Hagedorn: Silent majority supports state of emergency

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn said yesterday the majority of Filipinos, particularly local chief executives, fully support President Arroyo’s declaration of a state of national emergency to reverse the perception that the country is breaking apart.

"We, the silent majority who are affected by the false picture of instability created by the critics of the government, are fully supportive of the presidential declaration," Hagedorn told reporters during the launching of the Ideas, Opinion and Unity forum at the Mario’s restaurant in Quezon City.

Hagedorn said the disin—formation and smear campaign against the President has reached a point that it created a false impression that the country’s political situation has deteriorated.

"They (critics) have created a false impression that the country is breaking apart," he said.

With the state of national emergency embodied in Proclamation 1017, Hagedorn said the country is now regaining its image of stability as manifested by the positive response of the stock market and the peso’s continued strength against the US dollar.

Hagedorn said the strong opposition to Proclamation 1017 is just confined in Metro Manila.

He said people in the countryside, who are just passive observers of the political developments in Metro Manila, are the direct beneficiaries of the state of national emergency.

"In these trying times, the President needs the support of the people, particularly from local government officials across the country," he said.

In Marawi City, Mayor Omar Solitario Ali said the President made the correct move to protect the country against internal threats. — With Lino de la Cruz