Why are they so defensive?

Was that an overkill in Baguio during the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy where the President was the commencement speaker? The day before, it was noted in the media that, aside from the regular police force of the city, and those assigned to the PMA, 1,000 more troops from the Special Forces and the U.S. trained Light Reaction Company will be added to the security contingent for the President.

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That's a mighty show of force for a relatively peaceful place, but the Palace had reportedly uncovered a plan to assassinate the President while she was in Baguio. Of course it is the duty of the police and the armed forces to protect their commander-in-chief, but Malacañang and its bright boys might use this assassination excuse once too often. Remember the boy who cried wolf? And this is interesting: Before anybody could say anything, teacher's pet Mike Defensor was already saying that this was not an attempt of the palace to smear people and declare another State of National Emergency. Very defensive, aren't they?

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I watched the news for any earthshaking announcement during the time that the President was in Baguio. Remember it was there where she made that famous declaration before - was that in 2002? - that she had decided not to run for re-election in 2004? I remember very clearly that I caught just the tail-end of her speech on TV and had to call some of my friends to relate to me what she had said exactly. And all of them were praising her because they said, it was so noble, so self-sacrificing and so responsive of her to say that she was giving up another term because she realized that she was the one causing the divisiveness in the country. Of course both radio and TV, and the newspapers repeated over and over what she said that whole day and in the next. Does that day seem so far away?

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Now we again have Mr. Virgilio Garcillano back in the limelight with the filing of those perjury, falsification, etcetera, charges against him by some solons, led by Senator Ping Lacson. Will it lead to anything? After all the brouhaha over that Hello Garci conversation, nothing has happened. Next thing we know, Garci will again disappear. Who knows how many other copies of that passport had been delivered? Anyway, it will also be interesting to see how the case they filed will fare at the Department of Justice, if it gets there. DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez always has the most colorful things to say.

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Note what he said, and how he reacted to the complaint of the mother of the Subic rape victim. The woman, complaining about the snail's pace in the development of the case, and the alarming reports about the alleged plan to release three of the GIs involved from the case was seen on TV crying and appealing to him. As quoted in the media, Gonzalez, apparently irked, said "I'm never influenced by the emotional outburst of people who don't know the law". Poor mother. She should have asked Cory Aquino and Susan Roces about their own encounters with Gonzalez first.

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Anyway, let's wait for the reactions of the women on this issue. It does look as if our DOJ secretary does not think too highly of women. Perhaps he is not aware that les girls are slowly inching their way into positions of power all over the world, and how many countries already have women presidents or prime ministers. Even South Korea has, only recently, also acquired a woman prime minister, Madame Han Myong-sook, said to be a former dissident. One wonders how the DOJ head gets along with his boss who is a woman president.

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Meanwhile, the situation is worsening in Thailand where the unpopular President, Thaksin Shinawatra, continues to hang on despite weeks of protests against him. The protestors are now calling on beloved Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, to act on the case of Thaksin. The last reaction from the King had been enigmatic, it was not clear whether he sided with the masses or with Thaksin. But will the protestors listen if he tells them to bear with Thaksin? The world watches.

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In the past few days, several columnists in the national media have been quoting the famous lines of Martin Niemoller the German journalist who wrote those famous "When they came for the Communists…" lines. Well, I hope STAR readers remember that immediately after P-1017 was issued, Twinkling had quoted it here first.*

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