Like turtles thrown into the water

It's neither empathy or sympathy, nor a touch of pity, that one feels for the well-emoted theatrics of the partylist lawmakers and their kindred leftists.

Over their rehearsed rhetoric whenever zoomed in by the tv cameras during street demos, or when interviewed by biased ABS-CBN hosts, one gets tickled by the feeling of amusement. Nothing else, unless one gets carried away by the temptation of irritation.

The give-away gesture which, incidentally is the mark of terrorists worldwide, regardless of nationalities, is their clenched fist raised in the air. Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran and Teodoro Casiño, et al., who used to hide their left-leaning tracks before becoming solons by virtue of a constitutional anomaly, now openly and proudly do their clenched fists in public.

Is it just coincidence that loquacious Liza Masa, Risa Baraquel, and Etta Rosales - and even ex-VP Guingona and their ilk - make the clenched fist their badge of courage?

This reminds one of Hitler in his fascistic Nazi heyday, and of the Russian and Chinese communist hegemony, albeit in slightly varied gestures and spiced by varied sloganeerings.

Since the Hukbalahap agitations in Central Luzon and, even in the "cacique" time before that, none has ever got the nod of the anti-government rebels, as Malacañang occupants have been targets of their venom. Only endeared Ramon Magsaysay, suffered the least rebel hatred, and respected for his being "straight", despite his effective anti-Huk campaign.

Ratcheting events up, the war of attrition between the state and its foes is still on, and getting worse. The quest for peace is as hazy as the labyrinth in mythology, with the end of its cavern nowhere in sight. Symbolically, the elongated topography of the Philippines appears shaping into a question mark (?), as if to ask: Quo vadis, Philippines?

Shifting from the boondocks, the "warfront" moves to the metro centers, its streets and byways, the press/radio/tv networks, and in Congress, no less. Oddly, the state is on the losing end in currying the media sympathy which, ironically, carps of "chilling" threats of repression, and yet, so unrelenting in hitting the government hammer and thongs.

The personae has also been recast, i.e., no longer between the centrist-rightist combo against the left of center and the radical leftists. In fact, Proclamation 1017 came out to counter the "tactical alliance" among certain PNP/AFP coup plotters with party-list solons, and the CPP-NPA rebels. And, factor into the furor the splintered voices of nearly all Senators and some Congressmen, former political allies, and other vociferous critics to complete the colorful cast.

The strategies also vary, both in combat tactics and in psywar. During the anti-Huk sorties, Magsaysay's scout rangers brought the battles to the surprised rebels. Now, it's the NPA setting the tempo and the mode of engagement, causing havoc on the government forces. The AFP/PNP hasn't changed its "just waiting" strategy and get clobbered silly.

Effective in getting media attention here and abroad, the anti-state psywar experts have wisely manipulated exposure. It comes in scathing editorials and opinion columns, sensationalized reporting and slanted radio/tv interviews. Spike these with congressional probes and privilege speeches, plus street demos and aggressive runs-in with PNP elements to provoke them to use their sticks in retaliation. What photo-ops for drawing attention to the "victims".

When the state resorted to prosecution of self-anointed heroes Ocampo, Beltran, Casiño, Masa, Baraquel, et al., they gladly raised their clenched fists in psycho-moral victory. The perfect picture of Aesop's fable of the turtle(s) made happy when thrown into the water! Never mind that "trying hard" Dinky Soliman whose slinky perfidy is best sunk underwater by the weight of her own anonymity.