Author: Julian Alejandro

Sikat ang Pinoy!

The New York Times published yesterday (April 5) an editorial on Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and democracy in our country.

Here are excerpts from the editorial entitled “Dark Days for Philippine Democracy.”

“Mrs. Arroyo is no Ferdinand Marcos, at least not yet. But this onetime reformer is reviving bad memories of crony corruption, presidential vote-rigging and intimidation of critical journalists. Unless the Philippine Congress and courts find ways to rein in her increasingly authoritarian tendencies, democracy itself may be in danger.

“President Bush has repeatedly hailed Mrs. Arroyo as an important ally against international terrorism. He now needs to warn her that by undermining a hard-won democracy, she is making her country far more vulnerable to terrorist pressures.”

Read the full text at the New York Times or at the PCIJ blog.

“My reason for not accepting the post of prime minister is because this year is an auspicious year for the King, whose 60th anniversary on the throne is just 60 days away. I want all Thais to reunite,” Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand, said in explaining his decision to quit.

He said he “want all Thais to reunite.” Familiar, eh? That is because we heard similar words from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a few years ago. Arroyo “honored” Dr. Jose P. Rizal, our martyred national hero, by declaring she would no longer run in 2004.

“…I have decided not to run for President during the election of 2004.

“If I were to run, it will require a major political effort on my part. But since I’m among the principal figures in the divisive national events for the last two or three years, my political efforts can only result in never-ending divisiveness.”

By Yolly Ong

Like the rest of the ABC+ ECO classes, I figured we should just ignore GMA and go about our life. After all there’s no acceptable alternative on the horizon. Better the devil we know than the one we don’t, right?

I even said she was most likely the real winner in the 2004 elections. After all she had the incumbent’s advantage. She spent billions of pesos for her campaign. The P800M fertilizer fund and P500M health insurance budgets were diverted to buy votes. Then to ensure a convincing victory she topped it off with Garci. You see the little woman vowed she would get a lead of at least 1M votes over FPJ. That way, even if Opposition cheats, she would have a buffer. Her other ambition was to get more votes than Erap, partly to thumb her nose up at him and his loyalists. Mostly so she would feel the love of the people because in truth everything she did was really for love.

Here are some Gloria Dolls stolen from Ellen Tordesilla’s blog:

Two House bills that seek to repeal Batas Pambansa 880–which was used to justify the arrest of Dinky Soliman and Enteng Romano yesterday–have already been approved by the House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights: Bayan Muna’s House Bill 1555 and Akbayan’s House Bill 4802.

HB 1555, or the proposed The Freedom of Expression Act of 2004 by Rep. Satur Ocampo and other Bayan Muna Representatives, provides for the following:

a) no permit requirement for the holding of a public assembly;
b) non-interference from law enforcement authorities during public assemblies;
c) extension of police assistance when requested;
d) no dispersal of public assembly; and
e) immunity from arrest and taxation.

Police arrested this afternoon former Social Welfare Sec. Dinky Soliman, one of the leaders of the anti-Arroyo Black and White Movement, according to GMA-7’s 24 Oras.

Soliman was arrested with eLagda leader Vicente Romano III, and other supporters of Black and White Movement. The group held the weekly flash protest at Baywalk today.

Mindanews’s Patricio Diaz in his column “Comment” expressed what I’ve been thinking for some time now:

“[Congress] should have amended or repealed the martial-law presidential decrees which are now being partly invoked to legalize the suppression of the freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of peaceable assembly.

“For instance, PD 880 is still operative. It’s basically the basis of the ‘Calibrated Preemptive Response’ that suppresses the freedom of peaceable assembly. ”