National security adviser Norberto Gonzales the other day feigned outrage at reports that he has been egging President Arroyo to declare martial law to permanently put away those pesky communists and fellow travelers. Gonzales said he was a victim of martial law, Part 1, and he would be the last to seek its re-imposition. Gonzales is a liar. The Senate found him so, the reason he was cited in contempt and placed under custody during an inquiry into the lobby contract he entered into with the US firm Venable LLB. He remains a liar in insisting he is not pushing for martial law. Let’s take a look at Gonzales’ claim he was a victim of martial law. Indeed he was hunted -- or rather he claimed he was hunted -- during martial law for leading an anti-Marcos armed group identified with the "clerico-fascists" like the Jesuit Romeo Intengan (the Gonzales-Intengan tandem remains as the most rapid anti-communist faction advising Arroyo). In reality, Gonzales’ group of middle class "revolutionaries" was no more than a nuisance to the Marcos martial law regime. The Marcos regime reserved its most ruthless and vicious assaults for the Left. And guess who were lustily applauding Marcos’ policy of extermination? Gonzales and Intengan, that’s who.
What a match! The Strong Republic’s grand inquisitor in the service of the self-proclaimed La Catolica.’
National security adviser Norberto Gonzales the other day feigned outrage at reports that he has been egging President Arroyo to declare martial law to permanently put away those pesky communists and fellow travelers. Gonzales said he was a victim of martial law, Part 1, and he would be the last to seek its re-imposition.
Gonzales is a liar. The Senate found him so, the reason he was cited in contempt and placed under custody during an inquiry into the lobby contract he entered into with the US firm Venable LLB. He remains a liar in insisting he is not pushing for martial law.
Let’s take a look at Gonzales’ claim he was a victim of martial law. Indeed he was hunted -- or rather he claimed he was hunted -- during martial law for leading an anti-Marcos armed group identified with the "clerico-fascists" like the Jesuit Romeo Intengan (the Gonzales-Intengan tandem remains as the most rapid anti-communist faction advising Arroyo). In reality, Gonzales’ group of middle class "revolutionaries" was no more than a nuisance to the Marcos martial law regime.
The Marcos regime reserved its most ruthless and vicious assaults for the Left. And guess who were lustily applauding Marcos’ policy of extermination? Gonzales and Intengan, that’s who.
And guess who were financing Gonzales and Intengan? There was this businessman, now sporting the title of taipan, who lost his stake in a telephone company and the immensely profitable ancillary business that went with that stake. Then there was this family which Marcos stripped of its power distribution company and media empire.
Gonzales was indeed an anti-Marcos fighter. But in the cause of the oligarchic families which have made a strong comeback with the restoration of the formal trappings of democracy.
The fascist mind of Gonzales is in full display in his public utterances. He wants left-leaning party groups to be stripped of their rights to participate in elections. He wants "communist fronts" declared illegal. He wants the military freed from the niceties of conventions protecting non-combatants to make easier the task of crushing the communist rebellion. Gonzales would have been in his elements as an assistant of Torquemada. Burn all those heretics (communists) at the stake. God will sort out his own from those unfortunate souls.
But then he is already Torquemada to Gloria, his Isabella.
What a match! The Strong Republic’s grand inquisitor in the service of the self-proclaimed La Catolica.
GMA open to martial law
‘Bottomline is staying in power’
PRESIDENT Arroyo is keeping an "open mind" on the proposal of national security adviser Norberto Gonzales to declare martial law, a source who was told about the plan said yesterday.
The source, who said he opposed the proposal, said martial law is being kept as an option on Palace worries over the possible success of the impeachment complaint the opposition in the House is set to file in July and the derailment of the charter change campaign.
The bottomline is keeping Arroyo in power, the source said.
He said a headcount among House members shows that an impeachment complaint is likely to again fall short of the 76 votes needed to automatically send the case for trial at the Senate.
But he said a new scandal or new evidence proving that Arroyo cheated in the 2004 election could boost the ranks of pro-impeachment congressmen.
"They’re worried the opposition has something up its sleeve," the source said.
After an opposition caucus two weeks ago called to discuss the planned impeachment complaint, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said they intend to drop a "bombshell" that would split the ranks of Arroyo supporters.
Lacson added that with an election coming in 2007, a number of House members are likely to dissociate themselves from the Arroyo administration for fear of a voters’ backlash.
The source said a shift to a parliamentary system would put an end to the continuing threat of impeachment, but the Palace is worried the proposed revision of the charter is doomed.
The source said the original timetable of having an interim parliament in July is already impossible to meet.
The people’s initiative to amend the charter faces what appears to be an insurmountable bar in the Supreme Court directive to the Comelec not to entertain any petition in the absence of an enabling legislation.
A constituent assembly is also facing an uphill battle in the face of the Senate’s insistence that the two chambers of Congress vote separately on proposed amendments.
"A constitutional convention is still possible, but the process would take a long time," the source said.
Palace officials have denied that declaring martial law had been entertained at all, not even in the face of the alleged power grab timed to coincide with the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Edsa 1 on Feb. 24.
They said PP 1017 was sufficient to meet the threat at the time. Portions of PP 1017, which was in effect for a week, have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The Armed Forces has said the conditions that prompted President Ferdinand Marcos to declare martial on Sept. 21, 1972, are non-existent. Until the eve of the proclamation, Marcos had denied he was planning to impose martial rule.
"There were bombs being exploded left and right. (Now) there is no anarchy in the streets to justify martial law," Maj, Gen. Angel Honrado, AFP spokesman.
The source said he would not be surprised if bombs started exploding soon to create the conditions for declaring martial rule.
On Thursday night, the car of Batangas Gov. Armand Sanchez was bombed, injuring him and killing his driver and bodyguards.
Southern Tagalog police officials said the bombing was likely the work of "destabilizers" who want to make it appear that authorities have lost control of the situation.
The proposal to declare martial was first broached to Arroyo in mid-January. It was dropped after the United States government discreetly objected to the plan and warned it would withdraw military and economic assistance.
The source said he fears that Arroyo is going the way of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, whose regime from 1973 to 1990 saw the killings or disappearance of 3,000 people. More than 27,000 people were jailed and in a great many cases tortured.
Pinochet, 90, is under house arrest in his Santiago mansion. He has repeatedly avoided trial because of health problems.
He has been charged with tax evasion, the use of a fake passport to open bank accounts, perjury, and forging state documents, all in connection with an illicit fortune of million.
Original: What a match! The Strong Republic’s grand inquisitor in the service of the self-proclaimed