Reaping the Whirlwind
Editorial
Bohol Sunday Post
Congress has stirred the proverbial hornets' nest when it got the con-ass train running at full speed.
Groups from both ends of the spectrum have expressed agitation and many have declared they are ready to resort to extreme measures. The spontaneity is spine-tingling, to say the least.
Indeed, the Arroyo administration has no one else to blame except itself. Motivated by nothing else except the obscene greed to hold on to power at all cost, it pulled all the stops to let the train fly out of the starting blocks.
The obscenity is far too obvious that people are no longer discussing the basis for their vehemence. The discussions now focus on the methods available to express their outrage and the options open in case the Palace remains defiant.
Malacañang can deny its role in the passing of the infamous resolution, but no one is biting. When you lie far too often and each time farther than the previous one, you push yourself closer to the inevitable.
Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has made a career out of breaking promises and getting away with it she now thinks she can get away again, or at least one more time. She thought wrong.
The basis for this belief is the division, a consensus is now shaping to thwart not just this latest attempt to subvert popular will but an extension of an Arroyo administration in whatever form.
This can only be brought about by a power far greater than what the human mind can fathom. This power is in motion in many influential people, prompting them to make sacrifices and do the unthinkable.
Malacañang mistakenly believed that it has found the secret to perpetuating itself in power by its past successes. Its combination of deceit, hypocrisy and downright bribery worked wonders in the past, but not all the time.
While more people have gotten skeptical about the ability of this nation to rise to the occasion, this skepticism is not enough to foil divine intervention. If Jesus could calm the storm and still the waves, He can unseat despot without trying.
The problem with people was that they tried other means first. Now that they are going back to God, Malacañang has sealed its fate.
As the saying goes, when you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.
Groups from both ends of the spectrum have expressed agitation and many have declared they are ready to resort to extreme measures. The spontaneity is spine-tingling, to say the least.
Indeed, the Arroyo administration has no one else to blame except itself. Motivated by nothing else except the obscene greed to hold on to power at all cost, it pulled all the stops to let the train fly out of the starting blocks.
The obscenity is far too obvious that people are no longer discussing the basis for their vehemence. The discussions now focus on the methods available to express their outrage and the options open in case the Palace remains defiant.
Malacañang can deny its role in the passing of the infamous resolution, but no one is biting. When you lie far too often and each time farther than the previous one, you push yourself closer to the inevitable.
Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has made a career out of breaking promises and getting away with it she now thinks she can get away again, or at least one more time. She thought wrong.
The basis for this belief is the division, a consensus is now shaping to thwart not just this latest attempt to subvert popular will but an extension of an Arroyo administration in whatever form.
This can only be brought about by a power far greater than what the human mind can fathom. This power is in motion in many influential people, prompting them to make sacrifices and do the unthinkable.
Malacañang mistakenly believed that it has found the secret to perpetuating itself in power by its past successes. Its combination of deceit, hypocrisy and downright bribery worked wonders in the past, but not all the time.
While more people have gotten skeptical about the ability of this nation to rise to the occasion, this skepticism is not enough to foil divine intervention. If Jesus could calm the storm and still the waves, He can unseat despot without trying.
The problem with people was that they tried other means first. Now that they are going back to God, Malacañang has sealed its fate.
As the saying goes, when you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.
"Anti-ConAss" Wave Organized
The Bohol Chronicle
A huge wave of multi-sectoral group is slowly emerging in the province as a counter force to HB 1109 that licensed Congress to convene itself into a Constituent Assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution, unpopular with three-fourths of Filipinos.
The group is to convene in the city in a luncheon meeting this Tuesday to map out anti Con-Ass activities, one of which could coincide with a huge Makati rally on June 10 at 5 p.m. led by Jesus is Lord Movement and many civil society and militant groups.
Most Filipinos are looking forward to clean, automated elections in 2010 and are suspicious that the Con-Ass, in the pretext of amending certain economic policies, is really there to extend the terms of officials, including that of the president, in various ways. [...]
The group is to convene in the city in a luncheon meeting this Tuesday to map out anti Con-Ass activities, one of which could coincide with a huge Makati rally on June 10 at 5 p.m. led by Jesus is Lord Movement and many civil society and militant groups.
Most Filipinos are looking forward to clean, automated elections in 2010 and are suspicious that the Con-Ass, in the pretext of amending certain economic policies, is really there to extend the terms of officials, including that of the president, in various ways. [...]
The Revulsion to Con-Ass
Editorial
The Bohol Chronicle
The revulsion to the Con-Ass rests in the anatomy of the last syllable.
