In a short address a few moments ago President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hinted at the possibility of lifting Proclamation 1017 if reports she has asked for from the Secretary of Justice, the police and Armed Forces show that the state of national emergency is over. A firestorm of protest and defiance has met her recent attempt to muzzle and slam down the press and opposition, which she mentioned with a telling knowledge that she has reaped the whirlwind of righteous anger from the Good Guys in the Philippines. MP3 recording of the address will posted in a few minutes.
Real anger against the heavy hand of the Palace is rising all over Civil Society. And not just among "military adventurists" and "communist leftists." GMA has now made mortal enemies of the Media. As a consequence thousands of the most articulate Filipinos are spending a lot of their time and energy figuring out how to get rid of her.MP3 Recording of the Statement of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo today. Translation follows.
PRESIDENT ARROYO: "The government took action in order to take care of the safety and well-being of the Republic , and we will end the State of Emergency as soon as we attain our objectives regarding destabilization, the Armed Forces and the rule of law. I expect there will be more weighty developments on this issue in the coming days. Thank you my beloved countrymen. May God give us guidance."
Meanwhile, Chief of Staff Mike Defensor is displaying all the signs of mental illness when he makes it appear that those are the only forces that want him and his boss out of the Palace. The particular illness is something we used to call, "the New Second in Command Syndrome." I believe Proclamation 1017 was his idea--to show off how aggressively he intends to do his job. The lil fascist!
UPDATE: This is to acknowledge the following comment from American in Iloilo posted in the comment thread tonight, a way to say, "Roger that!" --
This is not a comment about the State of Emergency, which I too have doubts about, to put it diplomatically, but about your use of the swaztika. The swaztika is the symbol of great evil. It is the symbol of the Nazis and the Holocaust and the systematic, industrial slaughter of 6 million Jews and 5 million others. The horror of the Holocaust and the evil that the Nazis committed is almost indescrible, all done under the swaztika. We should not belittle that horror -- we should not weaken the revulsion that we all should feel in our very guts -- by trivalizing the swaztika and thereby the Nazis by using it in such a way. The swaztika is not a symbol for all of us just to play with when we want to make a political point. It is a symbol of deep, true evil. And it should be reserved for such.
For all the problems and flaws with the State of Emergency it is not the Holocaust. Not even close. Not even in the same solar system or galaxy. The swaztika should never be used in such a trivia manner.
29 comments:
she may have realized that proclamation 1017 has totally isolated her and is polarizing society fast.
sa tingin ko nga, political suicide talaga ang ginawa niya the past few days. 'di ko na makita kung ano ang magiging pilipinas sa mga susunod na linggo, kung andun pa rin siya sa malacañang.
so, ibig sabihin ba nun, titigil lang siya, at ililift ang Proclamation 1017, kapag pakiramdam niya ay nasugpo na niya ang lahat-lahat ng "seditious elements" sa pinas?
so i guess ibig sabihin niyan, hanggang sa dulo ng mundo tayong ganito?
unless, of course, maialis natin siya mula sa puwesto.
Welcome Adam,
Oo nga. Sinabi ni John Nery sa kanyang blog, ganito ang "cat and mouse" na laro ng Palasyo. Gagawa ng kagimbalgimbal na mga panukala, gaya ng eo 464 at 1017 pagkatapos ay aalisin. Pero hindi pa ibig sabihin nito na talagang aaalisin na ang 1017
72 hours to submit a report for the gnome to evaluate
So after Saturday..what then?
Rizalist..I hope you read my comment on ellen's
anyway..cannot access the link on philippine times
What was it about?
I tried commenting in one of the blogs you linked...but cannot proceed...fyi on that
Karl, Yeah it looks like you have to be registered to get into the LA Times site. anyway a stupid parachutist reporter named Richard Paddock is reporting that it was an assassination attempt on GMA that was foiled by 1017. The Palace is wantonly encouraging news reporting that gives the world the impression that there was traditional kind of coup d'etat here, you know where some Colonel kills the leader and proclaims a junta. But what idiotarian would think that's possible here. Who would want to be the junta leader of this rambunctious country and think he could pull it off?
Hi DJB,
I don't think she really blinked - she had already planned this.
She simply pre-empted the Edsa I celebration because she was afraid that had she allowed the formal gathering of personalities at Edsa, it might have turned against her. She was aware that the military was restive so she cracked the iron whip with her iron hand!
