PRESIDENT GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO has just addressed the nation to announce the lifting of Proclamation 1017 and the state of national "emergency." Yet in the six days that have transpired since last Friday, the administration has demonstrated a willingness to trample upon the most precious rights and freedoms of the Filipino people. A vicious attack on Press Freedom, typified by the treatment given the Daily Tribune, will however not be soon forgotten by the Good Guys. Warrantless arrests and warrantless raids on newspaper offices have no place in a democratic society. Indeed, I will not be surprised if the entire Mass media files a criminal class action suit against, for example, Police Chief Arturo N. Lomibao for carrying out patently illegitmate orders to seize and supervise one daily newspaper and to make threats to do the same to others. Although her stated target was tactical alliance between the extreme Left and the adventurist Right, she has actually aided the CPP-NPA the most, because while the above ground parliamentary struggle allies of the Communist Party were apparently hit hard by this, the Central Committee in Utrecht will probably reap a windfall in donations from their old EuroCommunist allies. Similarly, the New People's Army should see a pretty good spike in recruitment as a result of the ineradicable impression that Democracy is dead or dying in the Philippines, that peaceful, nonviolent protest against the government will only be met by fascist repression and Orwellian double speak of hot-heads like Secretary of Justice Raul Gonzalez and the over-eager-beaver New Second in Command, Mike Defensor. In undertaking this foolish enterprise the Palace has only strengthened the hand of the Communists and weakened the pro-Democracy forces and civil libertarians. She has also damaged the reputation of the duly constituted authorities, whom she has indeed prostituted in this way to the needs of her personal political survival. The people may be poor and downtrodden, but they are not stupid. They know what fascism was like under Marcos and recognize this for what it is. Fascism and a mockery of the Constitution by playing cat-n-mouse with the Law. I say this in no uncertain terms. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is an enemy of Freedom and Democracy, both of which she has diminished by her own selfish authoritarianism and totalitarianism. She doesn't fool anybody except those who don't consider themselves the "Jews" of our present-day Krystallnacht.THANKS A LOT COMRADE GLORIA!
UPDATE: Most people including me, were not expecting the lifting of Proclamation 1017 until tomorrow. What could possibly have accelerated it's lifting? Well the almost universal condemnation and calls for the lifting of the Proclamation by the public, from the business sector, including the local American Chamber of Commerce (the oldest in Asia), from Civil Societies, from Media both local and international, and from the Senate, may all have had something to do with it. I also listened to the remarks of US Undersecretary Christopher Hill yesterday, here on a 3-day sudden visit at midweek. He said it was "up to the Filipino people" and that the US government was not about to interfere in an internal matter. Hmmm, considering that the Palace had declared a state of national emergency, this doesn't sound like he believed the Palace's scary fairy tales for adults either. Besides, it was George W. Bush himself, speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy in November, 2004 who said that America would never again support brutal dictatorships around the world after the Cold War was won by seizing the high moral ground against totalitarian states like the Soviet Union. After deposing Saddam Hussein, that seems to be the only morally consistent position for America to take. And as the point is made that lifting the Proclamation does not absolve top officials of their well-recorded actions against legitimate protest and dissent, I noticed that officials like Press Secretary Bunye had that scared-rabbit look in his eyes for the first time since he stood up and revealed the Gloriagate Garci tapes last June 6, 2005. AROINT FASCISTS!
Deliciously ironic-satiric retrospective from the Political Junkie at Philippine Politics '04: The very same forces of "leftists" and "communists" and "coup plotters" and "destabilizers" that Mrs. Arroyo is oppressing and arresting today, were the very same people with whom she had forged a tactical alliance in 2001. Read it all. Killer post!
21 comments:
DJB,
You and I virulently attacked the SOE, as many others did because it had no basis,; she presented no physical evidence (save for BGen's act of insubordination) that there was a coup conspiracy between young gallant, brave, fighting officers in the military (who apparently instantly became Communist lovers and assasins) and the Reds, that there was an absurd "foiled coup d'état" assasination attempt, etc.; we knew that these were all bogus allegations, a product of the warped imagination of Gloria's handlers and pure, unadulterated Palace spin.
