Answering MLQ3

Linawin muna natin ito para wala nang gulo.

Sabi ni MLQ3 na gusto raw ng oppostion ng coup para may military junta or ma-install ulit si Erap sa kapangyarihan.

But I think he's wrong.

Opposition favors resignation, snap polls

By Gerry Baldo

01/22/2006

Rather than staging a coup as a means to oust President Arroyo, the political opposition prefers to have the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo and her vice president, Noli de Castro, to pave the way for snap elections, with the Senate President taking over for a limited period of 60 days within which fresh elections for the two top posts will be scheduled by Congress.

This would be the peaceful way out of the current political crisis that has been fueled by the alleged illegitimate presidency of Mrs. Arroyo, owing to widespread public judgment of her having cheated at the polls in 2004, as caught in the wiretapped conversations between her and Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, where the poll rigging operations were discussed.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and former Sen. Vicente Sotto III, in separate statements, yesterday pointed out that a snap election would be a better option now for Mrs. Arroyo in the face of an alleged brewing coup by the military.

RTWT.

Eto pa.

Kung si House minority leader Francis "Chiz" Escudero naman ang tatanungin, wala itong balak na basta na lamang palitan ng oposisyon si Arroyo sa poder kapag natanggal na ang pangulo.

Ayon kay Escudero, mas pabor ito na magkaroon ng snap election kapag natanggal si Arroyo upang magkaroon ng partisipasyon ang taumbayan na pumili ng panibagong leader.

"Mas magandang magkaroon ng snap election agad para magkaroon ng bagong leader," ani Escudero.

Sabi pa ni MLQ3:

and what we should know, because if you are going to go down the path of wanting the soldiers to solve things, you'd better know what you're getting into.

Gusto ko lang linawin ang isang bagay, manuel--I'm not in favor of any military junta, but i'm in favor of removing GMA via the so called "constructive resignation".

I'm also not in favor of installing erap back to power, if that's what you are thinking. Erap is sooooo five years ago. I want to move on na rin from Erap. Sure, there are some erap supporters like Herman Tiu Laurel who want to install erap back as president, but they're a fringe minority. A significant majority of the opposition and those who are against ARroyo (I still count you as one of them) favor new elections to replace the fake one. I myself have been pushing for Snap elections w/out Arroyo since June of last year pa.

And once she's out, hindi lang yung mga COMELEC commissioners ang magre-resign, pero PATI na rin yung mga lower ranking COMELEC officials na involved sa GLORIAGATE scandal (hindi ito kasali sa petition nyo to reform the COMELEC, IIRC, which is a one of it's BIG pagkukulangs, IMO... I will deal with that later in a future post).

Kapag maayos na ulit ang COMELEC, then we will have new elections to elect a legit president. But no junta for me, MLQ3. And I don't want to see erap back as president either... LOL.

re: wanting the soldiers to solve things for us

I don't want the soldiers "to solve" the GLORIAGATE crisis for us. And I don't want to see them take the PRIMARY role in ousting GMA.

But do I want them involved in future "people power" moves against Arroyo? DEFINITELY.

I want them to play a SUPPORT role in ousting a corrupt and illegitimate president like they did in Edsa 1986 (where sila ang nauna at nag-spark ng edsa revolt) or in Edsa Dos (where kumalas sila kay erap after medyo malaki na ang mga anti-erap crowd sa edsa noong 2001).

And yes, dapat tayong mag-ingat sa mga "self-coup" na yan, since the people around arroyo and the people surrounding the marcoses then think alike. we know Arroyo's people and supporters are ruthless and cold blooded. And it doesn't hurt arroyo na she is already close friends with imelda, so maraming tips na maibibigay si imelda marcos kay GMA on "coup me" tactics.

"you'd better know what you're getting into."

hahahaha, thanks for your concern Manuel... but i'll be taking some tips from Mike ARroyo on how to form a military "strike force". ;)

MORE: ang comment ko sa latest post niya.

In May, 2001, Estrada loyalists and their allies capitalized on a public outpouring of sympathy for Estrada by calling for People Power, but it seems their objectives were muddled: was it to spring Estrada out of jail, or simply to whip up popular support for the elections?

Heh. "whip up popular support for elections?" I don't recall anybody from Edsa Tres calling for "snap elections". What all those who participated in Edsa Tres wanted then was to remove Arroyo and install Erap back to power.

And I don't know if this is a deliberte attempt by MLQ3 to plant the seeds of doubt among his readers on the intentions of those currently opposed to Arroyo. Like, totoo ba talaga yung sinasabi nila (like me and Conrad de Quiros, and the opposition) ngayon na gusto nila ng "snap elections"? O kunwari lang yan para maibalik nila ang kanilang idolo na si ERap Estrada sa Malacanang?

