To the pro-Arroyo supporters out there, one question...

kung si GMA at si Garci ang nasa laman ng mga audio tapes ng opposition, will you ask Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign pronto?

Isa pa, I keep hearing from the pro-Arroyo media and GMA spokesperson Ignacio Bunye na we need to keep GMA (even if she cheated) because she's the only one who can turn this country around and save us from poverty and misery, and that we have "no alternative candidates" to replace her, because they're all bad raw.

First of all, the economy is in worse shape now that it has ever been. There were significantly more job losses and factory closing during Arroyo's first 3 years compared to the previous administration first 3 years. Ask ordinary Filipinos if they were better off now than they were 4 years ago, and a significant majority of them will say NO. We are living in uncertain times right now.

Also, the Pro-Arroyo people promised that edsa dos and GMA would help reduce corruption, but the opposite thing happened. Check Transparency International's ratings on the Philippines. Corruption is worse now than ever, even worse than during Erap, Cory and Ramos' time.

So she is not RP's "savior" and she is not indispensable, like some here want you to believe.

Second, who says that we don't have any alternatives for GMA? That's Bull***t! Lacson would make an excellent president. Bayani Fernando's there. Mar Roxas, Serge Osmena, Drilon, Joker Arroyo and Richard Gordon too. Heck, even Joe "Yoda" de Venecia would make a better president than GMA, which isn't saying a lot.

So with Lacson, Fernando, Roxas, Gordon and Osmena as your potential candidates, you can't go wrong there!

If Arroyo resigns and calls for a snap election (she should be disqualified from running since she stole the last one), this election will become a wide open race, with any of those 5 having an equal shot at winning since:

1) there would be no more "incumbent" presidents like Arroyo na pwedeng gamitin ang pera ng gobierno para manalo.

2) wala na ring FPJ at Erap (he's still under house arrest).

This is a chance for GMA to right a wrong peacefully, and I hope she resigns na if she loves her country.

But kung matigas pa rin ang ulo niya, at gustong kumapit sa pwesto, ito ang mangyayari:

1) Military Junta with a Pervez Musharraf-like figure (Fidel Ramos?) taking over our country.

2) Another Edsa replacing GMA with the last legitimate presdient we had, Joseph Estrada.

So to GMA and her supporters, you either do it the easy and peaceful way, or the HARD WAY!

It's your choice.

De Quiros makes perfect sense:

At least when Estrada cried during the height of adversity, "I will not step down, I am the duly elected president of this country," his foes could only shake their heads sadly and wonder at the tragedy of it. When President Arroyo cries the same thing today, everyone can only laugh his head off and marvel at the travesty of it. Estrada merely betrayed the public trust, Ms Arroyo never had the public trust to begin with.

How in God's name can you get worse than that?

...

The prospect -- or threat -- of De Castro taking over is not as insurmountable as it sounds. The solution is snap elections. The financial objection to it, which is that in these dire times the country cannot afford another expensive electoral exercise, is ridiculous. It is far more cost-effective than keeping a leader who cannot lead, having lost every right to. In these dire times, what this country cannot afford is an expensive, no, extravagant, non-president. This country cannot survive five more years of misrule. Or more than misrule, mistaken rule.

There's more than moral force to justify a "snap election," there's legal force, too. If it's true that President Arroyo cheated during the last election -- and I've always said that her ransacking of the public treasury to campaign patently constituted that, quite apart from the direct evidence offered by Ong's tape that she conspired with a Comelec official to doctor the results -- then the last presidential election may be deemed null and void. I do not know what the implications of that would be for the other officials, I leave that to the legal eagles. But there is more than enough reason to void the contest for president at least.

And hold a snap election. De Castro may not automatically fill in Ms Arroyo's shoes because of one thing: This isn't just a case of the president being mentally (or morally) incapacitated and deemed unfit (though heaven knows it's that, too) which, as decreed by the Constitution, should have the vice president taking over. This is a case of someone being found out to have usurped the presidency. The position is vacant, and only the will of the people, as signified by the vote, can fill it.