I never thought I would say this, but there is someone worse than Marcos. Her name is GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO and she is pretending to be President of the Philippines. (I refuse to call her Ms., Mrs., Madame as it would be an insult to women everywhere; I most certainly refuse to call her President.) Marcos, at least, put some semblance of legitimacy to his rule (and, in the process, gave legal scholars a lot of grist for their mills); Gloria doesn't even pretend anymore. She will just do what she pleases.
The latest incarnation of Marcos's Arrest Search Seizure Order (ASSO), Presidential Commitment Order (PCO), Preventive Detention Action (PDA) is Gloria's new rule on mass actions--Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR). Not only is it draconian, it is even ungrammatical as well as oxymoronic; where else can you find "pre-emptive" and "response" in the same phrase?
Her latest Executive Order gagging all executive branch officials , including the military and police, from attending congressional inquiries, is just another instance of just how much worse she is. At least Marcos didn't pretend, he just shut Congress down. The net effect of EO 464 is to prevent Congress from exercising oversight powers over the executive and, thus, prevent it from imposing a check on executive abuses (not that the Congress is itself a paragon of virtue but I'm speaking as a matter of principle, Constitutional principle).
I wish Gloria would be like a bad dream that you can wake up from, but I'm afraid that reality, upon waking up, might also make you want to just go back to sleep-- Mr. Pomade himself as President? Unfortunately, change has to start somewhere and, for me, that means, Gloria must go. First, she goes, then we worry about Noli.
1 comment:
"First, she goes, then we worry about Noli." I can't agree with you more on this. A lot of the apathy stems from the fact that there really isn't anybody decent to replace her - a 'devil you know' kind of thing. But you're right, change has to start somewhere. We can pick up the pieces and set things right after she's gone :)
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