Well Manuel?

The military, for one, were not about to reverse themselves so soon after abandoning Estrada. But neither were they prepared for an uprising that went beyond the past, well-organized demonstrations. Either from ambivalence or a lack of familiarity with handling People Power, the Estrada group kept stoking the rage of the protesters while holding back from unleashing them; this gave the government enough time, for example, to convince the Iglesia ni Cristo (standing in for the Catholic Church in this particular model for People Power) to withdraw its support and cut off coverage.

The admin was able to "convince" the INC to cease their coverage by sending in the APCs to their TV stations. LOL.

Notice na most of the pro-Arroyo mainstream media at that time gave minimal coverage to Edsa Tres, unlike Edsa dos a few months ago, even thuogh mas malaki (4 times larger?) ang crowd sa Edsa Tres compared sa Edsa Dos.

What could have happened if the protesters were better led, and more of an effort made to try to convince the military to defect? Or was that prospect closed off the moment Edsa Tres turned violent?

I disagree. After Edsa Dos, maraming in-appoint ni Arroyo ang mga loyalist generals at police officials na sumali sa Edsa dos sa mga importanteng posisyon, pati na sa cabinet niya, so mahirap kumalas ang militar sa opposition dahil puro mga arroyo loyalists ang nasa matataas na posisyon.

Edsa Tres went on for 5 to six days, IIRC, at hinintay ng mga anti-Arroyo opposition na kumalas ang militar kay Arroyo, pero loyal talaga eh.

Besides, why would the military give back it's support to erap after just removing him from power, when conventional wisdom at that time states that GMA was a "good leader" aka edsa dos' "the chosen one", while is Erap bad, immoral, corrupt, a crook etc etc... so of course most of the soldiers were reluctant to join the erap forces back in May 2001. I guess nobody knew the REAL Arroyo then, huh--me, the opposition, you, and everybody who supported Edsa Dos.

Or was that prospect closed off the moment Edsa Tres turned violent?

Edsa one could have turned violent, like Tiananmen. Edsa Dos could have turned violent too. I guess pagdating sa pag-involve ng military, mas magaling ang civil society sa ganitong bagay (may PLAN A, Plan B, at backup "strike force" pa all over the country when Edsa dos started, I guess the military withdrawal was "spontaneous" and "unplanned" too, huh?)

From MLQ3 commenter CVJ:

Apologies in advance, but…will everyone who favors a bloody revolution to achieve that hoped for ‘cathartic effect’ please step forward and offer themselves up and/or their own families as blood offering so we can get this meme over and done with? I can’t fathom why otherwise normal people, especially civilians could be so glib about life and death matters - as if a single human life is worth another’s psychological change in disposition.

Eat this, cvj.

I'm not for a coup/junta. I'm not for installing erap back to power. BUT I'm against Arroyo. And I'm for people power of the Edsa 1986 kind to oust the fake president.

And I take Mike defensor's warning very seriously, that's why I wrote this post here, because I want to warn those who oppose arroyo and give them every opportunity to walk away from joining another people power vs arroyo. FOLKS, WE ARE NOT DEALING WITH NICE PEOPLE HERE!!! Arroyo's thugs are ruthless and will use extreme violence to protect the fake president. Yes, it is VERY LIKELY that the next people power could turn into ANOTHER TIANANMEN!!!

And yes, Arroyo has deployed snipers in the past during a peaceful Anti-Arroyo rallies in July 25, 2005. So if they want to cause trouble, they'd just start shooting the marchers from afar one at a time to cause panic and a stampede.

Me, I'm an idiot LOL (or "reckless" -- Bunye's word). I'll join anti-Arroyo rallies even though the risks involved in joining an anti-administration protest rally in the Philippines is much greater than 6-8 years ago. If there's a people power call to oust ARroyo, if I'm physically able, I'm there, even if I know there's the possibility of TIANAMEN.

UPDATE: I posted this on PEX:

besides, all the coup talk is a straw man argument anyways. i don't know of anybody who's for a coup/military junta except for those from the admin who are fanning this kind of talk and the possibility of a "self-coup" or "coup-me" ala what marcos did in the early 70s. remember the "attack" on juan ponce enrile's car? arroyo could do something similar to that too and blame the opposition for it.

OTOH, a significant majority of those who are opposed to arroyo wants her "constructive resignation", then new elections.

One of the reasons kung bakit may possibilidad na magka-coup ay dahil pinipigilan ni Arroyo ang karapatan ng tao na gumawa ng GMA-resign rallies sa kalsada via "no permit, no rally" at CPR. You try to crush dissent by banning rallies, you push some to the edge.

At least nung panahon ni erap, nakakapag anti-admin rally ka sa edsa, mendiola at makati no? tsk tsk...

UPDATE: MLQ3 comments