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.
