I’m glad that Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) finally spoke her mind on why she declared martial law. She has been extremely quiet during the entire time martial law was imposed in Maguindanao. I believe that the President did the right thing in not making any comments or statements against her most vociferous critics while martial law was underway because debating with people with closed minds is next to being crazy, because you cannot convince one who doesn’t even care to listen to you!
A case in point was a couple of weeks ago when the leftist groups led by Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza, held a protest rally in Mendiola where Press Secretary Cerge M. Remonde came out to meet the rallyists in order to show them that he too sympathizes with their cause. After all, Cerge was once the national president of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP). When Cerge wanted to speak to the rallyists, before he could get hold of the microphone, he was booed, jeered and empty cups and paper thrash was thrown at him! People were shocked by their ill-mannered behavior.
What can this country expect from the left who supposedly fights for human rights when they cannot even give Cerge Remonde his human right to be heard? It’s more than obvious to many Filipinos that these people do not believe in the freedom of speech. They cry out against human rights violations, but when soldiers were beheaded in Mindanao, none of them took to the streets in protest against this seemingly gory or inhuman way of killing people. Why might you ask didn’t they make a peep? Because our Filipino soldiers are not humans or deserve any human rights?
Never mind the soldiers for they are the enemy of the NPA. But what about those mass graves found in Inopacan and in many other places in Leyte? The skeletal remains buried in those mass graves were civilians, who opposed the views of the communists and since they do not believe in freedom of expression (like what happened to Cerge in Mendiola) these people were summarily executed. Many of them were “conned” by the NPA to join their cause and when these poor people realized the futility of their rebellion and want to go back to their families, they were all killed!
Let me say it here that the leftist groups who rally in Mendiola about human rights are demanding only for the human rights of their fallen leftist friends. Their red banners have accused the Arroyo regime of unsolved murders, some of them journalists. But if you recall, then Pres. Cory Aquino, Pres. Fidel V. Ramos and Pres. Erap also got the same accusations as if they were the ones who pulled the trigger to kill these people. But in truth, many in the left who become disillusioned get “purged” by their own comrades who then march into the streets to blame the killings on the government!
In her speech, President Arroyo said that her critics did not have any faith in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Philippine National Police (PNP) and they don’t have faith in Democracy itself! Indeed, these people do not believe in our democracy! In the past three decades of watching these leftist organization march our streets, we have long known that their real purpose is to support the New People’s Army (NPA) as they are the legitimate “above ground” forces because the NPA is an underground killing organization and therefore they can’t show their faces in public.
And where do you think they get their best support? From the media who are sympathetic to their cause and there are many in Metro Manila! The media who are sympathetic to the left print every single, thought, hate and paranoia that their leftist friends could think of, and pass it off as the thoughts of the Filipino people! Surely by now the people in Metro Manila should be sick and tired of the ramblings of the left because these people really haven’t helped in the development of our nation.
Perhaps now is the time to ask, where were the leftist groups at the time of the EDSA Revolt when the Filipino people ousted the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship? Nope, they were not in EDSA and therefore, they are not stakeholders of People’s Power Revolt! Lately, people have been asking what has these Leftist groups done to help the victims of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” that inundated Metro Manila? No sir, they were not around to help the poor who like our ugly traditional politicians often use to climb up to power!
Today, the Nationalista Party of Sen. Manny Villar proudly announced that they have included Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza in their Senatorial line up. Just to prove that they are not tilting to the left, they also put in Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr. to come up with a balanced ticket. Let me say to both Sen. Villar and her running mate Sen. Loren Legarda that the NP party just committed a political Hara Kiri because having the left in your Senatorial lineup will certain lose precious votes for you!
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For email responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.