And we knew that the MAIN reason for proclaiming Emergency Rule was to pre-empt mobilization efforts by the opposition to call for her ouster during Edsa celebration. Oh yeah, she cheated the folks alright - cheated them of their right to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the downfall of a dictator.
If the US State Dept hadn't acted in haste and hadn't sent Undersec Hill right away, Gloria wouldn't have lifted it. Emergency Rule was wonderful! It gave her immense powers over the life and death of the citizens. She didn't need Martial Law to do that.
But that ain't the point today - her having lifted the stupid, baseless Emergency Rule!
The point is we gotta get her out of there! She's bad news, she's illegal, she's downright immoral.
We gotta keep going; we can't let her get away with murder. That ain't in keeping with our oath as citizens of the Republic: to help and protect the Republic from being dismantled.
We must, for the sake of future generations, do what is right today - ACCUSE HER, IMPEACH HER, BRING HER TO JUSTICE... she must answer the criminal charges brought against her.
If people want to or have conveniently forgotten what crimes she has committed, DJB, it is incumbent upon good and moral citizens to remind the rest of the nation what those crimes are.
To keep democracy alive, to prevent another breach of the Constitution and the further dismantling of our institutions, I believe, is our mission today.
HB, I was listening to Rolex Suplico just now. He makes a very good point. The govt is forced to present proof of the legitimacy of their Proclamation and its factual bases because of the criminal charges that have to be filed against people they have arrested illegally, or as a result of criminal charges that will be filed against Lomibao and possibly arresting police and raiders of the tribune. That is the way forward, to file criminal charges against the perpetrators for violations of the Bill of Rights. This is a tactic lawyers tell me will work to FORCE the case back into the Supreme Court.
This lifting was to avoid having to make them decide. Several of us think that the real root of the problem is in the High Court, where Gloria's aces are. To re-establish the Rule of Law that Court has to be put to the test and made to rule honestly, somehow.
The fight has qualitatively changed too. You see everyone has just come to the realization you have::all the gloves have to come off figuratively speaking -- it's her or us is the thinking in the media and even the Senate it seems like. And as our friend there indicated, we seem to have a tacit signal from our friends abroad to protect our own civil liberties. That's what I heard Hill say yesterday on TV. It's up to the Filipino people. He didn't say the President! I cheered even if it was a very subtle thing, coz I got the message I wanted--they don't actually believe the Palace's scary fairy tale for lil boys and girls (very young boys and girls!).
I should just add, they must know what a treacherous self-preserving animal she is, even if it means destroying the democracy of the Filipinos. She has stabbed them in the back b4. Angelo de la Cruz was an unforgettable calibration point on her character. There's probably white papers about it. I know I quoted Heritage Foundations opinions of her early on and it aint good. But that is why I also wanna carry this fight to the FilAm Community who the US listens to more than us in the ARchipelago. But you see she is a master at stoking their egoes whenever she's there..people like Loida Nicolas Lewis in New York and Rodel Rodis in SF -- who were anti-Marcos fighters before but who get a lil beso beso from her and it's GMA4ever.
ang weird, pero ba't wala akong mahanap na balita on-line tungkol sa nangyaring pambobomba sa eastern police district sa pasig kaninang umaga?
medyo halatang state-sponsored terrorism na naman kasi, e, para ma-rationalize ang malamang pagbalik ng 1017 (o kung ano pang permutation nito), at malamang isisi na naman ito sa mga "komunista".
pero, according sa DOJ, little sister is still watching, to paraphrase mr carandang.
DJB, with your permission, posting Sen Pimentel's letter...
De : Aquilino Pimentel Jr. nenepimentel@pldtdsl.net
Date : Fri, 3 Mar 2006 19:07:30 +0800
Objet : NEXT STEP FOR GLORIA
Gloria withdrew 1017 today. She should follow up that withdrawal by withdrawing herself from the helm of government. She has no credibility. Her integrity is shattered. She can no longer govern as a democratic leader. She hangs on to the coattails of some officers of the armed forces and of the police to hold on to power. The people deserve more from their president. She must have their respect, trust and confidence.
