Arroyo's mad scramble to save herself

Gloria Arroyo is in a mad scramble to extricate herself from the quagmire she now finds herself in. In her desperation, she only succeeds in exposing her lies and underscoring her severe isolation from the people.

Gimmicks galore. Arroyo strains to display her handful of supporters even as the oust Arroyo movement expands. Among this handful are members of her cabinet and governors, congressmen, mayors and military and police officials on her payroll. All of them profit from the regime's multitiered corruption.

Arroyo and her minions have conducted a number of "solidarity walks," with one such "walk" held in Malacañang on February 19. On February 25, the 22nd anniversary of EDSA 1, all available military and police officers, among them AFP chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon and Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Avelino Razon Jr. marched along EDSA from the People Power Monument to Camp Aguinaldo to show their alleged adherence to the chain of command.

To counter anti-Arroyo rallies joined by growing numbers of people, the Arroyo camp paid a number of barangay councils to organize a pro-Arroyo rally. A handful of fake and mercenary Arroyo supporters rallied at the Welcome Rotunda on February 28-29 simultaneous with the huge mass action then being held in Makati.

Fake witness, more lies. Arroyo has concocted various lies and slanders to damage the credibility of Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada Jr. Among her maneuvers was the sudden appearance of Erwin Santos, a former employee of Lozada's at the Philippine Forest Corporation (Philforest). Amid tears, Santos accused Lozada of being responsible for anomalies at Philforest. Many people found Santos' testimony laughable, especially since it was Malacañang that obviously drew up his script. Santos was unable to hoodwink anyone, and was not even invited by the Senate to testify because of his incredible statements.

On February 12, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation raided Lozada's office at Philforest in Taguig City to dig up evidence and come up with a false story line from the seized papers.

Arroyo thought she could "shed light" on the NBN project by granting an interview over dzRH on February 23. But she ended up incriminating herself when she said that she approved the project even if she knew that the contract was "flawed." She allegedly found out about the "flaw" only on the eve of the contract signing and thus found it awkward to cancel the project outright. The next day, the regime realized that Arroyo's admission over the radio was a faux pas and has since been trying hard to deny that she ever made the statement.

Black propaganda. The regime has been spreading black propaganda in an effort to belittle the protests. It has insisted that the protests are confined to Metro Manila when mass actions are in fact widespread and have been attracting growing numbers both in the provinces and overseas.

The regime claims that conflicts are rife within the ouster movement when there is in fact an overriding unity against Arroyo within.

It likewise continues to spread lies about so-called plans by the New People's Army or the Abu Sayyaf bandit group to sow violence during rallies, when it is in fact the presence of battalions of military and police elements that indicates that the regime is ready to create havoc once Arroyo is in danger of losing her post.

Trembling in fear, sowing terror. Arroyo is deathly afraid of every witness against her who comes forward and has thus been mounting a campaign of harassment and repression.

She has ordered a tight watch against her regime's detractors, ordering the installation of a surveillance camera in front of La Salle where Lozada and his family have sought sanctuary. On February 28, Malacañang tried to spread panic among students of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines by phoning in a bomb threat on the day Lozada was scheduled to speak at a forum in the school. It failed to stop the students from massively showing their support for Lozada and manifesting their hatred for the regime.

There has been an overkill of military and police deployments during rallies, especially last February 29. Makati was declared a "no fly zone" that day to prevent the media from capturing in pictures or on video the actual size of the rally. Convoys of rallyists from the province were likewise blocked.

On the day of the huge rally, Arroyo was so terrified that she locked herself inside Camp Crame for three hours and put high-ranking military and police officers and members of her cabinet under strict surveillance. She left Crame only when the rallyists started to go home.

On March 4, she ordered the arrest of nine activists who staged a rally in the middle of one of her sorties in Laguna.

On the night of March 6, police forces violently dispersed more than 1,000 workers from Southern Tagalog who were rallying in front of the DOLE office in Intramuros, Manila. According to initial reports, three rallyists were arrested, 13 wounded and six missing after the bloody dispersal.

Worsening crisis.

Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Belgium-based organization that analyzes crisis situations worldwide cited the growing presence of military forces in Metro Manila as an indicator of worsening crisis in the Philippines. The regime has justified the militarization of the national capital region by citing alleged assassination plots against Arroyo. The heightened military presence is in fact a reaction to intensifying anti-Arroyo protests in Metro Manila.



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