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Thursday, June 09, 2005
Mongaya: Coup plot?
By Anol Mongaya
The expose on the controversial taped cell phone conversation allegedly between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and an election commissioner is part of a bigger plot. It seeks to trigger public outrage and undermine the legitimacy of the President’s electoral mandate.
If we are to believe rumors, it is part of an oust-GMA conspiracy that has American approval. In fact, text messages I received last weekend before talks about the tape reached newspapers pointed to the Americans as the source.
I tend to believe talks of American involvement in the wiretapping and expose of the tape. For one, Americans have the technology to monitor supposedly safe lines used by the President. Two, the relation between the Bush and Arroyo administrations is not exactly smooth after the pullout from Iraq. Three, the Americans want to build a strategic military base in Mindanao but GMA is playing the China card. Four, had it been the opposition elements who carried out the wiretapping, they would have eagerly brought it out and not wait for a possible coup conspiracy a year later.
Fortunately for the Arroyo administration, the tape was a dud. It failed to strike a chord in the hearts of Filipinos.
The problem with the opposition now is the absence of an alternative to President Arroyo. Edsa 1 had Cory Aquino. Edsa 2 had then vice president Arroyo.
Today, there is talk of a junta, with aging generals positioning themselves as possible junta leaders. But I don’t think a military-civilian junta would be embraced by majority of the Filipinos. This smells like a return to military rule.
***
Reporters who covered the inauguration months ago of the so-called resort of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Boracay were surprised when this was recently “exposed” as luxurious. The proponent, a foundation headed by Cebuano businessman Nelson Yuvallos, barely had P2 million for the construction, and the project is still unfinished.
Two million pesos is roughly the amount one spends for a low-cost housing unit.
Yuvallos, who is the brother of Talamban schoolmates, said the project was conceptualized to provide enlisted men with an affordable resort where they can take their family for rest and recreation. While he agreed that there are other priorities that the AFP should address, he felt somebody should also look into the R and R needs of ordinary soldiers.
Unfortunately for the foundation, its AFP counterpart did some short cuts in facilitating the construction of the project. I think this initially raised the eyebrows of prying journalists. Please remedy the lapses a.s.a.p., sirs.
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Mayor Tomas Osmeña has come out to defend the Roman Spa that used to be at the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel. But is it true that some people once referred to it as “massage na, may romance pa”?
(superbalita@sunstar.com.ph or anol.blogs.friendster.com/anols_blog)
(June 9, 2005 issue)
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