The next thing that people should do is demand that she resigns to pave the way for the holding of new elections. Noli would have to resign also. Then, Senate President Drilon becomes acting president whose only duty is to supervise the holding of snap presidential and vice presidential elections in 45 days.
There is nothing illegal about this proposal. It is legal. It is peaceful. It is constitutional. It is found in the Constitution itself. It will preclude coup attempts, forcible takeover of the presidency, juntas or extralegal arrangements that can only cause problems for the nation. We should, therefore, make our voices heard: Gloria resign now. Noli too. So snap elections can follow as a matter of course.
If Gloria and Noli resign within this month, the elections can be held in June. By July, we can have a new president.
Who? Whoever the people will choose. He or she need not be the candidate of the opposition. Even if he or she is the candidate of the administration, that will be ok if chosen in free and honest elections. Are free and honest elections possible in the light of the present Comelec's composition?
Free and honest elections are possible if the people are vigilant. It is not the Comelec that makes elections honest. It is the people. I believe it can be done. Now. Not later.
God bless.
Nene Pimentel
Office of Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr.
Senate of the Philippines
Pasay City
website: www.nenepimentel.org
email: nenepimentel@pldtdsl.net
Adam--I live and work two blocks from where the explosions were. There were two of them, the first one louder than the second. It sounded like artillery fire to me--maybe 80 - 90 decibels near the site. Which was suspiciously just outside the
SWAT team offices. And because there was rally of the IBP at the Edsa Shrine ongoing, there were a lot of SWAT in formation near Metro Walk (I could see them from our building!)
atty,
Yeah the concern you express is something I've asked a couple of other lawyers about. IN fact, I'm glad you showed up here, maybe you can help clarify the point. I asked some lawyers (my brother is one and always helps me understand the fine points) how we can prevent the Supreme Court from playing cat-n-mouse with the law, where they tell the President what their likely decision will have to be so she can take the appropriate action. IN this case, the suggestion is to file a criminal case of GRAFT AND CORRUPTION against Lomibao for carrying out 1017 AS IF he had the right to shut down the newspaper when 1017 did not give him that right. His crime would be against the Bill of Rights. It has been asserted to me that this will raise a Constitutional issue in a criminal case which the SC cannot ignore or refuse to rule on. Any thoughts?
DJB,
One for the road: re PCIJ report on AFP power point presentation http://www.pcij.org/blog/
March 3, 2006 @ 12:46 pm · Posted by Sheila Coronel/Filed under In the News, State of National Emergency
My reading: It was a load of political gobbledygook rubbish. There's no meat in that report. A relatively juinor military officer does not make up a powerful component of the AFP able to topple a regime! The only more sernior officers that figure in that report were 2 RETIRED & VERY OLD military officers. Never mind the leftist elements - we know what they've been trying to do.
Really now! Is that all Gloria's government can hatch, put together as evidence of an attemtped coup d'état? Come on! Even kids from a junior military academy in VA, USA could do better than that.
In other words, this AFP power point presentation did not show any evidence of a failed coup d'état conspiracy between the military and the commies; moreover, it confirmed that the guys have absolutely no serious basis for crying coup d'état conspiracy, assination attempt, etc.
Come on! SOE on the basis of some gibberish documents and a meeting of retired officers wit a bunch of suspected leftists? And that's the military-commie thingy? WHOA!
I believe the whole thing is just a product of the warped imagination of upstart and daredevil Mike Defensor.
To justify her proclamation of emergency rule, Gloria must continue raking the woods for evidence.
You know what I'm going to do, DJB?
I'm going to make a hard copy of this presentations show it to friends from NATO - senior ranking military officials - who are professional at intel gathering, etc. I'm playing golf with some of them tomorrow. Most of them are aware of the happenings in Pinas. I wanna have their reaction.
I bet they will be amazed and like me, they will say, "Is that all? That's their coup d'état conspiracy?"
Will update you.
