Why GMA Must Go

[yebo]

it took the filipino people 17 years to overthrow marcos after proclamation 1081. it does take time for the water to boil over. in marcos' case it took the assasination of ninoy for the people to come together and fight the dictatorship. maybe gma will last until 2010, maybe not. who knows when the people will get tired of waiting on the sidelines. so it is not because not so many are protesting now that you can say that the people are tired or don't care about what is happening, maybe they are just waiting.


jelogs,

14th post mo palang naninigaw ka na dito. please, we have rules here. we respect one another's opinions. if you want people to respect you then give some respect first.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." pero sana wag naman all caps ehehehehehe!

[yebo]

niky,

i don't think the people who are against gma are insisting on people power to get rid of gma. all they want is for her to go.

i believe the only real people power was the first one, edsa 1986. and although i was against erap (before, during and after his presidency) i did not believe in edsa dos. in order for democracy to function then the constitution had to be followed. but it was not followed in 2001. and that is why we are in the mess that we are all in today.

also, why is it you conclude that lacson, erap etal will take over when gma goes? there is a vice president, noli de castro. ok, ok, he is not bright. o sabihin na nating diretsahan, he is bobo. but, if the law will be followed, and if democracy will be upheld, then he is the successor. kahit hindi natin siya gusto siya pa din ang binoto na vice president so we will just have to live with it. unless of course loren can prove that she was the one chosen by the people.

ang gulo!

[van_wilder]

This open letter someone wrote probably sums up how
many feel.

Open Letter to Our Leaders this was forwarded to me.seems to be running around the emails of people in the advertising industry. thought i'd share it due to its timeliness, and quite interesting insights. have a nice day!

Dear Tita Cory, Senators, Congressmen, Businessmen,
Media people, Leftists, and all Bleeding Hearts Out
There:

I am angry. And I know that there are many out there who are angrier than I am for the same reason. And that reason is simple. I am sick and tired of all you guys claiming to speak for me and many Filipinos. I feel like screaming every time you mouth words about fighting for my freedom and my rights, when you obviously are just thinking about
yours. You tell me that the essence of democracy is providing every citizen the right to speak his or her mind and make his or her own informed judgments, but you yourselves do not respect my silence and the choices I and many others have made.

In other words, your concept of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours.

I am utterly flabbergasted that you still do not get it: we already responded to your calls, and our response has been very clear - we chose not to heed your calls to go to EDSA or to Fort Bonifacio because we do not love our country or our freedoms or our rights, but precisely because we love our country even more. Because quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward. You may think that is not correct, you can tell me all the dire warnings about the evils of authoritarian rule, but quite frankly all we see is your pathetic efforts to prop up your cause. You
tell me that you are simply protecting my freedoms and
my rights, but who told you to do that? I assure you
that when I feel that my rights and my freedoms are at a peril, I will stand up and fight for them myself.

You tell us that GMA is not the right person to lead this country because she has done immoral acts. As someone who sees immorality being committed want only in many ways every day and by everyone (yes, including the ones you do), I may have become jaded. But you have not been able to offer me any viable alternative, while GMA has bent over backwards many times to accommodate you while continuing to work hard despite all the obstacles and the brickbats you have thrown
her way. From where I sit, she is the one who has been working really hard to move this country forward while all of you have been so busy with one and only one thing: to make sure she does succeed. So forgive me if I do not want to join you in your moral pissing contest. Forgive me if I have chosen to see things from another perspective.

You say she is the problem. I say, we are the problem, more to the point, I think you are a bigger problem than she is. Taking her out may solve part of the problem, but that leaves us with a bigger problem: you. That is right, YOU!

While I felt outraged that she called a Comelec official during the elections and that she may have rigged the elections, I have since then taken the higher moral ground and forgiven her. Yes my dear bishops, I have done what you have told me to do since I was a child, which you say is the Christian and moral thing to do: forgive. Especially since she
has asked for forgiveness and has tried to make amends for it.

