"NO! NO! A THOUSAND TRAPOS SAY NO! SO WHY SHOULD I?" PDI reports on an uproar in the Lakas Party over remarks by Fidel Ramos yesterday calling on President Arroyo to cut short her term in office and the Palace's outright rejection of the Ramos timeline. Recall that it was just last July that PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO was fighting for her political life and was said to be on the verge of resigning as a result of the Garci Tape revelations. Then FIDEL RAMOS and JOE DE VENECIA made her an offer she could not refuse: Dance the Chacha and we'll toss you a LifeSaver.
(Well, what better way to prevent ouster, Gloria may well have said to herself in that desperate and dangerous moment last July, than by throwing everybody into the moral and intellectual tempest of the most diabolical diversionary quagmire imaginable -- a sweeping revision of the Constitution? The debates over Chacha should keep the politicos, the pundits and the public busy. By the time the waggling tongues get done arguing the Preamble, it'll be 2010 already!)
PGMA took the offer of FVR and JDV and gave them reserved seats at her SONA, at which she announced support for the Chacha train. Now, six months later and having crisscrossed many moral Rubicons, maybe she really doesn't need the two Old Codgers any more, not with the two Prosperos -- Pichay and Nograles -- eagerly waiting in the wings for their hour upon the Batasan Stage. They have become inconvenient troublemakers. Expendable since they also now have ZERO CREDIBILITY with Frank Drilon and the rest of the democratic Opposition.
ABUEVA'S ABERRATIONS: It is ironic that the Palace berates accusations of wiretapping and voterigging against the President as POLITICAL NOISE that is hindering the ECONOMIC TAKEOFF of the Philippines. Yet, I can't imagine a greater source of noisy acrimony and a monumental waste of time and effort than the Chacha debates. Though I think there is plenty of need for reforming the Charter, the poisonous atmosphere of an illegitimate Presidency seems to diminish the chances of such an awesome project being properly debated by the Filipino people. To get those debates into high gear, the President appointed a Consultative Commission under Jose Abueva. But that Con-Com came up with Transitory Provisions that abolish the 2007 elections, extending the terms of incumbents for three years. Under the proposals, PGMA also becomes Prime Minister while retaining her powers as President. And a large number of her present Cabinet Secretaries get to be Members of Parliament without the inconvenience of democratic election. Predictably, the ConCom's prefabricated New Constitution and risible Transitory Provisions have become the target of outrage and righteous criticism. From the looks of it, FVR and JDV are determined to get a new Constitution by 2006 blessed by a plebiscite in time for Parliamentary elections in 2007. But the Senate will surely fight the abolition that unicameralists are plotting for them -- portending a big fight that will be settled in the Supreme Court over the arithmetic of fractions like 3/4 and 2/3 and simple majorities.
But so what, the Palace asks? If the Chacha proposals are all shot down, it's FVR's and JDV's dead baby and the 1987 Charter stays in force. Otherwise it's President AND Prime Minister for Ma'm. Chacha is a briliant quagmire and both FVR and JDV are now expendable troublemakers.
RONNIE PUNO, Congressman from Antipolo and President of the GMA's Kampi pretend political party, was on Talk Back with Tina Palma on ANC News to manage the spin on Fidel Ramos. Puno made a big point about how the present administration is really a continuation of the FVR presidency since all of President Arroyo's Main Men at the Palace (Ed Ermita, Ignacio Bunye, Gabby Claudio, etc.) are really Lakas stalwarts of Fidel Ramos' making. Rumour has it that Ronnie Puno will head up the Dept. of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in the coming Cabinet Revamp. (There he can continue orchestrating the several thousand congressmen, governors, mayors and other local government officials whose allegiance was the true secret of survival for the Palace last year, and even more necessary this year.)
But it was irksome to watch Ronnie Puno trot out the Poisoned Fruits argument again about the Garci Tapes. He's just plain wrong when he says that it was illegal for the Congress to have aired the Garci Tapes during a hearing "in aid of legislation." Surely, the Anti-Wiretapping Law is a proper subject of those Congress hearings. Still, it so happens that the prayer of Virgilio Garcillano to the Supreme Court in his Second Petition since reappearing from out of nowhere is for just such a declaration about the Garci tapes. Ronnie Puno is softening up the public for the coming Supreme Court ruling BURYING THE GARCI TAPES as poisoned fruits. Well let me point you to Dilemma of the Poisoned Fruits for a definitive debunking of Ronnie Puno's take on Tanada's law. He was obviously lawyering for Garci and is probably one of Garci's legal and tactical handlers.
