Don’t tinker with Martial Law

October 14, 2005

Gloria Arroyo can no longer control the crisis that she herself has set on fire. With practically all sectors of society, including the Senate—one of the pillars of the government, as well as her own partymates, and factions of the military, expressing dissenting opinion on her recent draconian policies to stifle legitimate political dissent, PGMA is left with nothing but to use the barrel of the gun to impose her will upon the people.

With her lust for power, PGMA seems not only toying with the idea of martial rule, but is actually implementing it right now; with the way the Calibrated Pre-emptive Response is brutally implemented by the police against rallyists. And although the passage of the anti-terrorism bill is still in the pipe line, which will only worsen the curtailment of our basic human tights as everyone will become a suspect of being a terrorist, it becomes apparent that a dictatorial streak has seized the President after dodging the bullet that was the impeachment complaint. And with Congress in recess, Malacañang will have a better opportunity to realize its hostile plot to perpetuate PGMA to power against the will of the people.

Against the continuing inquiries on controversies such as the Venable contract, which has already costs hundreds of millions of dollars; the Northrail project, which is replete with graft from the very start; the jueteng scandal; and the nefarious election fraud, GMA has issued EO 464 that effectively curtails the right of the Senate to seek investigations in aid of its oversight function on activities involving the Executive.

Against all citizens, she has pushed the economy to the brink of collapse with a trillion-level budget from which more than half will still go into paying maturing loans to appease creditors to the detriment of much-needed social services. To augment projected deficits for the next few years, GMA's government will keep on borrowing, to shore up the image of a pro-poor stance while keeping our country neck-deep in continued poverty and indebtedness.

And as icing on the cake are talks of a surreptitiously substituted Executive Order declaring emergency rule, the language of which is only a few inferences away from all-out Martial Law.

We believe that such prospects are not totally incomprehensible and unpalatable to GMA and her lackeys. Little by little Malacañang has encroached on the people's rights and have shown unwavering compunction to equate protecting the State with protecting the President form further scrutiny.

The Alliance of Progressive Labor is poised at any moment to mobilize in full force its ranks to hold a general strike should GMA even dare to declare emergency rule. The APL believes that this is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to hold on to power and workers everywhere will never again allow an incumbent president to ever pull the rug of our fragile democracy from under our feet.

The APL calls on all labor groups and other civil society groups around the country to join us in pursuing this general strike should GMA continue to trample on our rights. We should not let up in our efforts to oppose and to expose the decay of this administration and its continued violation of our rights and its wholesale selling out of our national interests.

Malacañang will have the public believe that an energy crisis, combined with terrorist threats and a state of panic or chaos will justify concentrating more power to the President, but this is the biggest lie GMA has peddled so far.

While our country may be beset with so many crises, her continued rule is the biggest obstacle to truly finding a way out of this mess. If we are to begin anywhere to seek solutions to all our problems, the solution must start with her removal from office.