The real conspirators

SATURDAY |February 25, 2006 | PHILIPPINES

The real conspirators
Editorial

'If there is a conspiracy, it is the plotting by Arroyo to keep her
illegitimate hold on power.'

Here we're back to seeing the vicious bully twisting the Constitution
and the law to sweep away from the streets people who are calling for
her to step down for stealing the presidency and destroying the
institutions of democracy to cover up the original crime.

Gloria Arroyo has called out the Armed Forces to suppress lawless
violence. Try as we did, we saw no "lawless violence" taking place
yesterday. What we saw were images on television of policemen cracking
the heads of unarmed demonstrators celebrating the 20th anniversary of
the nation's deliverance from strongman rule. We heard on radio how UP
professor Randy David was arrested after being rebuffed in his efforts
to negotiate safe passage of a group of demonstrators to the People
Power Monument on Edsa. David was among 39 persons arrested yesterday.
More apparently are targeted for arrest, including Makati Mayor
Jejomar Binay who is president of the United Opposition.

For their involvement in a coup attempt against the Arroyo
administration? AFP chief Gen. Generoso Senga himself was not quite
sure there was indeed such an attempt at a power grab. According to
Senga, Brig. Gen. Danny Lim, commander of the Scout Rangers, was
planning to join the scheduled Edsa anniversary celebration at the
Ninoy Aquino statue in Makati led by President Corazon Aquino.

Paying tribute to Ninoy and joining the commemoration of Edsa is now a
crime and a capital offense at that? Had Lim wanted to bring down the
Gloria government, the First Scout Ranger Regiment could have seized
the Makati Central Business District and brought business activity to
a halt (as a battalion of Rangers, in fact, did in 1989 under Lim who
was at the time a major).

Gloria, in proclaiming a state of emergency, talked about the Left and
the Right linking up in a conspiracy to overthrow her government.
Well, it's not only the Left or the Right calling for her ouster.
Every hue represented in the political spectrum wants her out.

As to the purported conspiracy, nothing could be further from the
truth. Calls for Arroyo to resign are being shouted in the harsh of
light day by clearly identifiable groups and personages, including
Aquino.

If there is a conspiracy, it is the plotting by Arroyo to keep her
illegitimate hold on power. Her co-conspirators are the AFP and the
PNP leaders. It is they who are guilty of conspiring against the
Republic and the people.

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