Also, you must remember that US top gun is coming for a visit and she wouldn't want to be scolded!
Another very disturbing feature in the scheme of SOE:
The first foreign government to applaud Gloria and gave her official government backing right after her proclamation of State of Emergency was SPAIN which was coursed through the Spanish Embassy in Manila and announced by DFA Sec Romulo to the press accordingly on INQ7 25 Feb 06.
Now, lo and behold! Here's a news report which is probably found in the inside pages of the Inquirer but is on the net:
I am not against foreign ownership but I find the whole scheme totally bizarre, partly because of the manner in which the ConCom had come up with their ammendments to the constitution and my lack of trust in the people behind them. I just don't trust Gloria - I think she would do anything to hold on to power even if it means selling the Philippines to ANY, ANY BIDDER IN THE WORLD!
Spanish chamber wants no legal limit on foreign ownership
Posted: 8:01 AM | Mar. 01, 2006
http://money.inq7.net/breakingnews/view_breakingnews.php?yyyy=2006&mon=03&dd=01&file=5
Now, DJB, tell me what's going on? Are the Ayalas, Zobels, Aboitiz in fact dealing with Gloria, i.e., we will support you but you must do something for us too...
If big business withdraws their support and sneeze in the direction of Gloria, US or no US support, she will go down, so tell me, WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON?
The whole archipelago may demonstrate against Gloria but if the Ayalas, the Aboitiz, the Zobels, the Tans, the Sys, the Tys are still behind her, she will not go down...is there some kind of double dealing going on here?
HB--That news about Spain really upset me too when I saw it last Sunday! I was gonna blog it, but it really seemed strange anyway how the local Taliban and Mother Spain both lined up behind 1017. I think the Palace must've been seeding the ground long before. Maybe the identity of the ambassador to Spain might be a clue, but I haven't looked it up.
As for the Zobel-Ayalas there were reports that the yellow confetti storm that greeted last Friday's Cory March was Jaza AND THE mbC'S DOING.
But let's kick it around some: will she lift 1017 or declare martial law?
I'm suspicious that today's speech was a holding action to make everybody relax, like when the proctologist gets ready to give the men a prostate examination. (sorry to use this analogy here!)
DJB,
I think you've just come up with the most appropriate tag for these guys:
LOCAL/PHILIPPINE TALIBAN
That's how they should be called from now on!
She's preparing for the State Dept top gun visit; that speech was perhaps to strike a conciliatory tone vis a vis the public but the real target was to appease the US embassy who will now draft a report and send it posthaste to Top Gun Ch. Hill. That will be a point for good behaviour for Gloria. Just think of how badly she needs American support.
Everything that Gloria does has a purpose.
As I keep saying, if America blinks, she's dead and when America blinks, the AFP will sense that and if they sense something like that, they will go for the kill - the military is restive!
You may be right HB -- I saw Chris Hill's first statement this am at PDI -- He says the US leaves this crisis up to the Filipino people. Which is better of course than Spain's reaction. The Palace may keep this up till he leaves, conveniently in 72 hours, the same time she's given DOJ, Police and AFP to turn in their reports. Then it is Taliban time again maybe? (Her eyes look like she's not been sleeping much ... poor baby.)
Karl's comment jogged my thinking here.
John Nery thinks she will lift 1017 tho coz of the economic managers.He may be right about the "cat-n-mouse" theory though, where they don't really need 1017 and can't be forcing the Supreme Court
Oh no!!! She's like one of those Russian dolls!
DJB,
She is very cunning; she is a sly one... friggin immoral midget.
DJB, I will be very frank - had the circumstances of her coming to power been different I would have gladly offered my services to her... but she breached the Constitution and dismantled institutions to get there, so ACHTUNG, it's a NOPE, NON, NEIN!!!!
Look DJB, she knows she's got a problem getting US support 100% so she lines up big business (started during the concom thing) - the top inmams of the Philippine Taliban and dangles parcels of the Philippine Constitution as potential prize for loyalty.
She knows that if she's got top Philippine Taliban's support, America will think twice about blinking.
The bit players making noises in the background are just noises.
To get them heard, gotta get Philippine Taliban on side DJB, gotta get Northern Alliance support too (military) ...come on. Otherwise you Got Gloira for the next 10 years followed by her son, and then the granddaughter!
