overnment
officials assure us that while the threat of destabilization is real,it is not
serious enough to warrant the adoption of extra-ordinary measures. If that is
so, how come the military and the police are deploying troops at all entry
points to the capital?
Armed government forces have taken up positions at the North
and South expressways. These were the deployments that have come to our
attention so far. We suppose there were similar deployments at approaches from
the east (from Rizal and Bulacan) and from the west (Cavite). The policemen and
soldiers are pre-positioned to isolate Metro Manila. No wonder the people are
jittery despite repeated assurances from the government that, to use the
hackneyed expression, "everything is under control."
As we scan the security horizon, we are inclined to accept
the government’s word that there are no credible threats to security. The Manila
Peninsula caper of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danny Lim failed to
generate public support of the magnitude that could trigger another Edsa-type
uprising. The "plotters" are back in detention and their supporters in the
military are most likely lying low, as AFP officials claim. That rules out one
source of destabilization.
The other source that security officials have been warning
against is the protest marches that militant organizations have scheduled this
week to mark the 20th anniversary of the Mendiola massacre. We understand the
militants have been mobilizing supporters from the provinces for the protest
marches. But that stands to reason. The issue the organizers are raising is
justice for the victims of the massacre. They were mostly farmers. We could not
expect the Makati crowd, however much they hate this administration, to provide
(read: finance) the warm bodies for the protest actions.
Most of the would-be participants were already in the city
yesterday. They were camped out near the offices of the agriculture and agrarian
reform departments on Elliptical Road in Quezon City. Conceivably, more are
expected to come in the coming days.
Blocking these contingents, we suspect, is the reason for the
presence of the policemen and the soldiers at the entry points to the
metropolis. The same thing happened in 2006. Five militants from Cavite were
even arrested on the way to Metro Manila. The five incidentally remain in jail
to this day on charges of being communist rebels.
The government is bent on pulling off the same stunt. It has become a habit,
this raising of the bugaboo of destabilization to crack down on legitimate
dissent. We see more of the same as the Arroyo administration clings on to power
as its exit nears.
