Now they come in twos

My. The President appeared to be in a fighting mood on TV yesterday as she assailed, not only the usual destabilizers of her government, but even the members of the Senate whom she just fell short of calling useless. I thought I did not hear it right at first, but it soon became very clear, she was saying that the solons only wasted time and money supposed to go to increases for workers by only investigating and investigating, and then, having accomplished little, adjourn.

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Not only the lawmakers were the objects of her scoldings. Looking really bellicose in her bright red outfit, she also turned on the media for their "irresponsibility". She said she was looking for one of them who could be an example of a responsible one, but wasn't able to name any. I'm glad I wasn't in that presscon. When she wagged her index finger, I'm sure she scared the daylights among those present. She really looked as if she was ready to take on all comers.

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Then she took on the opposition and other officials and sectors who have not heeded her calls for reconciliation and unity. She said she had been calling for it for a long time and cannot wait for them. "Matagal na (It's been a long time)", she said, looking really impatient. Oh, she did laugh, I might even say giggled, a few times, but the steely look was there. No wonder columnist Larry Sipin, in an interview later, said "Napakapikon niya".

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The president also showed impatience over the obsession of the senators with the so-called fertilizer scam. She said she had already ordered a probe of that case. That should be very interesting because, in their latest report, the senators said she was involved in it, too. So now we will have to watch for the results of two probes again. Everything seems to come in twos - two Garci tapes, two coup plotters docus, now two fertilizer probes, too.

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What about Proclamation No. 1017? It was very prudent of the Supreme Court to proceed with the hearing of the oral arguments. The Solicitor General lived up to my expectation, though. He did try to have the petitions dismissed, calling the matter "moot and academic". Late reports however, said he was wobbling a bit and after persistent questioning on the matter, did admit that 1017 was "imperfect". What is most significant to us - and let's hope to the Supreme Court Justices - is that he also said that there is nothing in its wordings that authorizes raids, confiscations and warrantless arrests. One of the justices even said that there was a lot of confusion in it. Still, as of now, we can only guess.

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Maybe we will know before this day is over what the highest court in the land will say about 1017. Their opinion on this is very important, especially to us in the media who are perceived to be the main target of the proclamation. Will the SC justices listen to the country's top lawyers who are arguing against the legality of the proclamation, or had they already made up their minds when they scheduled the oral arguments a bit too late, so that GMA had time to lift it and pre-empt them? Let us pray this process is not being undergone only as a sort of consuelo de bobo.

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I read the Daily Tribune again yesterday and, Oh dear, its editor is incorrigible, really. There is no let-up at all either in her own column or in her editorial which are as sarcastic as ever, if not more so. I hope there will be no Executive Order making reading it seditious, too. By the way, some people are impressed that the text message section of the Philippine Star is now heavily in favor of GMA and her decisions. Me, I am skeptical because I know how texters can be rounded up to spread messages. Even the Holy Father, the late Pope John Paul II was not spared, remember?

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There was this interesting report from the wires about Kenya. The President, Mwai Kibaki, had heavily armed policemen storm into the offices of the 104-year-old Standard media group headquarters, shut its TV station, disabled its printing presses and burned tons of newspapers. The act drew seething criticisms from politicians, human rights groups and other media. What the country's Union of Journalists did was to tell the rest to boycott all good news about the government, reject its advertisements and publish only negative stories for two weeks.

Now, why didn't our own media organizations think of that?*

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