HB--Me too. I actually HATE being in the opposition. I'd really rather be working for the government, not fighting it. It sickens me that it seems like i'm back in 1972 mode. But after living as a freeman. what human being can stomach a
descent into the Sudan or Yemen? Think of all the energies we are exerting to pull something down, because it's just not RIGHT. Those energies would be put to so much better use if we could feel towards Gloria what we feel for our best lights and heroes. I want to be inspired by the leader of the country i live in, otherwise existence itself is diminished. I fight only because it is necessary for a just peace and future era of unity and a concerted drive upwards. Not this surely destructive battle that must be engaged and won.
How do you think Erap went down?
Not because of the million warm bodies - they were hakot bodies!
America blinked in June 2000 when they learned Philippine Taliban's withdrawal of support had already started sometime (thanks to Rene de Villa and Vicky Garchitorena) around first quarter of 2000, of course Northern Alliance was already sensing something was wrong in Dec 1999 but didn't know what to do until double-dealing Gloria and her husband gave their mutiny firm support, down Erap went in Jan 2001!
Took literally less than 7 months for Philippine Taliban to bring him down.
DJB,
ABSOLUTELY SAME HERE! TOTALLY AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID!
Think of the energy we waste to pull something down is complete, utter shame but like you, can't STOMACH what happened and what is happening.
Like you DJB, I HATE being in THE OPPOSITION and for the same reason; all my friends out there think I'm being "silly".
Growing disenchantment: Vicente T Paterno
Growing disenchantment--Please help circulate:
From: Vicente T. Paterno
Dear All,
Please send on this message to whoever in M-1 and M-2 you think would like to know. Thanks.
To Masicap alumni and friends,
Please know I've notified all former ConCom members I dissociated myself from every ConCom affiliation. I now urge you to oppose the government drive for charter change. Reason - ConCom draft Article 20, transitory provisions, would not only retain GMA in office, but install her as Head of Government and Head of State, like Marcos. Enclosed write-up discusses the relevant sections of Article 20.
Best wishes,
Ting Paterno
=====================================================
I have notified members of the former ConCom that I dissociate myself from all ConCom activities and will oppose charter change. For I am now fully convinced that Mrs. Arroyo seeks not only to retain her Presidency but to expand her powers through charter change. Article XX, the ConCom transitory provisions, clearly define the strong motivation for Mrs. Arroyo's determined efforts to get chacha ratified.
Here enclosed are the texts of Secs. 7, 9, and 11 to 13 of Art. XX. Sec. 7, the NO-EL provision, assure that the *interim* Parliament (2007-2010) will be filled with tried and proven allies, ready to do Pres. GMA's bidding. The other cited sections, not as widely known, are more disturbing.
In a normal parliamentary system, the head of Government is the Prime Minister. He is elected to that post by his peers, the members of Parliament. Members of the cabinet are MP's elected by the people. The President's duties are ceremonial - to open Parliament, dissolve it upon advice of the Prime Minister, greet new ambassadors, be the symbol of national unity as Head of State.
Compare those normal parliament's features with the provisions in Secs. 9, and 11-13.
- Members of her cabinet will not be elected MP's but appointed by the President. Per sec. 9, 1/3 of them shall become MP's by her appointment. 30 other persons shall also be appointed MP's by the President.
- The interim Parliament will elect an interim Prime Minister. But Sec 11 says he will not be the head of government but just a cabinet member. Sec. 12 makes clear he is a mere cabinet member, for the interim prime minister and the cabinet shall function "under the direction and
supervision of the incumbent President "
- Sec. 13 states that "in the interim Parliament, *the incumbent President shall exercise the powers vested in the Head of State and the Head of government* under this Constitution".
In my interpellation to oppose these provisions in ConCom, I asked if these were not the same powers that Marcos gave himself. Spontaneous answer by sponsor of the provision Raul Lambino - YES.
Secs. 9 and 11-13 should by now have been opposed by Congress, for downgrading the interim Parliament.. But they have not. Developments leave me no doubt GMA herself is pushing these provisions. In a new body to promote chacha, the co-chairs - Attys. Romela Bengzon and Raul Lambino - were main sponsors in ConCom of these onerous sections. The appointment of Cong Puno to DILG, given his well known dagdag bawas and other election distorting skills, further confirms to us that GMA will leave no stone unturned for chacha and Article XX to be ratified by any means.
