residential legal counsel
Sergio Apostol, he of the foot-in-mouth dis-ease, said the Palace has nothing
more to worry after Friday’s interfaith rally in Makati with its 15,000
participants. He said that is the most the anti-Gloria forces can mobilize and
with that crowd, Palace officials can now sleep soundly at night.
Apostol’s optimism is not exactly representative of the way
of thinking of the Palace. First, his assessment is based on a demonstrable lie.
That 15,000 figure came from police estimates. The photographs and video footage
on newspapers and television clearly show a much bigger crowd, although probably
not as big as the 70,000 to 80,000 estimate of organizers. Second, Apostol
failed to understand the dynamics of protest actions, which take place over
time. Third, Apostol does not realize that mass actions, by themselves, are just
the tip of the iceberg. For every street protester, there are hundreds of others
who, while not prepared to march as yet, are sympathetic with the former’s
sentiments.
The resign/oust Gloria movement is more realistic in its
assessment of the Makati rally. They were able to hit their target of at least
50,000 participants. While that’s a long way from the millions of 1986 and the
half a million of 2001, the Makati rally showed that the people have shed off
their apathy and the resignation to the abuses of this administration.
More protest actions are on the drawing board. There may be
ebbs in future mobilizations, but the momentum is there. Gloria can survive only
from one protest rally to the next. She and her more politically astute advisers
know this. This is the reason Gloria is scared. All this whistling in the dark
like Apostol’s pronouncement is just putting up a brave front.
How deep is the resign/oust Gloria sentiment? The latest
Pulse Asia survey shows that three out of four Metro Manila residents distrust
her. And that ratio does not actually reflect how deeply eroded is her base of
support. The Pulse Asia survey shows that only one of 10 continues to trust her
or is satisfied with her performance.
She cannot continue to govern with that miniscule base of
support. Or rather she cannot continue to govern with the trappings of democracy
that she likes to cloak herself with.
She can continue to stay in power through intimidation. The
military and police show of force on Friday is part of her game plan. But when
intimidation loses its force as it must in the face of a people who can no
longer take syndicated thievery and institutionalized lying, Gloria is left with
only one weapon in her arsenal: violence.
She believes she has the absolute loyalty of her generals. She could be
right. But Ferdinand Marcos also believed the same thing. Look what happened to
him.
