Thursday, November 30, 2006 Editorial: Martial law, Cha-cha moves
AS THE year nears its conclusion there are several nasty rumors that abound in the national political landscape, most notably the "no election" speculations and the alleged impending "martial law" declaration of President Arroyo who had just gotten out of the hospital amid reports she is suffering from a liver ailment.
While the similarities between Arroyo and the late President Ferdinand Marcos are emerging -- some militant groups claim Arroyo is worse, though they always make that comparison to every sitting President -- the ghost of martial law remains a very potent nightmare for Filipinos to reject and media spotlight is far too strong for the President to even consider the possibility.
The reason for the declaration, according to the President's critics, is the renewed attempts at a third impeachment attempt by a slowly emerging opposition in next year's elections -- if these are allowed to continue at all in the first place.
According to a working committee in Congress, they are working on a compromise that would forestall the elections until November next year in place of a plebiscite on Charter change.
In short, they're not giving up on a variation of the People's Initiative since they believe they can still pull the people's strings and enable Arroyo to extend her reign until 2010 and maybe even beyond.
But if reports of her liver ailment are true, then President Arroyo may simply be trying to survive the rest of her term and evade any third impeachment attempt at her long enough to limp towards 2010.
If she can't achieve that either through a plebiscite or the much maligned Con-Ass, then martial law may be a looming possibility.
Or so her critics, which now include the outgoing Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, are said to be claiming. One thing we do know and that is the Filipino people would be sufficiently outraged enough to even take to the streets should President Arroyo declare martial law.
That is a risk even the President cannot afford to take even if she cites reports of terrorism knocking on the doorsteps of the country as evidenced by the presence of the Al Qaeda or the Jemaah Islamiyah operatives in Mindanao.
And she has said so publicly -- though with her or any other politico one can never be certain.
So the Filipino people should be made aware of the machinations of the administration politicians to try and impose their Charter change campaign on them and oppose anything that smells or reeks of political ambition and the desire to extend the rule of a regime whose credibility had already been shot to hell.