Vicente T. Paterno
21 February 2006
AdB's NOTE: The other Transitory Provisions in question are found by clicking on
http://hillblogger.blogspot.com/2006/03/growing-disenchantment-vicente-t.html
HB,
Ya I just blogged about Ting Paterno on my other blog this afternoon after seeing him on TV. Would you believe he is supposed to be my baptismal Ninong??? But we've never actually met! Not even when I was a kid. But I forgive him for all the neglect. He said some great things. I put it in Ye Olde Philippine Commentary (lots of just short stabs over there. am doing an experiment on google actually).
You know we should do a team blog. Get everyone to contribute their daily posts to it as kind of community blog permanent blog carnival kind of thing. IN fact we SHOULD do a blog carnival on 1017!
DJB,
Great idea that team or carnival blog but am embarassed to admit this, am a comp ignoramus!
Can't even access my own comments site post in my own blog.
Gotta take lessons. I just got a second comp (PC) and haven't even begun to work on it coz it looks so complicated (am a Mac diehard).
But would LOVE to do a real team blog with all the folks.
Really? You should look up Ting Paterno, renew the ninong-inaanak alliance!
DJB,
Just wish to correct the petition address/link in an earlier posting:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/timetogo
Thanks a lot.
I posted this in the comments at hillblogger, but I notice you have comment moderation on. Turn that off under the "Settings" tab on the Blogger dashboard, unless you wanna approve every comment you get, but also turn on word verification to fight the splog attackers.
HB--It'll be easy to fix your blog. Anyway you have more substance in one of your comments than most blogs do in a week or month, and that's really 99% of what you need: having something to say!
Been lookin at your blog tonight. You need to get a sitemeter so you know who visits and you can visit them back to establish new friends. Also you can see how your doing with the spiders crawling the web so you can adjust your keywords, topics, and blog-aesthetics to maximize visitors, time on the blog and page views. The only other thing that I see missing is a blogroll and an RSS feed (so you can syndicate your blog.)
Try doing it yourself by visiting www.sitemeter.com and www.blogrolling.com where they have pretty good instructions on how to do it. I'd be willing to do it for you but it is much better if you do it so you know how. It does involve copying your blogger template to a word processor (Notepad, Wordpad and Microsoft Word on the PC work well) and pasting in the code snippets that sitemeter and blogrolling will supply you when you set up the (free) accounts with them; then copying the template back to blogger and republishing your whole blog. But it does involve knowing HTML (Sir Tim Berners Lee's invention the Hypertext markup language.) well enough so you know WHERE to put the code snippets. this can seem very difficult if you've never done it before.
Just lemme know if you want me to do it for you. Just send me your blogger username and password by gmail to Rizalist@gmail.com. Or if you decide to do it yourself and get stuck, again I can help you with the mechanics. But once you get into the html you'll get all sorts of great ideas about what to do with your blog.
Thanks DJB.
Just printed your 'instructions'- I'm a how to person, step by step approach is my method so your list is simply great..
If I find myself going against a brickwall, will yell for help.
DJB,
A letter I just received this instant from Tita O, a well-off European-based Pinay and born into a Philippine upper middle class who spends a great part of the year in the Philippines.
“I am so happy to hear that you found it Anna, thanks a lot.
“You know I am saddened by the impression I got tonight from some returning retiring Fil-American friends as well as some well established local Filipino friends. They do not seem to care about what she did, her cheating, the funds that disappeared before elections, the scandals of her husband and his role in jueteng, bribing, corruption, etc. etc…..just as long as the country moves forward, never mind about the continuing misdeeds, etc.. never mind about all the moneys that disappeared before the elections…what happened and what do we do about such mentality in people who used to be correct and above board in their integrity?
“People I used to know who were highly moral people have changed suddenly, everything is acceptable to them now just as long as they can go on with their lives and with their lucrative businesses, etc. etc. even people I know who were highly moral and who are in government now seem to have changed. What happened to friends I used to admire? The excuse is always, who will replace her?
“Returning OFWs and some young Filipinos who are trying very much to survive with their own businesses tell me they can hardly survive, it is very very difficult, almost impossible to survive in the Philippines, pretty soon, these people will leave.
