A Declaration of Principles and a Program of Action may be signed by almost everybody, but if the signatories immediately violate the letter and the spirit of these documents by power-seeking politicians, election boycotts and walkouts amid mutual accusations of bad faith, such documents are not worth the paper they were printed on.

I refer, of course, to the Declaration of Principles and Program of Action of the Bagong Alyasang Makabayan (BAYAN). These papers were prepared by a committee chaired by Ed Garcia who with characteristic modesty has described them as "near perfect" (Special Edition, May 1016).

Ha, ha, ha, ha!

FRANKLIN TAN