

GMA must not resign. It will not solve corruption. Whoever will replace GMA in the unlikely event she will be booted out of power will be forced to dip his or her fingers in the well of corruption.

The problem is not solely with our leaders. The problem is the state of disrepair of our political system. The problem is also with the church, the civil society, the left and the right.

Unfortunately, senators with ambition, many men and women of the cloth together with civil society and the left all claim to have the sole bragging rights to moral ascendancy.

GMA must not succumb to mob rule but let the protest action against corruption in government, church and society in general continue.