A Brazen Act of Violence

09 november 2005
sampaloc, manila

The twists and turns of events bring the nation back to its darkest days. Already trapped in dire economic woes and political turmoil, it is being dragged along the way of reimposition of Martial Law with the full-scale implementation of the " calibrated preemptive response" (CPR).

The CPR is Malacanang's solution to the intensifying crisis. In sheer desperation to put the country out of disorder, the government has resorted to use 'muscle' to defeat anyone going against its interests. It has vowed to quash any group that attempts to bring down the Arroyo administration, avowing that it is for the good of the country.

Unambiguously, this is akin to the toppled Pres. Ferdinand Marcos's brand of leadership. This is a recycled but heightened version of Martial Law - a blatant use of force to oblige the people to rally behind the government.

Amid the government's claim that it is working within the framework of democracy, the CPR is an obvious suppression of freedom of speech to its truest sense. The suspension of 'maximum tolerance' and the ban of street protests and political activities are as good as the deprivation of people's basic right to stand up for their beliefs and conviction. It is tantamount to the suspension of writ of habeas corpus and the open declaration of martial law.

In promoting economic and political stability, it glorifies the use of guns and other forms of brutality. It breeds a culture of violence to sow terror to the already traumatized Filipino people. It means loss of lives, harrassment and political repression in the most appalling and scandalous manner, converting the country into a combat zone and killing field.

Indeed, even before the implementation of the CPR, the Arroyo government has already accumulated a whopping record of human rights violations. In its four years in power, it has turned the country into a slaughter house where killing is common to crop up in the light of the day and the dead of the night. It has mounted up more than 3000 cases of illegal arrests, summary executions, massacres and forced disappearances that involve more than 100,000 victims, surpassing the record set by Marcos during Martial Law.

With the surfacing of CPR, Filipino people has no guarantee that human rights violations will not be committed. Given the expertise of the present administration to deliberately use gold, goons and guns for the sake of advancing its interests, a blood spill is always a possibility.

Yet, no matter how the Arroyo government projects itself, the implementation of CPR only bears out its desperation to cling to power. This is a sign of weakness, and not of strength, an indication that it is now trembling to its knees at the sight of the swelling waves of protests capable of overthrowing it from supremacy.

Armed with the lessons from their bitter experience of the past, the Filipino people know how to deal with this present situation. Having grown tired of the endless economic miseries brought about by the government's neoliberal policies, they understand that the implementation of CPR would only make them more hopeless in their quest for a decent and humane living and a bright future.

In these times of chronic economic and political crisis, it has become more glaring to them that ousting Arroyo is not just an option but a MUST. In these times of brazen acts of violence, to sit down is to lose the only right left to them.