NATIONAL security adviser Norberto Gonzales
yesterday said the worst of the moves to oust President Arroyo
has passed and the rest of the opposition’s efforts won’t make
much of an impact.
Gonzales said the destabilization peaked
during the February 29 interfaith rally in Makati City when, he
said, the crowd was less than the expected 1 million. Police
estimated the crowd at 15,000 while organizers said it was at
75,000.
He said the Lenten break would defuse the
tension and this would be helped along by the fact that
students, who he said are being targeted by the opposition’s
propaganda efforts, would also have their summer vacation.
He said the opposition would probably revive
the issue a month from now and towards the State of the Nation
Address in July.
He said there might also be another fresh
attempt to impeach the President sometime in October, but it
would not be successful.
Afterwards, he said everyone would be
thinking of the 2010 elections.
The third and last impeachment complaint
against Arroyo was filed in the first week of October last year.
Under the Constitution, a complaint can be filed only after a
year.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon
Jr. said the leadership of the Armed Forces and the PNP do not
see any signs that the elements of police and the military are
biting at recruitment efforts.
He appealed to the "recruiters" to stop their
attempts because "it would be futile."
Esperon has been saying some retired senior officers are
recruiting active soldiers for a supposed destabilization plot.
He has also been consistent in saying the recruiters are not
succeeding. – Regina Bengco