“Why don’t we OFWs make or even demand for the opposition to come up with somebody credible and capable in their ranks… can’t we do this? Have we really ran out of credible and capable leaders? What do we do about this? Just as I advocated strengthening the OFW Voice, I feel OFWs have to be more decisive in our stand if we are to win this fight. Shouldn’t we buy a whole page and post an open letter addressed to the leadership and the people and use now our leverage for this woman to resign?
“What do you think? I do not know if you agree but being here, I feel that if we wait too long, people will already go along with what this woman is doing, she just bribed the whole government employeedom with her 1000 additional allowance to their salaries I am sure this will change the minds of the people against her….you know how desperate people are…” Tita O
This is further clarification on the reader’s comment about the use of the Nazi swastika.
Truly, in the light of the various hate crimes statutes promulgated by individual states in the US, the use of that symbol, both publicly and privately, has become anathema in most states, and as I understand though there is no federal statute covering hate crimes, about 39 states already have it in their books.
Here’s a sample:
"Over the past decade, some states and cities have prohibited certain acts as hate crimes. For example, in 1989, St. Paul, Minnesota, passed the following city ordinance:
Whoever places on public or private property a symbol, object, appellation [name], characterization or graffiti including . . . a burning cross or Nazi swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm, or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, or gender, commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
The larger picture, of course, is can this be compared to the furor over the Danish cartoons.
Though there is no doubt about its legality or illegality with respect to the states that carry those hate crimes statutes. In the instance above, the public or private property display of the Nazi symbol amounts to a misdemeanor.
Good points Amadeo. My use of it, I must admit, arises from hatred, hatred for what has happened here and hatred for those who sow hate. That is the evil of it, and i know that in others, a more MURDEROUS and DEADLY hatred is probably engendered by this situation. As I was saying in the other thread, I may not be using it unless the situation turns so bad that gma would deserve it.
DJB, I agree, MIKE DEFENSOR is suffering from "new Second-in-Command" sickness. My, my, so young and yet so misled....or rather, so young and so misleading.
If he is trying MIND CONTROL on the Pilipino people I think HE IS A DECADE LATE. That will only work if the Palace can stop the free flow of information, especially those information that are detrimental to Gloria. That is now imposible because of ICT or Information & Communication Technology. Websites and the Blogosphere deters mind control.
DJB, I do not think that Gloria blinked on 1017. She used that mainly to stop the EDSA Uno Celebrations because of its potential of blowing up into something bigger and unmanageable. Her plan was to rescind it afterwards but she found out that it is a good weapon against MEDIA so she will let it stay for a while, until she feels comfortable.
BFR--The more one listens to Mike Defensor, the more one realizes this Left-Right alliance idea is his formulation, probably with help from Saludo. He's the guy that emphasizes it the most to the media.
Regarding "blinking" what we are of course all interested in is if yesterday's statement was just to make everybody relax before the really big crackdown. Or will she be forced to lift it because of the indignation. eg. 20/22 Senators are now against 1017, all but Miriam and Lito Lapid and the international media.
Belated Thank you DJB for answering my question....
Hill Blogger,
Thanks to DJB, i'm ure your blog will have more visitors...Hope you did the instructions na.
Gloria's PP 1017 reminds me of the fall guy named Secretary Norberto Gonzalez.
--An executive officer over whom the President "shall have control of" (or the Executive Power of "Control," as in EO 464)
--Ordered arrested by the Senate, the institution authorized merely to inquire "in aid of legislation" but acting as the constitutional "investigator," the Ombudsman, and, simultaneously, as the Court, exercising, in short, "concentrated power."
--Publicly maligned, insulted, humiliated
--Arrested "warrantless"
--Being under Palace "Protective Custody" was not an option made available to him
--Detained indefinitely (for well over a month, or over 720 hours, in excess of the 36 hours legally allowed)
--Sneered at for seeking medical attention that incarceration without charges naturally magnify
--Accusation proved his guilt, and his denial or refusal doubled it
--Deprived of his liberty without benefit of due process of law
--Punished before he is guilty for fear that he should be guilty
--A Filipino citizen, entitled (presumably) to the protection of the Republic
Sadly, during all this time of horror, the avowed champions of freedom and democracy among many in the media and the opposition simply looked the other way—Gonzalez was their perceived "enemy"--condoning the humiliation, the deprivation the fall guy endured.
So, why make a fuss over the "warrantless," the "arbitrary," the "dictatorial" repercussions under Gloria's PP1017 now?
"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." --Thomas Paine
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