Church to lead the search for Truth

"Their public confession[s] may be considered a providential event that may yet save our country from being hostage to scandalous and shady government deals that offend the common good and serve only personal, family and group interests,"--Archbishop Oscar Lagdameo, President, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines(CBCP)

In a monumental act, the CBCP finally took a stand against the prevailing order. Archbishop Lagdameo yesterday articulated what the Church wanted to say for so long--the truth shall set us free. So now, the struggle against Arroyo has assumed a higher and deeper stage--that of struggling for the Truth.

If you look at it, however, it is not the Truth that would set us free. It is the struggle for Justice. We, the People now know how corrupt our system has become. We have realized that this corrupt and decrepit system is being perpetuated by those in power. And we already know that these people are just motivated by self-gain.

Now, we await the pronouncements of other religious groups, such as the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the influential El Shaddai and the protestant groups. They must also take the stand and announce their disgusts against Arroyo. Not doing so would mean complicity to these acts of the Palace mafia. Taking a silent stance would mean they accede to what is happening.

Former president Cory Aquino has just visited Lozada, signalling the formal start of active engagement against Arroyo. The president is hurt, says her close aide Merly Poblador who, by the way, is also involved in this controversy. While all of these are going on, we find Lakas slowly disintegrating, with Lakas stalwart and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita encouraging former Speaker Jose de Venecia to relinquish his post as Lakas president to QC Mayor Sonny Belmonte. JDV's meeting with Erap, Ermita says, is a sign that JDV has totally burned his bridges with Malacanang. What it means though is JDV is now a persona non grata at the palace.

The only one left not protesting the callousness of the palace is former president and Lakas founder Fidel V. Ramos. I am sure that FVR will not tolerate this latest caper of the palace. Surely, FVR is not in cahoots with FG's group. However, it is perplexing to say the least, why FVR remains silent to all of these. There are some explanations:

1. FVR is assessing the entire situation. He knows that Lozada's appearance may provide the missing element in moves to oust Arroyo. Being the head of the CIA here in Asia, FVR is in the best position to assess the current standing of Arroyo vis-a-vis this war. What are the elements that would probably lead FVR to conclude that, indeed, Arroyo is in a losing or lost proposition:

a. Military support---This is crucial in any move against the palace. How many elements in the higher echelon of the military does Arroyo have and how many does not support her. Obviously, the scale right now is even, to say the least. Generals are divided. Arroyo does not have the entire loyalty of the military.

Esperon is a crucial element in all of these. His participation is very important to this struggle against immorality and corruption. If Esperon wants to save his ass or retire honorably, he must take a definitive stand against the creeping dictatorship and announce to the Filipino People his disgusts over this corruption. If Esperon remains silent, he is, in effect, condoning this blatant immorality and should be ousted from his post too.

b. Civilian support--It is quite obvious that Arroyo has lost a considerable segment of civil society, which includes the Church. This announcement of CBCP is a signal to Arroyo to take some definitive actions to appease the church. However, this I think is too late in the game. Whatever Arroyo would do now would be USELESS because its the responsibility of the church to assume a stand against immorality.

So now, there is no way out of this mess. As what happened last year, the only saving grace for Arroyo is DIVERSION. She will definitely order a special operations team to create another scenario of destabilization. What would be this:

1. Another bombing which this administration will attribute to terrorism. This is an effective diversionary tactic which they did last year with the Glorietta and Congress bombing.

2. An explosive battle in Mindanao, against using Jolo as a pretext.

3. A coup d'etat launched by Arroyo's own force. This is the most logical tactic. Arroyo will preempt these moves with her own moves. Either she'll use the Magdalo for this, or use another force.

SO ITS GOD SAVE THE QUEEN once more.