Seventy-five percent of Filipinos do not want political deviants to tinker with the fundamentals of the Constitution at this time. The timing is off.
Even if some of the economic amendments may make sense, the grandeur of the vision is lost on the paranoia of people that the Con-Ass is meant to sneak something nasty politically into the Philippine landscape.
Cha-cha and term extensions are just two of those. And hypocrisy too since the Palace speaks of the automated 2010 election and the merger of Lakas and Kampi as well as Political Magician DILG's Puno wanting to be vice president as proofs positive that there will be presidential elections in 2010.
Filipinos have been taken for a ride for far too long and far too many times for them to remain placid and timid at this development of the Con-Ass.
Stirrings of political unrest are brewing at the capital and key cities of the country and will have its first salvo on June 10 -- wherever in the country.
This new Con-Ass formula, even NEDA chief Ralph Recto admits has a political cost to it that can backfire into economic negative perceptions by investors and creditors alike. Is it worth it?
Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile who does not have the talent to hide his pique at anytime, is disgusted with the Lower Congress (we have to call them that, this time) in ignoring the Senate but certainly it will be over Mr. Enrile's dead body.
Do the ghouls behind the ghastly charade really think they have the Supreme Court in their pockets that they are willing to throw the constitutionality issue of the Con-Ass to the Highest Magistrates? If they are not sure the Supreme Court is, what is this divisive political exercise for?
On balance, an opposition congressman of Cagayan de Oro Rufus Rodriguez thinks there is no payola involved in the Con-Ass; others claim there is an additional P20 million of pork which is substantive if a congressman gets merely P70 million in Pork Barrel every year. What price independence and standing for the people's preference?
Are people to be followed or be led -- hopefully not into perdition? We join our people's appeal to place this Con-Ass nonsense to rest. Let us just proceed with the automated (no matter how imperfect) 2010 polls, call a plebiscite whether to amend the Constitution and then elect the members of the Constitutional Convention to make the amendments for ratification by the people.
The apologists would argue those are expensive exercises. For our democracy to function, to spend several billions is cheap. Didn't we hear the budget for 2009 alone is P1.6 trillion?
If you feel violated by the convulsion called Con-Ass, by all means show your indignation and let you voices be heard.
Seventy-five percent of Filipinos do not want political deviants to tinker with the fundamentals of the Constitution at this time. The timing is off.
Even if some of the economic amendments may make sense, the grandeur of the vision is lost on the paranoia of people that the Con-Ass is meant to sneak something nasty politically into the Philippine landscape.
Cha-cha and term extensions are just two of those. And hypocrisy too since the Palace speaks of the automated 2010 election and the merger of Lakas and Kampi as well as Political Magician DILG's Puno wanting to be vice president as proofs positive that there will be presidential elections in 2010.
Filipinos have been taken for a ride for far too long and far too many times for them to remain placid and timid at this development of the Con-Ass.
Stirrings of political unrest are brewing at the capital and key cities of the country and will have its first salvo on June 10 -- wherever in the country.
This new Con-Ass formula, even NEDA chief Ralph Recto admits has a political cost to it that can backfire into economic negative perceptions by investors and creditors alike. Is it worth it?
Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile who does not have the talent to hide his pique at anytime, is disgusted with the Lower Congress (we have to call them that, this time) in ignoring the Senate but certainly it will be over Mr. Enrile's dead body.
Do the ghouls behind the ghastly charade really think they have the Supreme Court in their pockets that they are willing to throw the constitutionality issue of the Con-Ass to the Highest Magistrates? If they are not sure the Supreme Court is, what is this divisive political exercise for?
On balance, an opposition congressman of Cagayan de Oro Rufus Rodriguez thinks there is no payola involved in the Con-Ass; others claim there is an additional P20 million of pork which is substantive if a congressman gets merely P70 million in Pork Barrel every year. What price independence and standing for the people's preference?
Are people to be followed or be led -- hopefully not into perdition? We join our people's appeal to place this Con-Ass nonsense to rest. Let us just proceed with the automated (no matter how imperfect) 2010 polls, call a plebiscite whether to amend the Constitution and then elect the members of the Constitutional Convention to make the amendments for ratification by the people.
The apologists would argue those are expensive exercises. For our democracy to function, to spend several billions is cheap. Didn't we hear the budget for 2009 alone is P1.6 trillion?
If you feel violated by the convulsion called Con-Ass, by all means show your indignation and let you voices be heard.
