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Sunday, December 19, 2004
Cabaero: Threat of protest actions
By Nini B. Cabaero
Beyond thirty
What would come out of the political heat generated by the passing away of movie idol and former presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.?
Some government officials aired warnings of protest actions by mass followers of Poe. Others said that, given time after the mourning and with the coming Christmas and New Year holidays that usually place believers in a non-confrontational state, the rising emotions among the aggrieved Poe followers would be tempered.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago called for the police and military to be on alert should there be an outburst of rallies and protests by supporters of Poe. She said certain individuals or groups might use Poe’s passing away to instigate destabilization moves.
Poe’s brother, Conrad, denied this however. He said people were merely expressing their grief over the loss of their movie idol.
Santiago, who was with the camp of Poe and former President Estrada prior to her joining the administration slate in the last elections, probably has basis for her pronouncements. “I think the danger, jeopardy to national political stability will arise after the burial,” she said.
She spoke of “professional saboteurs” and “tiny little cells” that hope, in some form not through an electoral process, to “take advantage of these emotions that are now swirling within the breath of every Poe supporter.”
If Poe were alive today, would he have wanted the marches and rallies promised by his supporters now? Maybe not. Historically, Poe himself had not been an advocate of supra-legal means to fight government. He may have had a temper, he may have had strong words against the media that covered his campaign, he may have promoted the role of a fighter.
But he never personally endorsed moves to change the government outside of the channels provided for in the Constitution.
I recall the night on election day last May 10 when Poe supporters were gathered in Makati and there were calls for them to march to Edsa. The fear of another Edsa revolt was present and the initial reports of massive cheating at the polls fanned the wish to resort to so-called people power.
In turn, the government had to ready a response to restore calm in case tension escalated.
But what happened, to the relief of many, was Poe going to the back of the stage and leaving his leaders to convince the crowd to stay in Makati instead. The call for a march to Edsa was canceled after Poe’s leaders saw the danger of a street uprising and Poe himself later assured he would abide by election grievance procedures provided by law.
Poe and his leaders knew that if an Edsa revolt were forced during that time, the greatest losers would be all of us. If destabilization moves were forced this time, the greatest losers would still be us.
(e-mail: ninicab@sunstar. com.ph)
(December 19, 2004 issue)
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