Successful but questionable moves

The "Batasan Six" really have all the reasons to rant and rave about their meetings with GMA and the military generals back in 2001 to plot the ouster of then President Joseph Estrada. There seems to be logic in the vehement denunciation of GMA now. If it is illegal to plot against her now, it must be illegal to plot against Erap then. Both involved a plot to oust a sitting President.

But there is a big difference between the events of January 2001 and February 2006. In January 2001, the move to oust Erap succeeded while in February 2006, the move to topple GMA failed. The number one, universally accepted rule in any revolution, whether violent or non-violent is that when it succeeds everything done in furtherance thereof becomes logical and legal. This is the bitter truth which our leftist Congressmen should know by now since they have been in this business of revolution for so many years already.

Thus, in 2001 even our Supreme Court said that Erap was not forcibly removed from office but had voluntarily resigned, albeit impliedly or constructively. So also the action of the military generals in breaking off the chain of command with their commander-in-chief to side with the GMA camp was merely considered a "withdrawal of support" rather than a coup d’etat because it was just done pursuant to the military’s duty as the "protector of the people" under the Constitution.

Having seen the dire consequences of being prematurely stripped of power involuntarily like Erap, GMA would naturally and understandably quell all moves to remove her from office or resist all calls for her to step down before her term ends, now that she finds herself in the same predicament as Erap in 2001. She is just applying another tried and tested philosophy of American writer of Spanish descent, George Santayana who said that "those who have not learned from history are bound to repeat it", or words to that effect.

Perhaps it is still fresh in the minds of GMA and her advisers what happened when the impeachment complaint against Erap reached the Senate for trial as the nation watched with bated breath its blow by blow account and gory details aired live on TV. The Palace thought that even if they might be able to eventually muster the support of enough Senators for a favorable decision, there was still the risk of a prolonged and damaging public trial that might trigger another people power if the Senate action is so revolting to the people’s expectations. So to avoid a repeat of Erap’s impeachment fiasco, the impeachment against GMA had to be nipped in the bud in the Lower House where they have an overwhelming majority. After all, impeachment is just another political game where numbers rather than law and reason oftentimes hold sway.

Palace strategists likewise foresaw that the Lower House action throwing away the impeachment complaint might spark a series of rallies escalating into another massive assembly of people power proportion. So they dug up a law passed during the repressive Marcos regime (B.P. 880) pursuant to which they discarded the policy of maximum tolerance and adopted the calibrated preemptive response (CPR) as they implemented the "no permit no rally policy". Hence the street rallies gradually fizzled out as the policemen outnumbered the protesters and demonstrators causing traffic on the streets.

To plug all the holes where the opposition could air the alleged anomalies and scams forming part of the "lying, cheating and stealing" alleged in the impeachment complaint, Executive Order 464 was issued requiring officials from the executive department including those in the military, to get the Palace go signal before appearing in any legislative investigations. Thus because of this EO, a general and a colonel were charged before military court martial for disobeying it while the National Security Adviser got off a contempt punishment imposed by the Senate for keeping his mouth shot regarding an allegedly venal contract.

But with media becoming more rambunctious, critical and free wheeling, the Palace thought that anti GMA forces still have an adequate outlet to air their grievances and charges. And so Proclamation 1017 was issued declaring a State of National Emergency throughout the country based on an intelligence report of an alleged tactical alliance among the elements in the political opposition, the NDF-CPP-NPA and some military adventurists who were accused of plotting to bring down the democratic Philippine State simply because of their repeated attempt to bring down the President. 1017 appeared to be mainly directed against the extreme left and the extreme right, but it was more felt by media because of the "chill" factor it emitted that somehow instilled in the minds of journalists what Manong Max Soliven learned during martial law years that the pen after all is not mightier than the sword.

So far GMA has succeeded in preventing a repeat of history with calibrated preemptive moves. But for how long she can do so and how far she can go are still big question marks because the constitutionality of these moves is still being questioned before the Supreme Court. Unless these questions are resolved expeditiously by the SC and unless the several other issues affecting the legitimacy and credibility of this administration are satisfactorily disposed off, the nation cannot move forward in unison despite encouraging economic signs.

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