Business as usual for GMA, attends Mass in Manila

It was business as usual for President Arroyo on a Sunday, as she heard Mass at a church in Ermita, Manila and the country seemed to simmer down despite the state of national emergency she declared before the weekend.

The President heard Mass with her youngest son Dato and his wife Maria Victoria, as the Nuestra Señora de Guia Church on M. H. del Pilar street in Ermita teemed with heavy security.

While Malacañang insists that people can go on with their normal lives despite a state of emergency, Mrs. Arroyo’s movements have been very limited the past days since government said it had foiled a coup on Thursday night.

Citing the "clear and present" danger the country is facing, the President canceled all her activities and stayed in Malacañang most of the time.

The Palace did not want the media to cover the President’s religious foray yesterday but did not insist on driving them away when they got to the church. The President is a devout Catholic.

The priest greeted her and in his homily talked about God’s faithfulness to His children even with all their sins and shortcomings.

After the Holy Communion, the President was approached by a mother and asked if she could take Mrs. Arroyo’s photo with the little daughter she was holding in her arms.

The President obliged and even carried the little girl as the woman took their photo using her cell phone with a camera.

Last Saturday, Mrs. Arroyo only went out of the Palace to attend an entrepreneurs’ event at a mall at Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City, where she received some reassuring cheers from crowds.

The people at the mall appeared unperturbed about recent developments.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Malacañang employees might be able to return to work today after operations were suspended on Friday due to the coup threats.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also said government agencies would remain operational despite the state of emergency.

The President placed the country under a state of emergency citing the threats from the elements of the political opposition that "conspired with authoritarians of the extreme Left" represented by the National Democratic Front-Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army and the "extreme Right" composed of military adventurists to bring down the government.

Critics described the move as an "overkill" and indicative of a creeping martial law.

Various sectors, including the Church, have urged the government to uphold the rule of law and respect people’s rights despite the declaration of the state of emergency.