So far, so good

The critical time was from last night to this afternoon. The President was able to accomplish several things: stem the perception of panic on the part of her government; get the public support of the United States; get officials to publicly express their loyalty to her; holding the PNP, prevent the erosion of her control over the AFP.

The Catholic Church steadfastly kept the opposition and the Left at arms’ length.

Susan Roces refused to be drawn into the fray and be the Joan of Arc of the opposition.

The opposition kept the same bumbling fools on TV and the radio, without, on the other hand, gaining anyone new or credible to buttress their ranks. They presented themselves as more interested in an Estrada restoration, which kept other oppositionists from boldly moving; the Left muddled its message, as usual, and jumped the gun.

No tipping point was reached. Tommorow, the President will look very presidential indeed at the independence day ceremony (no parade); the best the opposition can threaten is a possible prayer rally at San Carlos seminary tomorrow.

For now, all is quiet, and unless anything else happens, that’s it for now. For a look back on this series of posts, click the “Crisis Mode” category of entries.

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Manuel L. Quezon III.

16 thoughts on “So far, so good

  1. Yes, she escaped this gauntlet. The main raison d’etre of course is Ms Roces’ First-Lady-like demeanor of not acceeding to mongers.

    But as you said many of other contributors: US support, AFP support, and the same-branded-folks behind Mr Sammy Ong during the press-con.

    Well according to Mr Luis Teodoro’s words, this won’t be the last crisis down the road to 2010 — and this administration is so damaged that it’s just a matter of time to see it crumbling down.

    We can sleep now.

  2. Teodoro et al. said that after Edsa Tres… I’d suggest she actually gets stronger every time she survives one of these efforts…

  3. Let me ask you this. Do you support arroyo and actually voted for the lady? and if the evidence (wiretapped conversation which is illegal unless madame president confirmed the conversation actually happen) is proven to be true, will you stand by her side? Im just curious you know. and if she’s removed will you root for noli to replace her? (God help us all if noli takeover)

  4. I used to work for her. And I I voted for her.Even if the conversation, as it stands, is proven true, it’s not enough to remove her. But if the talk that there are other conversations, and they indicate that she masterminded cheating involving the Comelec, she would have to be impeached. And if she were impeached, then we have no choice but to go with her successor, Noli. As for God helping us if Noli took over, that’s what the people wanted -she could, after all, drop dead any day, that’s always a risk in the presidency.

  5. There’s another side to this story.

    I hope you realized there was a failed people power revolt friday nigt and, to her credit, the alleged president of the republic artficially twarthed that revolt. People were stripped of the “People Power option” these days, (of course it can’t work without the military and you elite guys on board) that the next time the people really rise up, it may be in an armed struggle. Never underestimate the intelligence of the “uneducated”.

    Another side to the story is how Big Business Media played along with the alleged president and cling mightily to the status quo. All you can hear in the media is a call for people to stay calm and not allow themselves to be used by politicians with self-serving agenda. Wow! That’s equivalent to telling telling them “calm down, relax and just enjoy our cheap shows! do not, for heavens sake, don’t bother to exercise your “inviolable” right of assembly” Why they never fail to insult the intelligence of the “uneducated”, only they know.

    Now about the day of mourning… instead of a demand for government to not suppress the search for TRUTH, what did the national day of mourning accomplish? Nothing. Not even mourn. At the end of the day, what you’ll see is “people” expresing their support for Gloria. How pathetic this supposed republic has become.

    June 10, 2005 is an important date for it marks the death of the People Power illussion. Without “People Power”, the thinking sector of the lower and middle class
    now have no recourse but a bloody revolution the next time they can’t contain their disgust at the political predators of the land, and I’m not singling out Gloria. How dare the official media say that the people are “People Power fatigued”. They might be reffering to themselves, their bosses and their kind. For the rest of the people below the poverty line, those who will never get to share in the economic pie, I say “People Power fatigue” is one luxury they can never afford.

    When it comes right down to it, more poor people have more decency than most of the “educated” kind that troops to malacanang. This basic decency happens to be one luxury Gloria and her hordes of cohorts can never afford to have. Usurpers to power that’s what they are… and how truly pathetic we as a people have become. Whatever anyone says, we now have a fictitious president serving at the behest of the elite.

    Having said all these, I hope the people will not rise up in a bloody revolt. I would rather wait patiently for the Lord’s revenge, which will come as more sweet and complete.

    I can now sleep.


