General Strike Against Con-Ass

Senate president Juan Ponce-Enrile is correct. Mrs. Arroyo is not running for Congress and she'll not direct the Lower House to convene itself into a Constituent Assembly.



Mrs. Arroyo's "silence" is a strategy to keep her still in the power game. So, does this mean that we need to just be silent and tone our protests down.



NO.



Protests should continue. Protests should even be louder than ever. My former Ateneo Law School professor, Father Joaquin Bernas, in his column today over at the Philippine Daily Inquirer wrote:

" I do not agree with those who say that rallies are nothing but useless noise.
They are noise, indeed, but of the type which can invade the consciousness of
men and women in Congress who are still deliberating whether to be honorable or
to be practical. And I believe that there is enough honor in the House that can
overcome reckless adventurism even at the cost of their share in the pork
barrel."

I remember what George Sorel in his Reflections on Violence wrote a century or so ago. He said that the greatest weapon of the People against the threats of elite dominance is a general strike.



Sectors should call for a general strike on or before July 27, 2009.



All change agents should intensify efforts at calling for the downfall of this regime. For example, I call upon my friend and colleague Noli Benavent to transform those 75,000 plus Facebook members of his to warm bodies before July 27.



There are talks that the House will constitute itself into CON-ASS before July 27. This is to avoid sharing the space with the Senate. Earlier fears say that the House leadership will capitalize on the joint session assembled in Arroyo's SONA to justify a convening of the House as Constituent Assembly. Enrile, however, said that he knows his parliamentary procedures and he'll immediately adjourn the Senate after the president's SONA to avoid such an event from happening.



Question--what if certain senators stay at the halls and take part in the deliberations for the convening of Congress as Constituent Assembly. That, my friends, would make my day.



By the way, here's the photo taken during the second FACEBOOK EB of STOP CON-ASS last Friday. Kudos to my friend, Carlo Ople, Susan "Toots" Ople and Noli.