04/05/2010
While mainstream media carry on with the hype of the two main survey outfits instrumental in the Edsa II destabilization of President Joseph Estrada, quiet surveys commissioned by local mayoralty bets are proving to be move reflective of the realities on the ground. Since these are hardly used for publicity as those commissioning them do not have a direct, vested stake in the race for the presidency, there is no pressure for bias at least on this level.
It is in this context that we are reporting on two of these local surveys: The first in Manila puts President Estrada at 44 percent, way ahead of the pack, while the second in Quezon City shows Erap a very close second. In both, Villar has slipped to a far third, reflecting the propaganda overdose that is already choking the public into spitting him out.
The oligarchy-controlled media, however, together with survey outfits that reflect only the privileged class’ perceptions, continue to block out the masa’s overwhelming sentiment about the crises they face in their daily lives. This, they do by redressing old and still festering wounds from Edsa I and II, such as the elite’s insults against the masa’s votes, as well as, personal or class indignities through harsh labels or condescending plays on the masa’s sympathy.
But as the masa’s will and inherent intelligence were shown in their 1998 vote, the same is repeating itself today.
It is very clear even in the latest Pulse Asia survey that only Estrada is gaining ground, by four percentage points at least. The Yellow candidate’s tick-up of one percent is, for all intents and purposes, a statistical standstill. Villarroyo’s train, meanwhile, has markedly lost steam and is now rolling backwards downhill. With nothing new to say and no new contrivances such as being “one of the poor,” Villar is practically eliminated already.
Now then comes the real showdown — one that the oligarchs wish they could have avoided: A battle royale pitting the Yellow dummy versus the Champion of the People. It is also at this time that the issue summarizing all the years from 2001 must be raised, which rightly deals with the question of who brought upon this nation the crisis of law it faces today.
This is what separates the nation’s pre-2001 and post-2001 eras, the demarcation being BG (Before Gloria) and AG (After Gloria). In the years from 1987 down to Jan. 18, 2001, BG, the country, despite all its problems, laid claim to the rule of law in all its dealings, albeit inconsistently. Elections were held periodically and, though imperfect, the country still had a working democracy. Even if the powerful elite continued to hold sway, the exploited middle class and poor had some room to fight certain injustices such as basic utility rate increases and onerous privatizations.
But our lives as Filipinos took a drastic turn for the worse on Jan. 19, 2001 AG when the elite deposed a duly-elected President who abided by every letter of the law. It was all the more disastrous because he was the only president in recent history to uphold the country’s territorial integrity and its obligation to serve the greater good for the greatest number, whose only mistake was to miss the fact that the elite think they are either transnational and corporate or cacique and not just Filipino, while Filipino politicians and police-military bureaucrats think of ordinary citizens as sheep and carabaos, and not as Filipinos with political and economic rights.
People are still aware of Villarroyo’s role in the illegal impeachment of President Estrada when he circumvented the rules to fast-break the case to the Senate wolves. Noynoy Aquino, for his part, was then a congressional wallpaper who, together with his trapo colleagues, neither cared for legal processes nor upheld democracy and justice. It was under their watch that this illegal regime of Gloria Arroyo came to pass.
After 2004’s chance at national redemption got stolen by blatant cheating, both Aquino and Villar stayed silent and continued protecting Gloria. It was only after segments of the elite began distrusting their ragdoll Gloria that the death of Cory Aquino was seized upon to build up their new Yellow puppet.
The succinct truth is Arroyo, Aquino, and Villar represent the injustice of Edsa II and its years of tribulations. The three have ushered in an era where oligarchs have been given free rein to cash in and share the spoils with the most corrupt regime in the annals of Philippine history and all its branches. President Estrada has defied all the odds to rise from what some have said was “a spent political force.” After years of facing off with Gloria; after successfully fending off many of the elite’s attacks; after knocking Villar out recently, Erap must now train his sights on another elite-engineered ruse — a transition from an Arroyo to an Aquin-o-rroyo regime.
For truly, with the oligarchs’ new Malacañang puppet and their Gloria Arroyo both protectively ensconced in the seats of power, the nation can only be at the service of the oligarchy. Only the real Champion of the People, President Estrada, can put a stop to this. | 