6 comments:
Why should GMA listen to FVR? The old codger is FINISHED. He is without CHARISMA and never had the capability to move people to action. EDSA 1 happened because the people erupted to action because of Ninoy's charisma and in defiance of Marcos. He became President because 20 percent of Filipinos voted for him. Now even that 20 percent is gone.
But is he still capable of mischief? Yes, that is why GMA used him when she was on the verge of being ousted. Now GMA knows that mischief can be controlled. So why should she listen to fvr?
And lastly, I believe that GMA now realize that it was not fvr who saved her, but Gloria herself. Because unlike Marcos and Erap, she did not flinch and did not budge even when confronted with the prospect of the flood of the people flowing on the streets. And at EDSA3 she gained the reputation that she is willing to use guns and goons against he Masa, even at the cost of thousands of lives in order to stay in power. Compared to her Marcos and Erap were of weak of heart because it bleeds for the people. Not Gloria.
Faeldon is brave. His pilino.org.ph is ample proof of this. But I hope they know that against Gloria they must be prepared to go all the way, at all cost, with the blood of the Filipinos in the streets of Metro Manila. And there will be no winners in this, at all.
At the moment of truth, I think she will blink.
POLITICS BFR, POLITICS!
The populace doesn't know that and while the media play up FVR's whims, Gloria has got to humor him.
Those two are playing the tedious game of patience or are doing a "she says, he says" duet...
FVR is annoyed but he can't do anything about it - I won't go as far as to say that he is already a spent force - but he just doesn't have the same influence on the people that matter a lot today: THE MILITARY!
FVR, like his estwhile friend, Rene de Villa is a teka-teka guy when it comes to the crunch.
Even during the coup d'état heydays against Cory, it wasn't FVR who made all the important counter coup decisions. It was the other generals fresh from Mindanao!
The Camp Aguinaldo camp commander at the time couldn't even find Cory's blasted chief of staff - the guy was sleeping soundly somewhere and was at the end of his gong, almost to the point of having a nervous breakdown.
Boy Abadia had to make do with the rebels who were about to overrun Aguinaldo.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling FVR but am just saying that when it comes to the crunch, he is still the teka-teka general that he's always been.
Is FVR also "teka,teka?" I think he is more "SEGURISTA." Right now he is happy because some people are taking him seriously as if he matters.
But it is not what he thinks and what he will do next that matter right now. Rather, it is what the PEOPLE THINK, AND WHAT THE PEOPLE WILL DO NEXT THAT REALLY MATTER. And nobody knows right now what that is.
And this baffles everybody and is the reason nobody of note has taken a step towards a one-way street with his back to wall. No one that is, except FAELDON who has challenged Gloria frontally and is still scott-free and has titillated every Filipino with the claim that he has entered and gone out of Wescom and Southcom unhampered. He has taken a lonely road. OR IS IT REALLY LONELY? If his website is a gauge and assuming his counter is accurate, he is not alone.
BFR,
Of course, teka teka is being segurista...
I think you and I have just described FVR quite accurately.
BFR,
As to what the PEOPLE would do that matters...
I don't think the PEOPLE have got ANY clue as to what they ought to do; those that have any clue or the moral courage and know what to do are so few.
PEOPLE need leaders or a real LEADER figure to galvanize them into action because most of the time, people anywhere in the world are clueless.
PEOPLE would follow that LEADER when he/she finally comes out to LEAD. As DJB has said so aptly, "A leader is the compass of a nation."
Right now, the country has no compass to speak of and is blatantly LEADERLESS.
It has people at the helm who like to call themselves LEADERS but they have not thoroughly learned the basic science of navigation which is both a process of an excellent scientific education and keen mental aptitude to learn the art.
An example of a LEADER is Margaret Thatcher!
Others are Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir Mohammad, Charles de Gaulle, Eisenhower, Clinton, even Reagan, Tony Blair or Bush (ugh, I found that very hard to type), Fidel Castro; why, even Mugabe is proving to be a real Leader better than Gloria and God, how I hate myself for even mentioning that stinker's name (at least he's got the guts to say "F...you!" to UK's Tony Blair).
And don't forget that FIDEL RAMOS was a better leader once upon a time, recognized locally and internationally than Gloria would ever be!
And to me, Cory was a LEADER at the beginning of her initiation to live politics...even His Political Turbulence Cardinal Sin was a good political leader. Of course, that he chose to exercise a totally sinful form of political leadership is another matter, etc, etc, etc,....
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