After getting a taste of the real-life differences between mainstream media and blogging, Connie Veneracion comes out today with an analysis of Proclamation 1017In the blogosphere, kantogirl blues has to have one of the funniest blog entries to come out of the latest mutation of this crisis….  Paolo Manalo runs with the ideaAfter all points to the tremendous pressure -the piercing spotlight of history- on the justices of the Supreme Court by what this blogger charmingly calls “the Kapampangan spitfire”.Torn & Frayed attended a talk given by Randy David and former UP Law Dean Pangalanan.  Two tidbits from Randy David are particularly illuminating:• His most memorable remark was “Everyone is aware of the enormous class and economic differences in the Philippines, but you cannot really be aware of them until you taste the judicial system”.• Mike Defensor phone David to apologise and to explain he was not “on the list”.

A lapdog republic By Manuel L. Quezon III Inquirer THERE IS THIS POINT OF VIEW THAT A PRESIDENTIAL proclamation serves to publicize the state of mind of the chief executive. President Macapagal-Arroyo’s Proclamation 1017 suggests a Marcosian state of mind. Lawyers have pointed out that the closing paragraph of the proclamation was lifted virtually verbatim [...]

Sunday, February 26 The final dispersal Kids from a graduation party watching events Senator Magsaysay with the media Saturday, February 25 Baby Cardinals at the Edsa Shrine Friday, February 24 Crowd confronted by riot policemen Makati Business Club prepares to march Technorati Tags: Edsa, people power, Philippines

Adm Dimayuga thought he was voluntarily asking 2 b relieved of his command.And (from a pro-Arroyo friend):Kaming mga pro arroyo are now known as as JARJARHEADS: I, Jar Jar Binks, vote to give the Supreme Chancellor emergency powers to deal with the separatist crisis.The tradition of Filipino political humor, as a Philippines Free Press article from 1986 points out, is a venerable one.My column for today is A lapdog republic….  Arroyo is now a dictator, and Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ., who tackles what are constitutionally-permitted (and contemplated) emergency situations.Much of the punditocracy remains concerned with the President’s actions (and those of her opponents)….  And just in case you thought only the usual suspects are concerned about government’s actions, the International Herald Tribune points out foreign observers are concerned, too.

The messages were contradictory and confusing: the Marines were uneasy, there was something going on, something was going to go on, a call for people to pray for them, or pray with them, was being made, people should go to Fort Bonifacio, people should not go, there were troops movements…So off I went to Fort Bonifacio to see what was going on. Passing the route that takes you past Market, Market!…  Strangely enough, other soldiers, also in full battle gear, snoozed away on portable black mesh hammocks, or swung idly from side to side, one leg drooping over their hammock’s side.By the time I got to Gate 3 (it seemed to me) of the Marines H.Q., it was obvious something was, indeed, afoot; and yet a polite couple of sentries still made the cars pause and took driver’s licenses and handed out car passes….  Outside the club house, there were young teenagers looking very uncomfortable in suits or frilly dresses: at first it seemed to me perhaps there was a wedding reception going on, and maybe they were part of the bridal entourage.I went inside the club house, eavesdropping on some of the chatter going on. Apparently the original text message calls had evolved into a call for civilians to come to the Marines chapel, to pray for the safety of the Marines.

Even loyal allies such as Max Soliven, as Hillblogger predicted, cannot stomach her attempting to rule with an iron hand.Yet there are those whose families are divided: Pulsar has an extremely engaging account of how he and his parents prevented his sister from joining the Ayala rally.  I understand where he and his parents are coming from; I admire the passion of his sister.And there are those who disagree: who are Pro Arroyo.Salamankiero has several posts, though this summarizes his views quite well.Go Figure echoes Solita Monsod….  AlterNation101 proposes a boycott of media he considers partisan.There are those supremely indifferent: notes from the peanut gallery is a perfect example.There are those trying to keep a neutral view on what’s going on: Torn & Frayed; Filipino journalist big mango; and the Sassy Lawyer: but neither are they serving as propagandists of the present dispensation or its enemies.

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINESwww.nujp.org <http://www.nujp.org> Feb. 26, 2006A call for solidarityFor a few years now, the global media community has acknowledged thePhilippines among the most dangerous places for journalists….  Police had earlierarrested Randy David, a columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer,holding the award-winning journalist and sociologist for five hours prosecutors said there was no ground to charge him with any crime.The government deployed troops to the compounds of ABS-CBN and GMA-7,the country’s largest television networks….  Arroyo a strong message: We will not go gentlyinto the night.We call on all our colleagues in print, broadcast and digitaljournalism worldwide to support Philippine media in this dark hour.Please add your voice to our protest.

Identified as having a pro-Estrada editorial position, the government was clearly after making sure it didn’t come out with a devastating issue on Friday’s events.And so, the crackdown continues.I seriously propose that the BLAWggers start preparing a common position for bloggers who find themselves shut down for content found offensive by the government….  That government people spread the rumor,despite it’s not being true, suggests they’re out to damage the reputations of those they can, even if they don’t go after them legally.  The experience of the PCIJ when it had an entry affected by a court ruling, also comes back to mind.

And he clearly sees that relying on judicial relief is a stab in the dark.My view: the President’s proclamation of a State of National Emergency is, in reality, the concrete manifestation, in legal language, of a state of panic.Opposition and even adventurism (on the part of the military) may be an inherent temptation, but digging in one’s heels isn’t an inevitable response to an incumbent: at least not on a wide scale…. The faces of Edsa were not just the red flags of various groups, it was the faces of leading members of the business community: Ramon del Rosario, Jose Cuisia, Bobby de Ocampo, Roberto Romulo, and many others, linking arms and defying a government ban on protests; it was the face of Cory Aquino determined to defy the ban on protests to simply lay a wreath at her husband’s monument, in the same manner she and millions defied the government to bury her husband.5…. It was about seeing my mother, a prudent person, politically, out with volunteers a quarter of her age, because the Red Cross (whose volunteers she trains) had deployed its volunteers because of the danger of so many people possibly getting hurt.Yesterday was about linking arms with poor people, rich people, normally politically indifferent people and activists, people with views different from my own but who, at least, aren’t cowardly collaborators or simple-minded apologists of the current dispensation.

It’s my appreciation of what Edsa really meant and accomplished.Today, I will be participating in a full-day retreat by the so-called “middle forces,” to reflect on where it has gone since 1986, and where it is headed….  Chasing privilege in the corridors of power.Complicity in martial law never examined; absolution assumed in 1986No purge was undertakenNo reeducation took place –confused children with propaganda textbooks suddenly outmoded, but never fully purgedThe gains never went beyond the rhetorical, there was a lack of self-sacrificeMiddle Forces did not recognize their rejection by the people not once, but thrice:In 1992, Danding & ImeldaIn 1998, with ErapIn 2001, with Edsa Tres, when the middle forces were reduced to fleeing to San Beda, and a hollow re-occupation of the Edsa shrine took placeIn all the above, the middle forces forget a central lesson of the efforts from 1983-1985: unity; there was a proliferation of candidates, but only one candidate for the other side.We are here because a central attribute of democratic self-governance is self-control.  The lack of self-control brought Marcos and Estrada down; it led to Cory foregoing historic opportunities, but has salvaged her post-Edsa reputation; it meant Ramos for all his defects, can live in a residual afterglow to his presidency –a presidency in which the middle forces had nothing to do.What are our options?A wider gulf exists between the middle and the people; the debate indeed, involves whether the middle even really exists anymore.