Opposition to give own SONY, SONIA

Talk about an alphabet soup of acronyms.

After Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s TSONA last Friday, here come SONY and SONIA from the opposition.

Tomorrow at 4 p.m., President Arroyo will deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA) before Congress, which resumes session after a recess.

Unlike Mrs. Arroyo’s past SONAs that dwelt on goals and achievements of her administration, however, Filipinos this time may be more eager to find out what she has to say about the poll fraud allegations against her and the bribery accusations against her family.

Keeping the pressure on Mrs. Arroyo, Lacson held a press conference Friday where he delivered his TSONA (or "True State of the Nation Address") in which he accused Mrs. Arroyo of cheating "with impunity" in last year’s presidential race.

Tomorrow, militant groups will hold an anti-Arroyo rally along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, the main thoroughfare leading to the Batasang Pambansa complex.

There, they will deliver their SONY and SONIA — or, respectively, "State of the Nation’s Youth" and "State of the Nation In Spite of Gloria."

"All is set for the massive rallies on Monday. We are mobilizing at least 60,000 people," actor Rez Cortez, one of the opposition rally organizers, told reporters.

Tomorrow’s anti-Arroyo rallies could give an updated reading on public reaction to the crisis, the worst to hit the Arroyo administration so far.

So far the biggest opposition rally, held on July 13 in Makati City, drew 40,000 people — much fewer than past rallies that led to the ouster of presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada respectively in 1986 and 2001.

Indeed, the event drew fewer people than expected, and prompted the opposition to concede that Mrs. Arroyo was unlikely to be forced from power by street protests.

In a change of tactics, the opposition is trying to push an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives and hopes to submit the complaint tomorrow.

They have previously shunned the impeachment route, anticipating pro-administration congressmen — who enjoy a huge majority in the House — to block the complaint.

There had been fears of a repeat of massive military-backed "people power" revolts that toppled Marcos and Estrada.

But so far the military and Catholic Church leadership — key players in past street revolts — have remained on the sidelines.

Yesterday, hundreds of anti-Arroyo protesters launched a so-called "White Ribbon Movement" protest campaign.

Reminiscent of the yellow ribbons that became a powerful symbol of protest against the brutal Marcos dictatorship in the early 1980s, the protesters have decided to use white ribbons, which they said represented peace.

They tied white ribbons around their arms and along the main Ortigas Avenue as they marched to the EDSA Shrine, built to commemorate the 1986 "people power" revolution.

They attended mass at the shrine but were prevented by dozens of police officers armed with clubs and shields from holding a rally there. They were also barred by church officials from holding a rally in line with Roman Catholic Church policy.

Instead, the protesters gave white ribbons to police officers. — With Sandy Araneta