People Power

First topic message reminder :

MANILA, Philippines -- Twenty-two years after uniting to oust Ferdinand Marcos, a deeply divided Filipino people go their separate ways on Monday to mark the anniversary of the dictator's downfall.

Groups demanding that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tell the truth about the scandal-tainted National Broadband Network (NBN) deal will converge on a Baclaran church, while those calling for Ms Arroyo's resignation will march on Don Chino Roces (Mendiola) Bridge and hold protests in more than a dozen cities across the country.

Top military and police officials will show their support for the beleaguered Arroyo administration by holding a "unity walk" from the People Power Monument on EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos avenue) to Camp Aguinaldo. The Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police have heightened their alert status and threatened to arrest any of their men who would join the protests.

Ms Arroyo will stay away from the government commemoration and instead visit schools in the Manila suburbs to promote the Ahon Pamilyang Pinoy program involving cash grants for the health and education needs of poor families. The weather bureau has welcome news for the rally participants: Monday is a good day for street action.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) predicted that Metro Manila would have mostly cloudy skies on Monday -- -meaning the sun will be generally covered -- making the weather largely "conducive for walking."

Still, the cloudy skies may bring a little rain over the metropolis so it would be wise to bring umbrellas, forecaster Bobby Rivera said.

Former President Corazon Aquino, icon of the 1986 People Power revolution and an avowed enemy of immorality in government, will join Senate key NBN witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. and civil society, business, youth and other groups in a thanksgiving Mass at 3 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, better known as the Redemptorist Church, in Parañaque City.

Although opposition forces are expected to show up in full force at the church, the affair will be a solemn one with no plans for a protest rally after the Mass, organizers said.

The Black and White Movement, which has called on Ms Arroyo to vacate Malacañang, is also expected to attend.

Rallies in provinces

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, president of the United Opposition, urged Filipinos to attend the Mass "as an expression of solidarity with the various sectors that have actively taken part in national affairs, in the face of the latest crisis besetting the nation."

Lozada's testimony at the Senate about alleged massive kickbacks in the negotiations for the now scrapped NBN project with China's ZTE Corp. -- supposedly involving Ms Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo -- sparked the most dangerous political crisis to confront the administration since the "Hello Garci" election fraud scandal three years ago.

In addition to the Mendiola march, at least 14 other cities nationwide will hold simultaneous rallies Monday, led by the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

The group said the initial list of cities planning mass actions were Baguio, Calamba, Legazpi, Naga, Sorsogon, Daet, Masbate, Virac, Davao, Butuan, Surigao, Tandag, Bislig and Cagayan de Oro.

In Manila, organizers said several thousand left-wing protesters would march from the Welcome Rotonda boundary of Manila and Quezon City at 1 p.m. to historic Mendiola, after being denied a permit for a rally at the People Power Monument in Quezon City.

Bayan rally

"We are going to reaffirm the need for a people power as the only solution to the crisis being faced by the Arroyo presidency," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.

Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teddy Casiño, Gabriela Representatives Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan, and Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran are expected to join Monday's protests.

Bayan criticized the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for issuing restrictions against public utility vehicles ferrying protesters. The LTFRB has warned these vehicles could face fines up to P1,000 for being "out of line."

"They are targeting rally venues and public transport just so they can prevent us from publicly expressing our sentiments," Reyes said.

Unity walk

A noise barrage in España, Manila, will follow after the Bayan rally. Around 900 policemen will guard Mendiola, said the Manila Police District director, Chief Supt. Roberto Rosales.

For its part, the Eastern Police District has placed 500 policemen on standby around the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City.

Emerging from a meeting with Ms Arroyo at Camp Crame, Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said he and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. would lead the unity walk to Camp Aguinaldo.

As rumors swirled about possible defections from the police and military, Razon said the walk was meant to show that the PNP and the AFP were one in their resolve not to intervene in the political problems besetting the country. "We will show that the PNP and AFP are solid," he said.

Esperon reiterated the AFP was loyal to the Constitution and to Ms Arroyo as the Commander in Chief.

Same destabilizers

Ms Arroyo visited the PNP headquarters on short notice. In a closed-door meeting with Razon and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, she was briefed on the security preparations for Monday's protests.

Esperon was asked on radio dzBB if the military had monitored any efforts to recruit soldiers to join the destabilization attempts.

Esperon did not give a direct answer but instead blamed "whatever recruitment is going on" on the personalities behind the July 2003 Oakwood mutiny, the February 2006 coup plot, and the Peninsula Manila uprising. "They're just the same group," he said.

Razon said: "Suggestions of political intervention by the police and military are totally uncalled for and is seen as an insult to members of the police and military as dignified professionals."

"We in the PNP will not get ourselves involved in politics, much less in political intervention," he said.

The PNP has placed its units on a nationwide heightened alert, meaning 50 percent of the police force is on standby.

The AFP is on red alert throughout the country, with 3,000 troops, backed by armored personnel carriers and light tanks on standby at Camp Aguinaldo.

BAsta sakin ayoko ng gulo hehehhehehe