Thanks for that Atty. The reason I was keying on Lomibao is that not so much can we expect an actual and speedy adjudication, but the filing of a suit that has REAL LEGAL MERIT is like an "anti-chilling effect" that pushes the state back behind the line of legitimate action and uses the Rule of Law as a warning shot across the bow. We must continue to exercise and extend the Rule Of Law and not seek to destroy it. For one day, I think , the shoe will be on the other foot, some "Good Guy" will be in power, and the nasties will be the destabilizers. Whatever we do now, it must be to strengthen the position of those Good Guys NOW that they are down, so that when they are up, they will have all the principles and precedents, all the power of the Law, legitimately and morally behind them. We must not do things today, which later we cannot morally and consistently uphold.
Thanks again.
Fantastic Sir. Clearly the Tribune case would fall under Scenario (2), though are you suggesting that Scenario (1) might also be applicable to that case. I wanna really zero in on all the legal aspects of just the Tribune case because that doesn't involve these problematic case personalities like Crispin Beltran, though that is also an impt situation. The Tribune case is so clear though and has massive potential moral support building around it world wide.
PROC 1017: NOW, THEREFORE, I Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by Section 18, Article 7 of the Philippine Constitution which states that: “ The President…whenever it becomes necessary,…may call out (the) armed forces to prevent or suppress…rebellion…, “ and in my capacity as their Commander-in-Chief, do hereby command the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce obedience to all the laws and to all decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction; and as provided in Section 17, Article 12 of the Constitution do hereby declare a State of National Emergency.
On that score, here is something another lawyer told me. The Commander in chief powers invoked to call out the ARMED FORCES to suppress lawless violence etc. can only be done "whenever it is necessary" --namely whenever the national police (the civilian law enforcer) cannot handle the situation of lawless violence. That's when you have an emergency that requires commander in chief powers. Yet the suppression of the lawless violence alleged against the Tribune, or its incitement was carried out by Lomibao, the chief of the national police! Ahem. What is the charge in this case and against whom? DILG secretary Angelo Reyes? Who else in other words are criminally liable aside from Lomibao in the Tribune case?
dear djb: proc1017 sounds like a despot's instrument but both proc1017 and the actions of government that followed it hardly represent "fascism" as we know it both in theory and practice. but its so convenient to label those actions that way. but what is funny is that during the entire 1017-week, GMA and her allies were defensive all the time, people were even emboldened to take to the streets, media was even more hard-hitting. if that was a state of emergency, that was GMA state of emergency.
I think and IMO that the PP will be the undoing of GMA
I just hope the we trust the SC this time because if we think they are just Gloria appointees then tapos na ang boxing wala pang round one..(ako minsan ganun tingin ko sc(my bad)tulad ng impeachment tingin ko walng magyayari because she has the neumbers)
was there a "chilling effect" on media? what i observed was a chilling effect on government functionaries. every time bunye or ermita, etc. would show their face on tv, they always have to defend themselves against media and opposition criticism. as one blogger would put, proc1017 showed the "dark side" of gloria and this has isolated her from the rest of society. everybody now seems to be critical of her. proc1017 is really gloria's gift to the opposition. that should mean, an impeachment might yet work this time.
WB, The chilling effect is a very interesting phenomenon. Clearly there were many who were not chilled, and as you point out they fearlessly continued to expose the facts and the absurdities, the inconsistencies in the government's actions and pronouncements. But what we CANNOT see are those we WERE chilled, the ones who perhaps work for the crony papers like the Star, the Bulletin and all the small radio stations throughout the land, the stringers, reporters, commmentators in all kinds of media. Those who were not chilled no that that is how fascism works.
But it IS very different than 1972. The Media is fighting back this time. And I agree this may be the President's undoing.
But I am against a forcible ouster or a judicial coup like 2001. I am for impeachment and conviction so she can spend a lot of time with Erap later on. We still have four or five tries to go before her term is up. If we oust her and succeed, she'll just have too nice a time in Hawaii.
Hi DJB,
(Back to base; couldn't resist visiting Rizalist; I see you have an attorney at work too. Excellent, just excellent! But really must take off again in a minute. I thought you were gonna go biking?)
