The world’s laughing stock
FEBRUARY 26, earlier ‘declared as “National Day of Protest” by Cory Aquino, will most likely be proclaimed a public holiday by the Marcos regime. This day, which follows the Marcos inauguration, will be declared a non-working day to soften the impact of what could be a crippling general strike in factories and a boycott of classes in schools.
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The embattled Marcos regime can no longer afford tangible evidence of lost credibility — and it wants to erase the impression that its six-year term is a spurious mandate. If Cory’s “National Day of Protest” catches fire, then the whole world will be laughing at Ferdinand Marcos and his “new mandate.” But as far as many people are concerned, Marcos may have a covenant with KBL cronies but none definitely with the exploited masses.
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Word is circulating among Filipino employes of foreign missions and the U.S. military installations that February 26 will be a public holiday. It’s the most unlikely time for a vacation — with productivity down to a record-low and the people’s spirit broken. But for the Marcos regime, February 26 must be a holiday, otherwise the Filipino people will be able to show their anger against the Marcos regime.
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Those who sold their votes last February 7 will begin whipping themselves in remorse after commodity prices shoot up dramatically. The 50- and 100-peso bills they received in exchange for their souls won’t be enough to feed their children for one day. Unfortunately for the vote-sellers, the punishment is inadequate to atone for their mortal sin.
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The Ateneans who are “in” with the Marcos regime have put out a paid ad — through the facilities of an ad agency which serviced the KBL during the last election — explaining why they don’t want to get out of the government. They also say that they have retained their idealism and have fought for just causes.
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If the “in” Ateneans’ credibility is to be adjudged, they should identify themselves so that they can be separated from the “rapacious vultures” who stained the Ateneo’s good name. Some vultures participated directly and with deliberation in the scheme to defraud the Filipino electorate.
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The reason why many of the “in” Ateneans cannot get out is that they are enjoying the material comforts offered by the Marcos regime. If they are really true to the Ateneo, they can prove their worth by denouncing the many evil acts being committed by the regime’s minions.
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Many of Ferdinand Marcos’s men will retain their positions or get new jobs in the Marcos regime — not because they deserve it but because Marcos wants to punish them. He does not want any of his associates to abandon a sinking ship. He knows some of his men would gladly follow him to the bunker, but the “sunshine soldiers” who made their pile are simply itching to sneak out of the country.
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Mr. Philip Habib should be wary of the so-called evidences of armed priests guarding precincts and nuns tabulating votes in the February 7 snap elections. The pillars of this regime are experts in manufacturing fakes — fake ballots, fake tally sheets, fake canvass certificates, even fake hundred-peso bills.
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PULSEBEAT: The hometown of Mrs. Marcos’s mother, Remedios Trinidad — Baliuag, Bulacan — gave a thumping victory to the Cory-Doy ticket. The Opposition also won in MSSD Minister Sylvia Montes’s hometown, Norzagaray….The Albertos of Masbate finally tumbled down. Cory and Doy won convincingly over the Marcos-Tolentino ticket. The Opposition feat ended the Albertos’ tight grip on Masbate politics. The Opposition’s MP Jolly Fernandez lost his brother in the process of upending the KBL.
