Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Arroyo presidency will continue even after May 2010

WITH PGMA NOW A CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, ELECTIONS WILL PUSH THROUGH: Now that President Arroyo managed to beat the deadline and was able to file her certificate of candidacy for the second congressional district of Pampanga, her home province, her critics should be fully convinced by now that she really wants the May 2010 elections to proceed, as scheduled.

Why, if she did not want the elections next year to push through, she should not have aspired for the seat already occupied by her son, Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, right? There should never be any doubt now as to her intentions, right?

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FAILURE OF ELECTIONS STILL A BIG POSSIBILITY? Meanwhile, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, a close ally of President Arroyo, must know something we all don’t know, on the issue of whether the May 2010 elections will proceed or not.

Even now, he continues to raise the spectre of next year’s polls not pushing through, giving rise to a “failure of elections”.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer Tuesday, Suarez (who admitted having paid some US$1 million for a dinner in the US in honor of Mrs. Arroyo and First Gentleman Mike Arroyo) was quoted as saying: “I am apprehensive. I’m afraid that what we might have is a failure of election. I’m really worried.” He is so afraid he will in fact call a congressional meeting on the matter Wednesday.

What he is actually saying is that, the Philippines is not yet ready for a total computerization of the election process, that only 40 percent of the country maybe “computer-ready”, and so there is a big chance that there will be a failure of election in next year’s political exercise.

Suarez did not cite the basis of his fears, except to say that computer voting cannot be carried out in areas where there is no Internet connection, have no electricity and no well-paved roads, which, inferred from his words, constitute about 60 percent of the entire archipelago.

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ARROYO PRESIDENCY TO CONTINUE AFTER MAY 2010: And this is something that we must all look into very urgently. We must all ask ourselves, what will happen when there is a failure of elections in May 2010? What will happen when the Commission on Elections will say there is a failure of elections?

More specifically, what will happen to our elective officials whose terms are supposed to end on June 30, 2010, when no one has been elected and qualified to replace them, precisely because of the supposed---and now, urgently projected, failure of elections?

Any lawyer worth his salt will tell you (as I have been writing before, in this very same column), there is going to be a “hold-over” government---meaning that, whoever are in position right now will be considered “hold-over” officials, having the right (in fact, the obligation) to continue discharging their duties and responsibilities.

As far as the presidency is concerned, there is going to be no succession in favor of the vice president, or the Senate president or even the Speaker of the House of Representatives because, as I already explained in previous columns, there will be no new vice president nor Senate President, nor Speaker, who can succeed likewise.

It could happen therefore that, after May 2010, the Philippines will still be under a “hold-over” President Arroyo, should Suarez’ fears proved true. What do you think?

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CARRYING OF THE CROSS: All of Christendom are aware that before Jesus was crucified, His tormentors greatly increased His suffering by compelling Him to carry the cross with which He will be crucified.

This part of Jesus’ life is called “Carrying of the Cross” and it is now the fourth mystery in the “Sorrowful Mysteries” of the Holy Rosary of Roman Catholic Christians. An account of it could be found in all the Gospels: Matthew 27:31-35, Mark 15:20-22, Luke 23:28-31 and John 19:17.

Again, the rendering of the event by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is relatively short and direct to the point.

What one sees is merely the act of the soldiers leading Jesus away from Pilate, ordering Him to carry the cross, and, along the way, compelling Simon from Cyrene to carry the cross, too.

In Luke, however, one notices the fact that while Jesus was carrying the cross, there were “a large number of people” following Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him.

When Jesus saw the mourners, He told them not to mourn for Him but that they should mourn for themselves instead, for a time was coming to them when they will wish that they were not born at all, in view of the grievousness of their sin against Him.

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