‘Don’t sell your souls to the devil’

Malacañang warned opposition politicians yesterday that they are "selling their souls to the devil" by consorting with communist rebels and rightist elements to overthrow the Arroyo administration.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said opposition leaders should not allow themselves to be "eaten alive" by either the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) rebels on one hand, or some rightist elements who would only destroy democratic institutions once they are in power.

"I don’t know (what’s) with these people coming from the political opposition. They have brains but it is as if they are selling their souls to the devil, including a few of our soldiers, in forging alliances with the CPP-NPA, whose only aim is the total collapse of the government," Ermita said in a telephone interview.

"This (forging alliances) is a deadly thing for the country. Once shooting starts in attempting to topple the government, it is the people who would suffer. Once they are in power, the communists and the rightists would shoot each other," he added, appealing to opposition leaders not to allow themselves to be used by either side.

Ermita issued the statement after Malacañang announced late last month that it had thwarted a joint rightist-leftist plot to oust President Arroyo on Feb. 24 and install a civilian-military junta as outlined in "Oplan Hackle."

Following a declaration of a state of national emergency by Mrs. Arroyo, authorities immediately launched a crackdown on communist leaders and left-leaning party-list congressmen. A newspaper office was raided and broadcasting networks warned against abetting sedition — moves that were met with outrage by the press.

According to a documentary released by the Palace last week in a bid to seek public support for its strong measures, the opposition, ranging from groups identified with deposed President Joseph Estrada to communist rebels, would also undertake a violent takeover of vital facilities and "incapacitate government leaders."

Ermita said traditional politicians do not realize that once such extreme groups take power, they would be the first victims in what could be a bloody purge of the government.

For his part, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the government is moving to ensure that there would be no more coup attempts or destabilization efforts as the President finishes the remainder of her term in 2010.

He said the masterminds of various attempts to overthrow the administration since the May 2001 siege in Malacañang to the 2003 Oakwood mutiny to the attempts at people power in July last year and last month, are one and the same.

"They are basically the same people, except that they have some new recruits and tailor their actions depending on the situation," Gonzalez said in a telephone interview. "But we will no longer tolerate their abuse of the democratic space to end, once and for all, destabilization (efforts)."

He admitted the administration was somewhat lenient since 2001 in dealing with its political opponents "because we were hoping that there could be some reconciliation."

Gonzalez said members of the political opposition have alienated themselves from the people in their extraconstitutional attempts to oust the President.

"The people may not like her (Mrs. Arroyo) but they don’t like the communists and the opposition in general and they know that there is no other alternative. The President is truly a working president," Gonzalez said.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, in a statement, maintained that Mrs. Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017 as "a preemptive self-defense to protect the state."

"With the plot effectively beaten back, we can now get back on track. The enemies of the state will always test a new threshold of destabilization but they will never dent the rock steady foundations of our constitutional democracy. So we leave to our law enforcers and the criminal justice system the task of meeting the residual threats posed by the remnants of the failed conspiracy," Bunye said.

He added that the President is now "back on schedule as the nation leaves this crisis behind and goes back to the business of the people. She has a job to do and that is to grow the economy, fight poverty, hunger and unemployment; and lift the Filipino to greater heights of excellence."