RULING ELITE: When the Truth Commission was created with former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. as chairman, one of the boys at the Annabel’s kapihan on Morato St., QC, asked “Why Davide?”

Without looking up from my morning paper, I said, “Because Noynoy Aquino’s Truth Commission is designed to clear Gloria Arroyo and, hopefully, put closure to the scandals that marred her nine-year reign.”

Nobody challenged that pat opinion, and I continued: “They all belong to the same ruling elite. They will continue to protect one another. Gloria will be cleared.”

From the head of the long table, my cabalen Joe Cortez, now a bit mellowed from his younger activist days, grunted in agreement.

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MUTUAL PROTECTION: A rewind whirled in my mind, unreeling a parade of characters who included former presidents, their meddling spouses and cronies, Cabinet and congressional officials, and generals pocketing their share of the loot….

They strut around, laughing, after emerging from seclusion or self-exile – shamelessly flaunting their stolen riches. No Truth Commission or people’s wrath has touched them.

It is indeed weather-weather lang. Whoever is now on top must be kind to those who had stumbled before him, because as the wheel turns he will soon be down and looking for kind treatment in turn.

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POLL PROMISE: President Aquino had to rush within his first 100 days the so-called Truth Commission to make good a campaign promise. His own Executive Order No. 1 explained:

“The President’s battle cry during his campaign xxx in the last elections ‘kung walang corrupt,walang mahirap’ expresses a solemn pledge that if elected, he would end corruption and the evil it breeds.”

It was one of those sweet promises that the gullible public lapped up every time the election circus came to town.

But note that while Gloria and her husband Mike may have been indiscreet in their handling of public funds, they had not directly harmed the Aquino family.

They in fact did Noynoy’s clan a favor by, for instance, extending the SCTEx (Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway), the artery now pumping life-blood into Central Luzon, to include the then sleepy Hacienda Luisita and transfuse it with added value.

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HATE-FIGURE: Although she was not a presidential candidate last May, Gloria was propped up as the hate-object of the Liberal Party campaign that was propelled by diverted loathing for the outgoing President.

Never mind if the EO that unleashed the Truth Commission on the Arroyos is later found to be legally flawed. At least Noynoy demonstrated to his Yellow Army spoiling for a purge and prosecution that he tried to pin down Gloria.

In the event that Davide – who swore in Gloria in 2001 after declaring then President Erap Estrada to have constructively resigned – finds that there is not enough evidence to back up a criminal case against Gloria, at least Noynoy can say he tried.

If after two years of the Davide panel’s probing, Gloria goes scotfree, will there be closure?

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NO CLOSURE: But closure is all in the mind. It depends on the individual’s point of view.

To those who have grown weary of the eternal cycle of elitist rule and mutual protection, closure will be irrelevant. They will likely sweep Gloria’s alleged crimes with the dust of history for future reference.

To those whose political adrenaline refuses to simmer down, there will be no instant closure with Gloria’s either being charged or cleared by the Davide panel. What Gloria-bashers will do next, we cannot tell.

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PILOTS’ DESERTION: Something is seriously wrong when airline pilots simply do not show up and jump to higher-paying jobs elsewhere as their planes and thousands of paying passengers get stranded.

Some 25 pilots and first officers of Philippine Airlines quit without notice last week, forcing the cancellation of 18 weekend flights and four more domestic flights last Monday.

(It may not be totally similar, but we are reminded of a recent situation where doctors walked out on patients to dramatize their dissatisfaction with hospital management.)

There should be a law making such unprofessional behavior criminal, and punishing it. If there is such a law, it should be enforced to the max.

In war, deserters are shot on the spot.

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ENFORCE CONTRACT: The management of PAL said the pilots did not comply with an airline rule to give 180 days’ notice before resigning. It also said the pilots still owed the airline for part of their training costs.

Surely, the pilots have their common and individual reasons for their desertions. Whatever those excuses may be, their employment is covered by a contract that must be enforced.

The lure of higher salaries with foreign airlines is good enough a reason to resign. But, under their contract and under government regulations, they must give a notice of at least 180 days before quitting.

Management may have its own shortcomings, but these can be discussed and remedied without prejudicing third-party passengers.

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GOV’T TAKEOVER!: But what is this we hear that in a “worst-case scenario,” the government might just temporarily take over the operations of PAL?

Excuse me, but government takeover is itself the worst scenario!

Who in the Aquino administration (which is still groping in its first tentative steps into the darkened theater) is better equipped than the private professional managers of the airline?

And who will fly PAL’s wide-body jets? The few surviving pilots of the Philippine Air Forcewhose tired aircraft, when airborne, have the bad habit of yielding to the pull of gravity without prior notice?