‘In ousting Gloria, the people
don’t need an assist from Osama bin Laden.’
On the morning of Feb. 29,
PNP chief Avelino Razon said a foreign terrorist out to assassinate Gloria
Arroyo and bomb embassies had been arrested. He said this was the reason
checkpoints were put up in entry points to Metro Manila, and that he said the
search of vehicles and the identity checks on passengers had nothing to do with
the Makati interfaith rally scheduled that afternoon.
A delegation from La Salle Dasmariñas was blocked on Daang
Hari road. A contingent of militants was stopped in Biñan. Vehicles on the
Gapan-Olongapo road were backed up for 10 kilometers as the policemen inspected
vehicles taking their own sweet time, forcing people from the western side of
Pampanga and from Bataan who intended to attend the Makati rally to return to
their houses.
This week, AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said not one but
two terrorists were taken the previous week. No additional detail was made
available. The arrested "terrorists" remained unidentified. There’s not even a
general description– male or female? Filipino or foreigner? – provided.
But the AFP and the PNP insist the threat of terrorist
attacks is the reason M16-wielding policemen are deployed in the streets of the
metropolis and tanks and armored personnel carriers are ready to roll out of
Camp Aguinaldo and Fort Bonifacio at a moment’s notice.
This show of force, the AFP and PNP assure us, has nothing to
do with the rallies demanding the resignation/ouster of Gloria Arroyo. But for
prudence’s sake, the AFP and the PNP say, they are monitoring the possibility
that the "terrorists" might infiltrate the anti-Arroyo rallies.
Now comes the Palace saying authorities are trying to
determine the al Qaeda’s capability to do mayhem. Well, at least this time the
Palace has some general idea of where the threat is coming from, that is, the al
Qaeda. Why the al Qaeda, whose plate is already full in Afghanistan and northern
Pakistan, would target Arroyo was not explained.
Gloria being targeted by the al Qaeda is an unbelievable tale. But even
paranoids do have enemies. In the case of Gloria, the people indeed have had
enough of the lying and the thieving. They want her out. And in ousting Gloria,
they don’t need an assistance from Osama bin Laden.
