young radicals

The presidential binge (or what caused Arroyo's upset stomach)

a fellow young radical jokingly said that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo got an upset stomach not from over-eating but from over-spending when there's no money to spend. millions of impoverished Filipinos can relate to this malady. ask any poor family breadwinner about dinner on the table tonight and he/she is surely to get his/her stomach all worked up.

Arroyo's binge, however, had nothing to do with food at all.



after alloting a whopping P76 billion (P1B for arms and weapon procurement and P75B for so-called 'regional development' to complement massive counter-insurgency in the regions) for her 'all-out war against the Reds,' Arroyo even in her, uh, indisposed state still managed to dish out an additional P1.5B for military housing.

this latest cash spree may well be a result of what Sen. Franklin Drilon calls the presidential blank check, after resigning to virtual re-enactment of the national budget for this year.

NEWS FLASH!!!: Arroyo's counter-insurgency now targetting campuses. UP students protest Marine presence inside the Diliman campus barely a week after UP Manila students got arrested by police INSIDE the Taft campus. PUP students have also reportedly seen military elements lurking inside their campus in Sta. Mesa.

Cong. Crispin 'Ka Bel' Beltran, meanwhile, called on the government to channel the P1B AFP fund to schools, medicines and peace talks. Today's Inquirer editorial expresses the same sentiment, but with a focus on the below average state of the education sector. Columnist Amado Doronilla thinks the president's all-out war has the makings of a campaign sliding into a bottomless pit into which troops and money will be sucked.

perhaps what really caused arroyo's upset stomach was realizing that a week-long binge will not wipe-out rebellion strategically. even an NCRPO chief had to admit that even if the government succeeds in killing every single rebel in the country, it will not be able to kill the insurgency. Who was it that said, "'Ideas are bulletproof?" ###

posted by adarna @ 9:45 AM