Erap certainly has not apologized and continues to be defiant, continuing to insult us everyday with his protestations. Cory has not apologized for her incompetence but we have forgiven her just the same because like GMA, she has worked hard after all. I know you do not think that GMA's apology was not enough, or that she was insincere, or that that apology should not be the end of it, but please spare me the hypocrisy of telling me that you do so for the sake of protecting the moral fiber of society.

The real reason is because you smell blood and want to go for the kill.
Well, I have news for you. I do not like her too. I did not even vote for her. I voted for Raul Roco. But as much as I do not like her, I do not like you
even more. I may not trust her, but guess what; I do not trust you even more.

You know why? Because all you do is whine and sabotage this country. You belittle every little progress we make; conveniently forgetting that it is not just GMA who has been working so hard to achieve
them. Every single day, we keep the faith burning in our hearts that this country will finally pull itself out of the mess and we work so hard to do
that. Every little progress is the result of our collective effort, we who toil hard everyday in our jobs. Yet, you persist in one and only thing:
making GMA look bad in the eyes of the world and making
sure that this country continues to suffer to prove your sorry point. In the process, you continue to destroy what we painstakingly try to build. So please do not be surprised that I do not share your cause. Do not
be surprised that we have become contemptuous of your antics. You have moved heaven and earth to destroy her credibility, you have convened all kinds of fora and hearings and all you have done is test
our patience to the core. For all your effort, you have only succeeded in dragging us further down. I say enough.

Don't get me wrong. I am not asking that we take immorality lying down, or that we let the President get away with anything illegal. But you have tried to prove your accusations all these time and you have
not succeeded, so it is time to let things be. Besides, you are doing something immoral as well if not utterly unforgivable. The Magdalo soldiers are consorting with the communists - the same people
who have been trying to kill democracy for years. Cory has
been consorting with Erap and the Marcoses. So please wake up and take a reality check.

In the absence of true and genuine moral leadership, many of us have decided to cast our lot with the President, even if we do not like her. A flawed leader is better than scheming power hungry fools who can not even stand up for their convictions in the face of an impending arrest.
Your coup attempts and the denials that you have consequently made only underscore what we think is true: you are spineless and unreliable people whose only defense is to cry suppression when your ruse does not work. You are like bullies who taunt and provoke, but cry oppression when taken to task for your cruelty.

I would have respected you if you took the consequences of your actions like real heroes: calmly and responsibly instead of kicking and screaming and making lame excuses. You say you are willing to die
for us, that you do all these things for the country and the Filipino, but you are not even willing to go to jail for us.

Come on, you really think we believe that you did not want to bring down the government when that is the one and only thing you have been trying to do in the last many months?

We love this country and we want peace and progress.

Many among us do not give a f*&k who sits at Malacanang because we will work hard and do our share to make things work. If you only do your
jobs, the ones that we elected you to do, things would be a lot simpler and easier for every one.

The events during the weekend only proved one thing. You are more dangerous and a serious threat to this country than GMA is. We have seen what you are capable of doing - you are ready to burn this
country and reduce everything to ashes just to prove your point. If there is something that we need protection from, it is protection from you.

[yebo]

also do not assume that people rally in the streets because they are anarchists. some may be but most are not. they rally so that people like you and me will listen and maybe wake up from our slumber. it is after all a game of politics, and politics is a game of numbers. and when more people make their voices heard then those politicians who make our lives miserable will maybe listen. and maybe instead of puting their personal interests first they will, for a short moment, think of themselves as statesmen instead of pigs.

[yebo]

the letter above was obviously written by someone who did not live during martial law under marcos.

how could one who did not experience how it was not to have freedom tell people who suffered under martial law to shut up because he is prepared to lose his?

and worse, how can one so easily tell people who suffered under martial law to stand aside and shut up when his experiences are so different from theirs.

he says "your concept of democracy is limited to having your rights and your freedoms respected, at the expense of ours", but does this not go both ways? why should the people in the streets shut up and curtail their freedoms just because he thinks it tramples on his?

and the worst part he has the gall to say "quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward". what kind of coward says this to people who are risking their lives so that he can keep his own freedoms!

why does everyone need to surrender their freedom just because he wants to?

pathetic! lahing alipin.

