Amando Doronila book about the plot to oust Erap is a must read

Raymond Burgos on Gen. Edgardo Espinosa's role sa Edsa Dos

Hindi lang sa mga tinatawag na "pula" o "kaliwa" nakipagmiting si GMA kundi maging sa ilang mga heneral ng Armed Forces kabilang na si Marine Gen. Edgardo Espinosa na nagplano ring magmartsa patungong Edsa Shrine kasama ang isang kumpanya ng mga armadong Philippine Marines.

Ayon na rin sa Inquirer columnist na si Amando Doronila, isang batalyon din ng Marines mula sa Camp Aguinaldo ang sasama sa grupo ni Espinosa at sa harap ng malaking "people power" ay magdedeklara sila ng pagbawi ng suporta kay Estrada bilang presidente at commander-in-chief.

Makikita rin sa aklat ni Doronila na may pamagat na "The Fall of Joseph Estrada" na ilang beses ding nakipagmiting si GMA sa mga heneral ng AFP at maging ng Philippine National Police at dito nga niya nalaman na may mga grupo na sa militar at pulisya na nagpaplanong kumilos laban sa administrasyong Estrada.

Ang mga miting ay naganap bago pa man nagdesisyon si Gen. Angelo Reyes na talikuran ang kanyang kumpare at commander-in-chief at ideliber ng buong-buo ang AFP kay GMA.

Sa isang miting nga ay nagulat si GMA na anti-Erap na ang Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM), Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) at ang buong Special Operations Command (SOCOM) kung saan nakapailalim ang First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR) at Special Force Regiment (FSR).

Kung tutuusin nga ay pasok na pasok si GMA noon sa planong pagpapatalsik kay Erap at pareho niya pang kausap ang mga nasa kaliwa at nasa kanan. Pero sa kabila nito ay hindi siya dumanas ng panggigipit mula sa administrasyong Estrada gaya ng mga civil society groups na hinayaan lang ng PNP na magprotesta sa lansangan.

Pero may kasabihan nga na may mga taong takot sa sariling anino at ito mismo ang nangyayari ngayon kay 'Comrade' Gloria na dahil sa ginawa niya noong pakikipagsabwatan sa mga kaliwa at sa militar para patalsikin si Erap, labis niya ring kinatatakutan na ang ganitong uri ng alyansa ang maaari ring magpatalsik sa kanya.

'Yan talaga ang problema sa mga gumagawa ng multo na sa kahuli-hulihan ay siya rin ang matatakot sa naturang multo.

-- Garcillano's passport found fake

ONE of the two passports of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano which were submitted to the House "did not conform to standards," according to a report of the Bangko Sentral which examined the passports.

Congressmen said with the BSP report, Garcillano could be held liable for perjury and falsification of public document.

-- BnW reports on the CHA CHA juggernaut

-- Arbet Bernardo on how Arroyo murdered Edsa 2

-- From Ninez Cacho Olivarez: Martial Law it is

Malacañang debunks critics’ claims that a de facto martial law is in place. But then again, Gloria Arroyo’s Malacañang is known for lying, not to mention the cheating and the stealing.

So how does Malacañang explain the fact that the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) has openly admitted to having, as one of its mandates, the duty and responsibility of monitoring newspaper publications for “scurrilous,” “seditious,” and “vulgar,” “mean” and “foul” articles that show the “grand design of the writer not only to undermine the current government but also to create a feeling of dissatisfaction (sic) with disposition to remain loyal to the government and obedient to the laws that tend to disturb public peace (sic, sic, sicque).”

Wow, do they know what these words mean?

The last time this was done to journalists — and I was one of them — was during the Marcos martial law years, when the Military National Intelligence Board summoned women journalists critical of the regime, to Fort Bonifacio and informed me that its generals have been poring over our articles which they claimed undermined the Marcos government and were bordering on sedition.

-- Palace Bans Gov't ads in critical Media

-- Defensor admits, denies Malacanang control of Small town lottery (STL)

-- Malaya Editorial: Garci scandals just won't go away

Well, we suppose we should not have expected otherwise. Former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano is a liar with a reputation for rigging elections and/or faking election returns. So submitting a fake passport to the House committees which looked into his wiretapped cellphone conversations with President Arroyo was in character.

But for sheer gall one has to give it to this guy. Passing off fake P500 bills is for run-of-the-mill crooks. It takes a Garcillano to present a fake passport to an official inquiry. And he expects to get away with it.

Gloria Arroyo owes him big, with no less than the presidency as his gift. Arroyo, the transactional president, honors her debt. When Garcillano was hiding, nobody from the executive department – not the police, not the military (which is now hunting down former Sen. Gregorio Honasan as if he were the scourge of the earth who has to be put away) - made an effort to help House subpoena servers.

He was whisked off by jet to Singapore clearly with the connivance of immigration and airport officials. From Singapore, he left for parts unknown with the foreign affairs department merely going through the motions of tracking his movements. When the time came for him to surface as part of a Palace script to "put a closure" to the election cheating scandal, he reappeared in the company of well-known Arroyo operators in Mindanao.

The House committees should call back Garcillano and ask him to explain the fake passport. He has made a mockery of the proceedings. His contemptuous action should not go unpunished.

The fake passport brings the "Hello Garci" tapes scandal back into the limelight. Arroyo continues to insist it’s time for the nation to move on. Her stealing of the election, however, is an issue that simply would not go away.

The February plot to bring down Arroyo, if true, came about because of the widely held belief her government is illegitimate. Against the threats, Gloria wraps herself in shibboleths of constitutionalism and the rule of law. The coup plotters and destabilizers want to grab power from "duly constituted authorities." They are out to destroy the Republic, etc.

But it takes just one protester with a placard saying "Ibagsak ang pekeng presidente" to unmask the lie that Gloria is the Republic.

The original sin of stealing the 2004 election just won’t be washed away, not even by Lady Macbeth’s perfumes of Araby. We have had CPR, EO 464, PP 1017 in an attempt to silence critics of the grand theft of the people’s sovereign right to elect their leaders.

They didn’t work. What’s next? Martial law? At least declaring martial rule would, for a change, be an honest admission that Arroyo rules not by the will of the people but by the force of arms.

Lito Banayo on GMA and her former leftist friends: 'Now she hates them with a passion. For what? For doing to her what she did with them, against Erap.’

Jake Macasaet: Nakakatakot Mag-isip si GMA