FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio

A CORNERED SNAKE

US President George Bush takes the right course in
dealing with the situation in Iraq: to win the war.
Mr. Gates, the new Defense chief, said it
appropriately that to lose the war in Iraq would be a
“calamity for America.” I would not say anything
about the mechanics of the new military strategy being
planned by the new leadership at the Pentagon. They
are professionals and they know what to do.


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Philippine Senator Jinggoy Estrada looks at the
series of assassinations and threats of assassination
towards elected government officials as a possible
excuse for the Arroyo administration to declare
emergency rule or martial law. Well, I think he’s
just reminding concerned Filipinos who love democracy
to be always on guard for that madness had happened
before under a sick leader named Marcos. Remember
what former Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz revealed in
one of his interviews about Arroyo’s plot to impose
martial law a la Marcos. Here’s a metaphor to this
effect: A snake when cornered will not budge but will
strike back with full force. My question: How would
you disable such a snake?



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Back to this irritating asylum case of fugitive
Arroyo crony Jocjoc Bolante with a US Immigration
Judge, Filipino lawyer Harry Roque believes that
Bolante may now be in Indonesia. If that’s so, then
the American immigration judge may have granted
Bolante a benefit called Withholding of Removal, not
asylum. I don’t believe this theory. It’s still fear
of persecution from the Philippine government under
Arroyo, clear and convincing, that the judge needs to
see if Bolante would be deported to the Philippines.
There is none.


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As we celebrate Christmas’2006, let’s once again
consider the verses from John 3:19-21: “This is the
verdict; Light has come into world, but men loved
darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will
not come into the light, so that it may be seen
plainly that what he has done has been done through
God.”

End
junpolicarpio@yahoo.com