Protector and protectorate

(Part 1)

THE phrase "not once but twice" is now in the consciousness of virtually every Juan de la Cruz in this country, thanks to Mrs. Susan Roces Poe, the eternally beauteous and courageous widow of FPJ, the man who would have been President. Mrs. Poe uttered the now very famous phrase when she accused Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of stealing the presidency "not once, but twice."

The phrase should now be addressed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) but in a different context of course i.e. the AFP is mandated "not once, but twice" to be the "protector of the people of the Philippines."

Article 2, Section 3 of the Constitution of the Philippine states: "The Armed Forces of the Philippines is the Protector of the People and the State. Its goal is to secure the sovereignty of the State and the integrity of its national territory." (Underscoring mine)

The first mandate can be found in the first sentence of the foregoing quotation that the AFP is the "Protector of the People." Need we explain what that means? Mrs. Arroyo is not the "People of the Philippines". We are "the People"not her. We the people are the Protectorate of the AFP, not any single individual even if she is "President" of the Philippines, especially so when that "President", to the perception of an overwhelming majority of our people has stolen the presidency; a comadre of a jueteng lord; and is obviously "palsy-walsy" with the rest of the crime lords by her inability to put to jail any smuggling lord, drug lord, illegal logging lord, tax cheats et. al.

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Bagong programa: Inaanyayahan ko ang lahat na makinig sa aking bagong radio program "Hello Sa Iyo Pilipino" sa DZAR 1026 khz simulcast sa lahat ng Sunshine Radio stations Lunes hangang Biyernes, 7 to 8 pm. Bagong proyekto: Halina kayo sa bagong Our Father’s Coffee Shop sa Robinson’s Galleria, project ng OFW Family Club

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