A New Contest: Name That Author

"Justice may have been saved this time by the direct democracy of people power, but it is a repetition of history to which we are hopefully not condemned. The people's heroism ought to be reserved for the greatest of tyrannies. At some point, institutions have to do the work. Budgets cannot be passed at demonstrations, nor policy made by a mob, unless one is at the head of it.

Rare moments in history are those, when from its peaks, one can see the shining city of the future, rising from the penumbra of the past. If people power offers hope, I think I found it in the multitude of young people who were holding an all-night rave party at Edsa before the mass defections ended Erap. In that darkling midnight before the dawn, the iridescent lights of their cell phones revealed bright eyes of that empowered vigilance with which to secure their own liberty."

when he talked about the "greatest of tyrannies", he was referring to Erap (at that time.) and this one too.

The wider implication is that the entire government will be under the perpetual siege of its critics. People power can only grow as Filipinos are awakened to the suspicion that their government is not the omnipotent savior they have always hoped it would be. The apparent silence of the majority of Filipinos in the D and E classes will become a less secure refuge for scoundrels and demagogues. Advancing media and communications technologies will see to that, by wiring ordinary Filipinos together more effectively and busting the traditional opaqueness of government.

The meaning of people power is that Filipinos are no longer a stupid flock of sheep, blindly trusting the government as a benevolent shepherd. The Erap era has made us realize government's potential to be a vast criminal enterprise. Distrust of government is at an all-time high. All its institutions are damaged. This is why the new administration will not be enjoying much of a honeymoon. The cycle of new leader to disenchantment to replacement by people power, could be devastatingly foreshortened and repeated, if government leaders fail in delivering on their promises. Government's fate lies more in performance and less in personality, a warning to the ebullient new administration.

The presidency and national government will not be the only target of the people's scrutiny and vigilance. Issues such as the quality of mayors and councilors, are all fair game in the emerging era of an empowered citizenry.

He he he...

both quotes are from the same author. Unlike Jessica Zafra, I have no prizes to dole out for those who got it right.

UPDATE: Here's the answer. Link 1. Link 2.