As the organizer of Sunday’s rally at the Luneta, the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines has all the right to set down the ground rules on how the gathering is to be conducted. Unfortunately, the CBCP-designated organizing committee, in seeking to evade accusations of political partisanship, has introduced so many prohibitions we are now mystified as why the faithful and other people of different faiths and persuasions have been called to gather together in the first place.
The organizers said placards and streamers will have to be left behind on Taft avenue as participants trek to the Quirino Grandstand where the mass will be held. There will be no chanting of slogans. No politicians will be allowed to make speeches. Only the bishops and other celebrants of the mass will be allowed onstage.
This will be a prayer rally for the enlightenment of our national leaders, the organizers said, not a political assembly.
Really? Were the people just imagining the events of the last two weeks when Gloria Arroyo, Joe de Venecia and their allies almost succeeded in forcing through their plan to tear up the 1987 Constitution in their drive to perpetuate themselves in power?
Ayaw nilang makisali sa pulitika? Nakalimutan na ba nila ang role nila sa Edsa Dos? Hindi ba kaya lang maraming may gustong sumali sa rally na ito ay dahil sa galit nila kay Arroyo at sa mga kaalyadong Tongressman?
Continuation:
Gloria and Joe retreated only in the face of mounting public outrage that greeted their Constituent Assembly by the House own lonesome. The bishops, to their credit, saw through the deceitful exercise and condemned it as immoral. Sunday’s rally has been precisely called to denounce and protest the frustrated rape of the Constitution.Exactly.
Gloria and Joe have seen the light, or so it appears. They have retreated from Con-Ass and are now shifting to Constitutional Convention as the mode of revising the charter. But only the blind cannot see that they are still dancing the Cha-cha. They are taking one step backward in preparation for another two-step lunge forward.
The bishops are again playing into the hands of Gloria and Joe by taking the seemingly prudent and reasonable position of non-confrontation. They have not apparently learned their lessons.
When the election cheating charges were raised against Gloria, the bishops said they saw no widespread fraud during the 2004 elections. In July when the Hyatt 10 resigned at the height of the "Hello Garci" scandal, the bishops gave Gloria the benefit of the doubt. As protests mounted, Gloria came up with the calibrated preempted response to protest actions, EO 404 and PP 1017. Nary a peep was heard from the bishops.
It’s all water under the bridge now. But had the bishops acted firmly from the start, the cheats, the liars and the thieves would probably have long been stopped dead on their tracks.
Eto pa, bawal raw si Mike Velarde at si Bro Eddie sa grandstand:
ORGANIZERS of the prayer rally to be held Sunday at the Rizal Park against Charter change announced yesterday that politicians would not be allowed on the Quirino Grandstand along with Bro. Mike Velarde of the El Shaddai group and Bro. Eddie Villanueva of the Jesus Is Lord Movement.
“Participants should just carry the rosary,” said Henrietta de Villa, former ambassador to the Vatican and chief organizer of the event. She said that placards, banners and streamers should be left on Taft Avenue -- well out of sight of the anticipated huge gathering called by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
De Villa said the stage would be exclusively limited to prelates and priests who will concelebrate a Mass. She said the strict protocol was meant to keep the occasion devoid of any political color.
“No politicians will be allowed on stage, none at all,” she told the Inquirer yesterday in a phone interview. She said that since the CBCP had sent no invitations to specific persons or groups, the event was open to anyone believing in the call to “watch and pray” for recent political events in the country.
Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Oscar Calderon and his Metro Manila police chief Director Reynaldo Varilla on Wednesday also warned politicians and movie stars would be arrested if they mount the stage and issue political statements.
Just carry the rosary? At bakit ba sino-solo ng CBCP ang event? Why exclude Mike Velarde (who can generate bigger crowds than the CBCP) or Bro. Eddie or INC on the stage?
I'm beginning to suspect that Henrietta de Villa is an Arroyo agent, and her statements were designed to dampen the crowd turnout and enthusiasm for the rally.
MORE: Check this out about Henrietta de Villa. Before many used to show up for the arroyo admins' call for "clean elections":
In a short message, Mrs. Aquino thanked the presidential candidates for attending the Mass and for their willingness and cooperation in ensuring the conduct of honest and credible elections.
Mrs. Aquino also enjoined the people to pray for Armed Forces chief Gen. Narciso Abaya and Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane who have been tasked to secure the electoral exercise.
Other prominent personalities who attended the Unity Mass were former President Fidel V. Ramos, Senate President Franklin Drilon Speaker Jose de Venecia, Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Commission on Elections Commissioner Ressureccion Borra, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting leader Henrietta De Villa and businessman and National Movement for Free Elections leader Jose Concepcion.
Ngayon (post-GLORIAGATE), sila Henrietta de Villa at si Joe Con na lang ang natitira, LOL. From the Malaya Oct 31, 2006:
COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos yesterday said there would be no-repeat of the "Hello Garci" scandal in 2004 with the signing of a memorandum of agreement that would limit the role of the military in during elections.The remaining GMA loyalists. And Businessman Jose Concepcion of NAMFREL is still pro-Arroyo, unlike Bill Luz.
"With the role of the military now well-defined…there’s going to be no Garci (controversy)," he said.
"May you (media) know that Garci is no longer with us so definitely there will be no more Garci. I don’t know if there is going to be ‘Hello Brownie’," he said in jest, referring to Comelec Commissioner Romeo Brawner who was at the signing.
.....
Abalos said it was time to end "this shabby and dishonorable action since the military has been dragged into this mess for a long time".
"Kawawa naman sila (military)," he said.
The other signatories to the memorandum were Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, National Movement for Free Elections chairman Jose Concepcion and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting chairman Henrietta de Villa.
===================
UPDATE: Read this article re Neal Cruz's most distrusted/hated list. Here's what he wrote re Mr "I have two discs" Bunye.
Ouch.The first non-congressman in the most hated/distrusted list is, ironically, somebody who should have the trust of everybody because he is the spokesman of the President: Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. There is something strange in him. When he says something, people believe the truth is the opposite. When he says the sky is blue, people believe it is yellow. When he says Ms Arroyo is lily-white, people believe her heart is hell-black.
Maybe the reason is that when Bunye gives statements to reporters, he has a pained expression that seems to say he is embarrassed to be forced to say those things.
“Have you noticed?” said one reporter in the survey. “When he answers questions from the press, he can’t even look you straight in the face.”
“Why don’t you believe what he says?” I asked.
“Because what he says is so different from reality,” he replied. “They are very transparent lies.”
- the latest on Pidal's harassment move vs. Newsbreak from PCIJ.
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