Relative peace and order

Television has really turned the world into a global village. When we see the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought to New Orleans, it makes us feel two things. First, pity and sympathy for the helpless victims. Second, thankful that no such typhoons have hit the Philippines for a long, long time. I cannot even recall when the last typhoon hit Metro Manila. And we must add that we also have had no bad earthquake for a long time.

Almost all the problems we are facing today are man-made, and they are almost totally political. It is politics that is blowing them out of proportion. The demonstrations demanding that Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo step down from Malacañang, for example, are senseless. The only Constitutional way to get the President out of office is through an impeachment. That has already failed and we should respect the decision. Now some quarters are planning to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. That is fine, and that should be the last resort. But to bring the issue in the streets is to create more unnecessary problems. GMA’s tenure of office is something that cannot be settled in the streets.

In his message to Congress on January 6, 1941, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt defined the Four Freedoms as the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of worship, and the freedom from fear and want. True but the fact is that all freedoms have to start with freedom from ignorance. And as we all know, freedom is the right to do what one wants, if and only if, it does not infringe on the rights of others.

We allow people do demonstrate on our streets. But we require them to get a permit from the municipality where they will demonstrate. And even this sometimes causes problems. Many motorists, commuters and business establishments are objecting to the fact that the anti-GMA demonstrations are held right at the heart of the city’s business center, the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. That should be held in a public park. In Manila, for example, large demonstrations are held in the Luneta. We are very glad that almost all our political demonstrations have been relatively peaceful. Today that is quite hard to achieve. True that most, if not all, activists want a peaceful assembly. The problem is that it is very difficult to control terrorists from infiltrating their ranks.

We are also glad that as a general rule, the authorities have always dealt with the demonstrators with maximum tolerance. But even maximum tolerance has a limit. When demonstrators resort to throwing stones at the police, for instance, maximum tolerance reaches its maximum.

But Filipinos have always generally been a peaceful people. In the history of the world, we know of no other instance when a dictatorship was toppled without a single loss of life or damage to property. That is what People Power was all about.

People have a right to go to the streets to air their grievances. But all rallies must be peaceful. We don’t want to see, hear or read about a demonstrator or policeman who got killed or hurt in a rally. After all, we are all kapamilya. And let us hold our rallies where they will do the minimum amount of inconvenience to the general public. We would like to see the day when Makati rallies no longer take place right in the middle of the commercial center. That will in time drive big-time businessmen to other places. Makati is our main business city.