Why the absence of the masa in the Pen?

It is not true that the masa was'nt there when it happened. I was there. Hundreds were there. In fact, when the tanks came rolling in, a handful of people remarked that the marines would support Trillianes. A taxi driver whom I spoke with said that at least six bus-loads of people were supposed to join Trillianes but were blocked by the police along the way. Thousands more wanted to join Trillianes but were'nt able to go there. It was not because they don't want to. The Pen incident was spontaneous. A few knew about it. Had it continued until the morrow, it could have generated enough steam to actually entice, encourage hundreds or thousands of people to come join the party at the Pen.

So, I don't agree with most observations that the reason why a coup would fail here is the absence of the masa. That the people, allegedly, are already tired of all these EDSAs. I seriously doubt this observation. This is just part of psywar to discourage groups to launch something against Arroyo.

However, whether Trillianes is an Arroyo spy or not, one fact remained--the Pen incident served its purpose. The incident merited three (3) critical information to would-be plotters in the future:

1. GMA's defenses are illusionary. It is not as strong as before. Whatever people say that the response was sufficient, even "overacting", it is obvious that the government's forces are not that strong nor as many. In case of a shooting war, GMA's forces are sure to be defeated. I know other analysts will see it differently, but I stand with what I write here--in the next outing, GMA's forces will surely lose, even die by the hundreds.

2. GMA's survival in a situation like this is assured if they can neutralize any group within 18 hours. If less than 18 hours, they are sure to lose and this administration is sure to fall. The first 48 hours is the most critical moment. A more determined military group sans any public support can do the job of forcing the ouster of Arroyo. There must, however, be a series of actions directed not at one singular place, but of explosions of actions left and right in different places all at the same time.

3. Foreign governments will support the one who wins after the armed struggle. In the next outing, open fighting is expected. Whoever emerges the winners in this open fighting will definitely be recognized as the legitimate government.

I know many would disagree with what I write here, but given my high batting average (I predicted a coup right? ) in previous blogs, believe me, the one at the Pen is just a sampler, err, just a "testing", so to speak, for a bigger event in the next few weeks. Surely, it would not be long before freedom is attained.