DJB, you opt for impeachment and conviction (if the impeachment works), and I fully agree that in a democracy, this should be so, however we have a bit of a problem here.
Presumably, You are talking about a trial fo the president for offences committed during the elections (rigging, manipulating election returns, wiretapping, etc.) Are you saying here that everything that happened before that which are also criminal in nature committed by her and others, i.e., coup d'état conspiracy, mutiny conspiracy, etc. should be dismissed and buried?
You see, I believe that even if she is ousted by a coup d'état or by "peaceful" withdrawal of support by both the civilian and military population, or even if she RESIGNS, she shouldn't be allowed "to go to Hawaii and don a grass skirt"!
She's must be prosecuted, tried and convicted because if we allow her to just happilly saunter off to board a presidential aircraft and bid us all a merry or tearful 'Aloha', we will be back to square 1 and run the risk of having judicial-military putsch every two or three years!
Frankly, I believe we must start this national cleansing from 2001. If we want to have a strong Democracy, this is the only way to do it. (I know, I know, people will say "Too difficult!" but the road to Democracy is rough but gotta be determined to get there...)
Those who conspired with her in 2000-2001 should also be investigated tried and punished (ok, ok, they have to be found guilty first, I know). All of the main players who were involved in the military-judicial mutiny and coup d'état must be prosecuted and tried.
We gotta stop this vicious cycle of political and military mutiny; we gotta stop this cycle of government overthrow conspiracy and the only way to do that is to prosecute, convict and punish...
I think we must do some re-calibrating, DJB. We have to define a real objective first before throwing "people pardon" to the wind!
(Now am off but will look up your solution, etc. at 23h30... Aloha!!!!)
Of course the police does not cease to function during an emergency, yet what "lawless violence" did the Armed Forces quell or were necessary for? But help me understand it then, since it was portrayed to me as a fundamental point about the use of the Commander in Chief provision. What is your understanding of the constitutional requirements to fulfill the clause, "whenever it is necessary." Surely it is not just because the President deems it so, there must be an objective basis. So far my knowledge of it is that "necessary" means that the level of the problems is really such that the police (civilain law enforcement) cannot handle it. Are there other objective criteria?
Atty at work,
Re: "Debunk the "whereas" clauses of Proclamation 1017 and attack the veracity of the "supporting evidence"."
To me, that's the best way to do it.
However beware of hat tricks. Defensor and DOJ chief are perfectly capable of "producing" witnesses and manufacturing evidences.
Poor military! They are being coerced, forced to justify a coup that was simply a product of Gloria's Palace lieutenants.
Ahhh Atty at Work!
I don't need have a law degree to be able answer that question...why it's Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her cabinet of thieves!
Am I wrong?
And Atty at Work, since we are at it as well as a follow on comment to Baycas', here's a food for thought re proclamation of Emergency and its basis, eg. "a coup" of some sort (it's a bit long but I don't know how to link the blog to DJB's blog - anyway, DJB can delete it when he comes back) found in http://hillblogger.blogspot.com/2006/03/re-calibrating-coup-detat-issue.html:
I've just been reading the papers, listening to the radio and watching international news on TV. What's struck me is that the government propaganda line that there was a coup d'état, foiled, quashed, attempt is being bought hook, line and sinker by the media and the ordinary people both in the Philippines and abroad.
What is worse is that senior military friends working in NATO and the European Defence here are convinced that a coup d'état was indeed launched by a component of the AFP but foiled by loyal government troops and that it is GMA's basis for her declaration of a State of Emergency.
I believe it's time to re-calibrate the coup d'état issue.
I believe it's important to determine with finality that based on what had happened prior and during the State of Emergency, there was no coup d'état conspiracy, no attempt to launch a coup d'état, no foiled coup d'état and no coup d'état at all committed by any AFP military component or a group of APF officers and men.
I have just viewed the AFP powerpoint presentation (on the PCIJ blog) and found it had no meat. I printed a hard copy and presented it to my military friends from NATO for review - they were amused and couldn't believe that the elements presented by the AFP consituted a coup d'état or a violent government overthrow conspiracy.
