The noose tightens

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
1/18/2006



Cory Aquino’s rebuff of the invitation to the Council of State meet is a big blow to Gloria Macapgal-Arroyo’s bid to simmer down the building momentum for her immediate ouster. We may not like Cory but her presence still commands a significant degree of political import in a crisis situation similar to what Gloria faces today. This is especially true after Fidel “El Tabako” Ramos did his flip-flop on the Gloria ouster call which did damage to himself, also to Gloria and to the Edsa Dos image; but FVR may not care anymore since he is so old and passé already that just to be noticed is joy already.

The week episode that started with the FVR-Drilon-Sotto talks at the cigar-chompping septuagenarian’s Urban Bank office ended with a whimper for both FVR and Gloria ended up as a huge win for the detained President Joseph E. Estrada. The Arroyo regime was caught flat-footed when the talks of FVR with opposition elements surfaced and stumbled in its reaction, first broaching the idea of including President Estrada in the Council of State meet, then retracting it and then floating it again as Mike Defensor apparently tried in vain to keep a window open for negotiations.

Like very many previous occasions when the Arroyo regime found itself painted into a corner it starts raising all sort fo offer to Estrada. The last time was at El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde’s birthday prayer-rally where Gloria sought to have a handshake with the detained President under Velarde’s sponsorship – but Estrada, so as not to embarrass Gloria with the inevitable show of sympathy of the crown, did not alight from his vehicle until after Gloria left the stage. We also advised against shaking hands with Gloria who’s bound to betray her commitments right after she gets what she needs.

In this last episode involving the Council of State invitation and FVR’s proffer for Estrada to join in a “transition government”, Estrada was clear in his outright rejection and limited any involvement with the other forces to “dialogue” and “alliances”. That was correct as President Estrada should never yield the claim to the presidency from which he was removed through unconstitutional and illegal means. Because he has always insisted on this the Edsa Dos clique have never managed to settle the legitimacy question, one which they now hope to solve by the Cha-Cha through a con-ass.

The cha-cha music doesn’t seem to be playing well with the ears of many in the Senate so even that may be a stumbling block, so now Gloria has hired the top DILG manipulator Ronnie Puno to ensure a passage of the Cha-cha through a plebiscite. That is the sole reason for appointing Puno to the DILG to make use of his artistry in stage-managing votes to create a pre-arranged result. Any and every electoral exercise or referendum under the Gloria regime is meaningless, she has to go for any measure of democracy to return to the country.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s regime was born on the eve of the death of democracy in the country, when a president elected by 11-million voters was hounded out of office and the seat of power, Malacañang, and forced into jail. The death anniversary of the death of democracy in the Philippines is coming this Friday, January 20, the day President Joseph E. Estrada was forced out of Malacañang by the conspiracy of corrupt politicians, Supreme Court justices, AFP and PNP generals in cahoots with Big Business vested interests. That was the day they tied the noose around Philippine democracy.

Five years later the noose seems to have been transferred on to the neck of the one who stole power, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who’s teetering on the brink as the wobbly chair she sits on is about to topple over. Even Gloria’s staunchest supporter and defender is now saying that just one more scandal and Gloria will be knocked out already. Well, there’s going to be certainly more than one more political scandal in the coming days. Senator Rodolfo Biazon alone has three tapes of the “Hello Garci” genre to play tomorrow, Thursday, in the halls of the Senate.

One of the biggest factor weighing against Gloria now is the Capt. Faeldon’s escalating campaign to generate greater anti-Gloria fervor, and he’s becoming very successful. With the third appearance of Faeldon inside a military or police base camp and coming close to the center of power, from Palawan to Zamboanga and now Camp Crame in Metro-Manila, Faeldon may pop up inside Malacañang very soon. While the traditional opposition operating inside Congress is wasting time bellyaching over Lozano’s diversionary impeachment petition the young Faeldon is pulling the flag ropes down to half mast while Gloria is strung on the other end.

Senator Nene Pimentel is correct in discouraging everyone from focusing on the impeachment and just concentrating fire on Gloria, being drawn into a futile impeachment struggle that Gloria has already anticipated and paid Lozano and other congressmen to abort is falling into Gloria’s trap – which may be the intention of some young “opposition” leaders who’d take the first opportunity to cuddle up to “ninang” again. The genuine young leaders are not playing games, Capt. Trillanes from his courtroom hearing has reiterated the Oakwood call to continue the struggle. There lies our hope.

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