[oldblue]

palagay nyo kaya, mas gumanda ang buhay natin ngayon? sa akin lalong mas mahirap ngayon. siguro kung mayaman ka at hindi nauubos ang salapi mo, sasabihin mo. hindi mahirap ang buhay ngayon, lalo na kung umaasa ka lang sa mayaman mong mga magulang, pero kung isa ka lang sa mga middle income earner, at bumubuhay ng isang pamilya, sasabihin mo mas lalong mas mahirap ang buhay ngayon. its obvious naman.. wag ninyong ipikit ang inyong mga mata...

hindi naman namini pinipikit, pero wala naman talaga tayo magagawa sa mga pulitiko eh, andyan na yan.

might as well make use of them. basta flood tayo ng investments tapos lahat ng problema dito. secondary na yun prinsipyo, good governance kuno. the more money comes in the better ...

indirectly nga nakakatulong mga pulitiko sa'tin, by making our country the worst in living conditions, dami nag-aabroad, mass exodus ng great pinoy minds.

ang nangyari tuloy sa sobra dami nila abroad, more and more dollars are coming in in terms of padala. kita mo lakas ng peso vs. dollar ngaun.

[oldblue]

and the worst part he has the gall to say "quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our freedoms and our rights just to move this country forward". what kind of coward says this to people who are risking their lives so that he can keep his own freedoms!

oo nga naman. our freedom is too precious to lose again. dapat rephrase nya yun like this " "quite frankly, we are prepared to lose our free for all rights just to move this country forward".

[niky]

*yebo: Loren's legal wrangling is why I think the opposition are planning to remove Noli... if they can prove that his win was also the result of fradulence on the part of GMA, they're killing two birds with one stone. I don't assume they can do it, but it's inconceivable that they won't try. Which leaves Loren as the "legitimate" President... (dear God... )

As for EDSA dos... I was there, but not to oust ERAP. I was there, along with many others, as a legitimate show of protest. Then the politicians came. There were boos from some parts of the crowd when they took the stage (some of them for Ate Glo). That's when the protest became a party... then a sham. I agree with you... it didn't quite measure up to 86'. We wanted that Senate hearing continued, we wanted to know the truth. Instead, years on, Erap's trial seems on permanent hiatus, as a means of keeping him tucked away. Seems everyone's forgotten why we were at EDSA back then.

While I don't like GMA, I'll make my protests privately and alone. I don't want to be standing beside the same opportunists I saw turn EDSA DOS into a political railroad and regime change. Besides, Ate Glo isn't staying in power forever. But if she ever tries another trick like 1017, all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Mukhang popular yung letter na yan... ah... see it everywhere. Kawawa talaga ang bayan natin ngayon if the loudest protests are ones of indifference...

[oldblue]

As for EDSA dos... I was there, but not to oust ERAP. I was there, along with many others, as a legitimate show of protest. Then the politicians came. There were boos from some parts of the crowd when they took the stage (some of them for Ate Glo). That's when the protest became a party... then a sham. I agree with you... :

I was there too, I heard the boos. but I'll tell you it's not coming from the ordinary crowds, it's from those militants/leftists positioned under the bridge.

nagpunta ka ba dun sa area nila? they had artwork exhibits /propaganda materials there, yun tipong extremist ang dating, subversive art might be the right term. sabi ko nun sa gf ko, naligaw ata tayo ah, asan na ba yun mga celebs

[niky]

Hmmm... I dunno... don't normally like to associate with classmates.

But the boos? Oh, I actually agreed with them. medyo obvious na carnival na when politico after politico took the stage.