ALL right. The Comelec has yet to proclaim the winners yet — largely due to the interference of TEAM Unity — but I think it’s safe to say that Genuine Opposition candidates are going to get most of the 12 seats up for grabs in the Senate. 7-3-2 (GO-TU-independent) the last time I checked.
Now what?
I don’t know.
What I do know is that, barring some miraculous turn of events, impeachment is not going to happen. The Congress is unquestionably Arroyo’s; though there are congressmen who oppose her, notably the representatives of party-lists like Bayan Muna and Anakpawis, the grim truth is that they are the minority. Not to mention the fact that Arroyo’s allies in the Congress have demonstrated time and again a lack of delicadeza. They’re not going to shy away from employing underhanded tactics or bulldozing through all opposition (regardless of how legitimate the dissent is) to get what they want.
Which means that though the Senate would probably vote to impeach Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a trial, the Congress would never let the impeachment case reach the Senate in the first place.
Charter change?
Well, the entire country saw what happened the last time Congress tried shoving that down our throats. Every major faction — the opposition, the activists, the Church, etc. — made its opposition to Cha-cha known, and its proponents hastily backed down. But I seriously doubt that’s the end of that. Cha-cha continues to lurk in the background, waiting for a chance to reenter the political scene.
Unfortunately, there’s not much the Senate can do if or when Congress decides to revive the issue. Besides complaining on national television, that is. That worked last time, helping to sway public opinion against the initiative and the proposed Constitutional Assembly, but Filipinos are quick to forget. They can forget, for example, that a candidate who once hated Erap enough to cry is now hand in hand with him in election ads. They can forget all the reasons they didn’t like Cha-cha and become swayed by the propaganda of the administration.
As I said, I don’t have all the answers. No crystal ball wherein the future reveals itself to me. But I have to hope that GO accomplishes something besides proclaiming their disgust at the current administration, and plotting its demise. The 2007 elections are behind us — now we must hope we voted the right people into their positions.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am
to simple pinoy:
“Spend the next 3 years whining. Even with GO dominating the Senate, GMA will remain in power for the rest of her term. The difference between GMA and the opposition is just simple: GMA got brains and she knows how well to tame her foes. Thumbs up for GMA. Everyone counted her out in 2005 but here she is still enjoying her trips to foreign shores to elicit support for her programs.
Inspite of everything, GMA is firmly in the saddle but the opposition remains just that: opposition. She’s had them all by the palm of her hands. The opposition is all bark with no bite. In the vernacular: puro tahol di naman nangangagat o baka takot lang mangagat.
Come 2010, the opposition will disintegrate into three factions: Lacson faction, Villar faction and Legarda faction citing irreconcilable differences. I wonder whose faction would Salina side when this time comes. Maybe, none of the foregoing but Jinggoy faction. Whew! We never learn”
what are you saying? that after GMA its the end of our country?…(you must be one of Arroyo’s cronies)…maybe you want arroyo to be a dictator and remain in power until you experience one of your relatives get abused by one of arroyos henchmen. what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong, there is a reason why GO dominated the senate elections, its because the people have spoken and despise her govt. Im not sure who to support come 2010 but surely something would come up, and i hope the next administration is going to investigate the scandals this administration has created.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I am just wondering, the GO candidates are dominating in the Senate, obviously they won in their bailwicks, but why does GO still telling the people that TU is cheating in Lanao, Maguindanao, etc? when these places have been known to be the bailwicks of the administration, is it because these places where mentioned in the ‘Hello Garci’ scandal? or they just want to tell the people that TU is cheating to win the race?
What are these guys whinning about? Our brother muslims are even complaining why their votes are being questioned.
I just hope the GO will respect our Muslim brothers, don’t discredit them in their mind conditioning, because they still have the right to vote. GO is even preparing to sue all those COMELEC officials whom they identified in aiding to cheat in the administrations bailwicks, Cebu, Negros, etc. I hope they will pursue and prove that it is true, because if they cannot prove their claim of cheating it will bounce back to them as painful as they have discredited the people from the Visayas and Mindanao.
GO is too much in their psy-war and mind conditioning to the point that they are discrediting the people who are pro-administration. And Lacson’s press conferences presenting evidences is too much, he should be presenting it in court rather to the public because he is misleading facts from allegations. I even believed at some point that Lacson is the one carrying the abductions and political killings..remember, he is also connected to the military and he has the power to infuence them…he has done that in Cebu..why is he under the radar on all this?
May 30th, 2007 at 5:27 am
To: Anti-Salinavercingetorix
Of course, i condemn too those people who are liabilities of government na wala ng gawin kundi umasa sa gobyerno hindi naman mga nagbabayad ng tax. Ang masasabi ko lang e imulat mo ang iyong mga mata sa mga nangyayari sa paligid o baka naman nagbubulagbulagan ka lang. The economy of the Philippines is doing good(as they said) because the dollar went down,right!but not because of their effort but through the remittances of the Filipino workers abroad tapos ipagmamalaki ng Malakanyang na gumaganda ang ekonomiya?!..kahit na ano ang sabihin mo habang nakaupo si Gloria,mas lalong magiging magulo ang Pilipinas coz she’s not the legitimate president of the country and she was hunted by her nightmares.Yesterday, when she was in New Zealand..anong nangyari?…sangkatutak na batikos ang inabot nya because of the mass political killings…Yan ba ang gusto mo?…Lumalagay lang ako sa alam kong tama sapagaka’t ang mga tao ay ayaw na sa idol mo na nasa malakanyang…
May 30th, 2007 at 2:31 am
anti-salinavercingetorix
This people are out of this world..so pessimistic, tama iba dyan na dahil sa inyo, hindi uunlad ang Pilipinas. All of you are expecting change in the masses but most of these masses are doing nothing and are just waiting for money to be handed down to them..no wonder they don’t feel the economy growth. Ako medyo lumuluwag na buhay, ewan ko na lang sa inyong walang ginagawa kundi mang gulo at kumontra sa gobyerno. “Sala sa init, sala sa lamig� kayo!
Vercingetorix, figure or not, thats what we are seeing. It will never turn life upside down…you are so immature!
Salina, with your english, you will never get a proper job, study first then maybe you’ll get a job and hopefully feel the economic gains your idols cannot produce!
*********
Salina
You sounded just like Gloria Arroyo, You’re blaming the poor people with your failure’s to run the country. kayo ang unitil.
The poor people is not the one squatting in Malacanyang Palace but Gloria Arroyo, The bugos President of cebu.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:12 am
My dear Salina,
Spend the next 3 years whining. Even with GO dominating the Senate, GMA will remain in power for the rest of her term. The difference between GMA and the opposition is just simple: GMA got brains and she knows how well to tame her foes. Thumbs up for GMA. Everyone counted her out in 2005 but here she is still enjoying her trips to foreign shores to elicit support for her programs.
Inspite of everything, GMA is firmly in the saddle but the opposition remains just that: opposition. She’s had them all by the palm of her hands. The opposition is all bark with no bite. In the vernacular: puro tahol di naman nangangagat o baka takot lang mangagat.
Come 2010, the opposition will disintegrate into three factions: Lacson faction, Villar faction and Legarda faction citing irreconcilable differences. I wonder whose faction would Salina side when this time comes. Maybe, none of the foregoing but Jinggoy faction. Whew! We never learn.