“Rude awakening”
I was rudely awakened by a worried call from
my aunt this morning. My name’s on the papers again, she said.
I was one of
those charged by the Manila Police District for having violated Batas Pambansa
880 in connection with last Friday’s rally at the corner of Recto Avenue and Morayta Street.
I wish to thank MPD chief Supt. Arthur Paglinawan’s idiocy for ensuring
that my name is on record to have done something for the ouster of Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo. Mas nakakahiya kasi ang masabing wala kang ginawa laban sa peke, peste
at magnanakaw na nakaupong pangulong ito.
But I also wish to say that I was not there as
a “left-wing leader of last Friday’s rally.” I was there as a legitimate member of the press. Suot-suot ko pa ang aking Kodao ID habang andun ako simula alas dos ng hapon hanggang matapos ang rali lagpas alas-kwatro. Moreover, I have not participated in the four-day march from either Central Luzon or Southern Tagalog.
But I am not surprised really. I was
also one of those charged in the violent dispersal of the December 10, 2003
rally even when I joined the rally after Pedro “Pete Bull” Bulaong’s dogs were done
with their truncheon-swinging fix that Human Rights Day. That charge was subsequently dropped.
Which brings me to the points I wish to make about this front page
story:
1. This regime is so violently shaking in its
boots that it has to think up ways to dissuade the “left-wing
leaders” to stop organizing rallies (as
if gagawin naman nila iyon); and
2. Arroyo and her dogs would do
anything to keep power, even preventing people to peaceably assemble and air
grievances. Wala nang human rights—human rights sa kanila.
And that is how
tyrants orchestrate their own downfall.