  6. I remember this, when they were impeaching Erap, Erap allowed them to be in edsa and like never even bothered to disperse them. I and 20 friends went there to enjoy free food,booze and entertainment. Erap was all saying be calm and uphold the law and Goldilocks spreaded their support for EDSA 2 by offering free food ( dont deny it goldi I ate a brazo de mercedez for free) and more people came for it. even san miguel lights was not spared, we had a party. Sadly we didint uphold the law. Aglipay,Reyes Mercado et al commited Treason removed the guy got Davide to proclaim gloria and they went to control the republic.

    Why am I saying this? Elias statement is true. The TV and Radio was normal yesterday its seems all their message said be calm and the palace kept on saying uphold the law(bullshit!) did they give Erap the benefit of the the doubt too? did they uphold the law when they took over and grab power? Look at the media coverage of EDSA 2 and EDSA 3 ( I went there because I believe they were wrong on removing Erap.) and you can see EDSA 3 doesnt even have the 1/4 of the media coverage that they give for EDSA 2.

    Yeah I will continue to be calm and ride with the flow. Yes I will also wait for God’s deliverance upon us. Yes I will go back to sleep and dream about why me and my friends dont have any rights of association and cant speak our minds without risking ourselves and getting a permit to rally. I will also dream why the f i stayed and didint grab my chances of immigrating abroad then I will wake up, feeling like shit and will still love my country.

  7. Elias and Ed: I disagree. The conditions for people power were not there, not for the middle class, and not for the masses. The conditions for people power, burgis style, are specific; and the kind of emotions necessary to inspire the masses to the kind of spontaneous and genuine mass action I saw during at least part of Edsa Tres (having talked to some people right there at the Edsa Shrine) were missing, as well.

    Neither the masses nor the middle class were about to lift a finger for two sides, administration and opposition, they find equally corrupt -certainly not the extent they’d risk their neck for either side, this administration having clearly proven it doesn’t mind breaking a few skulls to stay in power.

  8. maybe we should wait until we finish our 3 days vacation and see what will happen. this 3 days vacation is killing me. Man I cant wait for tuesday to come. some more explosive stuff will surface but maybe it will fizzle like a watusi.

    Posting in this blog is fun. A mental exercise for my puny english and get Boss manolo to answer in almost an instant. I thought mlq3 is pro arroyo but with his reaction he seems like in the middle.

    Lets wait and see, i dont know any insider stuff just some gut feeling that more stuff will happen when tueday come.

  9. I’m in the middle. Remember, I left her service. Maybe things will heat up when they try to arrest Ong.

    You know what I think? Panfilo Lacson let the Erap people make fools of themselves and is still waiting to make his real move.

  10. Ping will always be Ping. no doubt he got some moves we dont know about and his actions lately are maybe a little silent. He got something up to his sleeves. and mind you I spoke to some of my cousins who are in the military that if ping will lead them and their man will join him in manila and i told them wtf? seriously even those taxi drivers i know will go for ping. scary man Ping is and well love by some macho people too

  11. Ed -taxi drivers are always very right-wing. there was always the belief that ping was unpopular in the military… but if that’s changing… then, well…

  12. the notion that ping is unpopular in military is wrong. some said gringo is not welcome to their ranks anymore isnt true. I always remember the saying in PMA that blood is thicker than water and a brother is more worthy than anyone else ( something to that effect). some were silent about their support for ping and even calling him names for their own safety. why risk their neck for ping if the timing isnt right yet?

    sheeesh we are swimming in a muddled pool here. enuff about the military. im going to church and pray for my soul.

  13. Ping – dark side lurks in this untrust-worthy dude
    GMA – its now clear presidency is too big a job for her. doesn’t possess or cannot execute grand visions for this country

    I’m willing to give de Venecia a try seems like he’s got the potential to be like or best a Ramos type presidency.

  14. Yeah a Ramos type president is good for the country. but I aint going for a trapo like de venecia, I came from pangasinan and even his constituents are wondering why he won the congressional election and they didint vote for mickey mouse. ask anyone from who came from pangasinan and they will tell you they dont know where his house is. stateman my ass. Ramos can be a substitute if and when we remove that old bat from the palace.

  15. taxi drivers are always very right-wing.

    That’s a thought. Recently, I chatted up the cab driver sometime right after the
    Club Filipino ‘get-together’. This guy was anti-Gloria, anti-women leaders, pro-Ping, and
    in favor of extreme measures like bombing and razing Malacanang to the ground.
    Taxi drivers are well-informed about issues and hold very strong opinions. What makes
    them so right-wing however makes me wonder.

  16. ed -old bat? but that would make fvr the father of all bats…

    mari, it’s a matter of private property and always dealing with the worst side of the law.

    datu puti -he’d only work as prime minister and indeed, talk is to speed up constitutional reform to defuse the situation.

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