the state of the state and the military



'The government is imploding. But Gloria, in her delusion, insists
this is success.'

Lt. Gen. Alexander Yano recently said soldiers in Mindanao are focused
on fighting communist and secessionist rebels and have no time for
"political intrigues" in Manila. While Yano was giving the assurance
the Mindanao soldiers were not listening to oust-Gloria calls, units
in the field are being stripped of manpower for the National Capital
Region Command to deal with any attempt at a power grab.

The military is in a no-win situation. Gloria Arroyo cannot mount any
effort to strike a political settlement with either the New People's
Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. She has lost the support
of the people. No one can sit at the negotiating table bringing such a
baggage.

We can say anything about Jose Ma. Sison or Al Murad, except that they
are political naifs.

Sison is sitting tight in The Netherlands while the NPAs continue to
gather strength as the military's attention is focused on fending off
attempts to eject Gloria from Malacañang. Murad's negotiators in Kuala
Lumpur meanwhile are pushing for bigger concessions, in the hope
Gloria would do everything, anything to remove one threat against her.
If worse comes to worst, Murad's fighters can go back to the
battlefield secure in the knowledge the deeply politicalized military
cannot move against them.

Gloria keeps repeating ad nauseam that the country has to move on. It
apparently has not entered her mind that she is the biggest stumbling
block to the country's march forward.

For what can we expect from a president who cheated herself to power,
who can't stop her family from sticking their dirty fingers into big-
ticket projects and whose obsession is to keep herself in power at all
cost, including turning the military into her praetorian guard?

As with the military, so with the civilian side of government. The
economic team spends most of its time defending Gloria, to the
exclusion of doing the job at hand. Trade Secretary Peter Favila has
antagonized big business by allegedly threatening leaders of the
Makati Business Club. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves is inutile in
fighting corruption in customs and BIR, with the predictable result of
below-target revenues. Acting Planning Secretary Augusto Santos is
overseeing a NEDA whose experts have been sidelined in project
evaluation and assessment by big-time commission artists.

The government is imploding. But Gloria, in her delusion, insists this
is success
.

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