The military presentation contained mere political and leftist gobbledygook that you could easily pick up from JoMa Sison's blog site! Based on what the AFP presented, there indeed was a political discussion between 2 groups of people and which could easily be misconstrued as a conspiracy of sorts but it stops there - the elements they presented are hardly evidences of a coup d'état conspiracy, let alone a coup d'état attempt and definetely not a coup d'état!
Furthermore, inasmuch as GMA failed to announce the arrest of the perpetrators of either a conspiracy to commit a coup d'état or to commit a mutiny and much less an attempted coup d'état, immediately following her declaration of Emergency, we can safely assume that there was NOT at all a coup d'état conspiracy. She and members of the government and the military failed to produce the evidences that a coup d'état was indeed in the offing.
To prove that there was a coup d'état conspiracy, the government should have presented several elements pointing to a conspiracy, minutes following the declaration of Emergency.
But until today, we haven't seen any evidence of a coup d'état conspiracy.
1. Where are the lists of names of the militar coup d'état leaders and members?
2. Where are the plans of strategical sites to be captured or taken over, eg., tv stations, government buildings, etc.
3. Where is the plan or plans for movement of 'rebel' military troops?
4. Where are the plans for logistic support, eg., the weapons and ammunitions, etc.?
5. Where are the weapons caché?
My assessment is simple: Prior to declaration of Emergency, there wasn't remotely an attempt to commit a coup d'état because the elements which constitute a coup d'état weren't present.
Coup d'état: Sudden and violent overthrow of the government.
°The element of speed (sudden!) is a requisite.
°The element of violence (weapons, arms, ammunitions, etc.) is a requisite.
°The movement of armed troops in attack formation must be present with or without backing by civilian components.
Coup d'état attempt: all elements in the above must be present for a troop rebellion to be qualified as a coup d'état attempt.
A foiled coup d'état: a coup d'état which was stopped in its tracks before the first salvo was launched (but all the elements in the above must be present to call it a "foiled coup d'état".)
A quashed coup d'état: a coup d'état in action but defeated by loyal government counter firepower.
The military has very basic and clear cut rules: OBEY & FOLLOW THE CHAIN OF COMMAND.
What acutally happened was that instead of preventing a breach in the military chain of command the SOE merely triggered a military chain of errors.
Also, let's consider the following the supposedly prime actors in the supposedly 'hatched but 'botched coup d'état::
Prior to delcaration of Emergency:
Based on what I've heard and read, the act committed by BGen Danilo Lim could only be qualified as an act of insubordination.
If BGen Lim refuses to apologize to the Commander In Chief and ask for her pardon, he should be tried by a Court Martial and depending on other supporting charges against him, he should be immediately dishonorably discharged and/or forfeit all military pensions. BGen Lim cannot be charged for MUTINY based on Articles of War because the act of MUTINY involves 3 or more military men (or women).
A mutiny cannot be committed by only 1 person. The case is pretty clear cut. But until today, we have not heard anything related to the future of Lim. In military parlance, my conclusion is that he could not have committed or conspired to commit a coup d'état.
After the declaration of Emergency:
The act committed by Col. Ariel Querubin (and his men) could be qualified as an act of mutiny because he tried lead a group of Marines towards Edsa against the expressed orders of his Commandadant (MajGen Miranda); even if he was stopped and led back to barracks, he is nevertheless liable to face charges of MUTINY. Question: Has he been charged today to stand a Court Martial trial?
On the subject of MajGen Renato Miranda (gross injustice?):
Col Querubin stated that he and his men decided to mutiny (on 25th Feb) after learning that their commandant (Miranda) was relieved of his command in spite of the fact that he (Querubin & his men) had agreed not to mutiny earlier on. We also learned (simultaneously from the press) that MajGen Miranda himself had decided to resign his command because his Flag Officer In Command (FOIC) had informed him that he was thinking of relieving him. Miranda therefore jumped the gun. Why didn't the FOIC refuse Miranda's resignation or re-instate him, after all Querubin had stated unequivocally that he had been persuaded by Miranda earlier on not to mutiny? Miranda should have been decorated instead of relieved!
* Coup in French means a sudden move or act.
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