Archive for March, 2008
‘The Loyalists, the Oppositionists and the Fence-Sitters” – the conclusion
By all means the GMA Loyalists have all the reasons to protect its leader no matter how unpopular she is as perceived by the oppositionists. May I volunteer some of their arguments: why can’t the oppositionists wait for GMA’s term to end, anyway its only less than two years; hey the economy is improving, the peso is getting stronger against the dollar, the physical infrastructures are being built to further support the economic boom; GMA has the support of the Local Government Units, it is only in Metro Manila that the call for GMA to resign is felt, but not in the countryside.
On the other hand, the oppositionists have these counter arguments on why they call for GMA’s resignation: under GMA’s term, there is a total dysfunction of government, there is prevalence of corruption and its subsequent cover-up, the violation of human rights is at its highest, freedom of the press as magnified during the Manila Peninsula siege is blatantly suppressed; freedom of movement is curtailed specifically during the Inter Faith Rally last Friday where students from La Salle Dasmarinas in Cavite and from UPLB were blocked at check points and not allowed enter Manila to join the rallies.
Read More..>>“The Loyalists, the Oppositionists and the Fence-Sitters” Part 2
During the first EDSA, the Marcos Loyalists had General Fabian Ver as the epitome of what a Marcos Loyalist should be. He was ready to shoot at the Cory Supporters if Marcos had ordered it. There was even an anecdote that if Marcos ordered Gen. Ver to jump out of a building, Gen. Ver would have asked, “from which floor, Sir?” On the other side of the story, there was Cardinal Jaime Sin who was considered as the moving spirit of the Cory supporters. He appealed for the people to go to EDSA. Three years earlier, there was a Ninoy Aquino who was assassinated at the tarmac who death fanned the flame of hatred against an oppressive regime that ruled the country for more than two decades. Some 1 to 2 million people that massed on EDSA in front of Camp Crame was cited as the deciding factor that ended an oppressive regime. However, there were about 60 million Filipinos then who others say, were all along never involved in the process and were merely fence-sitters!
During EDSA 2, the main issue was “jueteng” the numbers game that was allegedly used by President Erap as source of fund to finance his decadent lifestyle. There was an unusual central character in the person of Governor Chavit Singson who was the whistle blower of the blatant corrupt activity of his friend. He was EDSA 2’s first balimbing only to be followed by majority of Erap’s cabinet specifically his DSWD Secretary with a name Gloria
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