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


TESTING THE REVOLUTIONARY WATERS

Every man's action originates in whatever is in his mind. When a group of men such as the Magdalo soldiers led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Gen. Danilo Lim, staged another public demonstration on November 28th against the Arroyo administration and calling for the resignation of de facto president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, they were driven by a mindset that Arroyo is not a legitimate president of the Philippines. That came about from charges lodged against her of rigging the presidential elections of 2004 through graft and corruption particularly using public funds to pay off the election cheaters and stealing the presidency from Joseph Estrada in 2001.

Arroyo failed to convince the group of soldiers to think otherwise because she refused to answer the allegations before the Senate acting as a court of law by killing any impeachment moves initiated in the House of Representatives. Unless any change of thinking happens, they will persist to continue the uprising in whatever form is available over and over again until their subject resigns or escapes.

If President Arroyo truly intends to remain in Malacanang until 2010, then she needs to convince her political and military opposition that she has the moral authority to govern. Somehow through her grant of absolute pardon to former Pres. Joseph Estrada who was convicted of Plunder and sentence to a virtual life sentence, she was able to obtain some sort of legitimation upon Estrada's acceptance of the pardon.

She needs a widespread recognition of her presidential authority among the various groups clamoring for her removal from office. One important opposition group is that representing the followers of the late Fernando Poe, Jr., her main protagonist in the 2004 presidential elections perceived by the majority of the people as the real winner. If she gets their support, some other groups may follow suit that could discourage similar uprisings undertaken by the Magdalo soldiers. If not, I predict that in the final analysis, she will go down the way of Marcos, the dictator. This time around, American Samoa instead of Makiki Heights in Honolulu, Hawaii, would be willing to provide her asylum.

End
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