Curiouser and weirder

Recall that after the major rally against Estrada at the Edsa Shrine, the momentum seemed to be with the opposition. Then Estrada held his “national day of prayer,” and there was a massive turnout at Rizal Park, which suddenly slowed, then stopped, the Estrada Resign movement. The same strategy will be employed, it seems, on Saturday, when a rally for the President and the “rule of law” is to take place, under the auspices of Metro Manila’s mayors.

The fact that the President has appointed new cabinet secretaries was bumped off the headlines by Chavit Singson’s lurid revelations of an alleged tape. PCIJ delves into the Singson tape (or rather, CD). Paeng has some thoughts on the recordings.

This reminds me of a story someone active in the anti-Marcos opposition told me some years ago. I asked him whether or not Marcos’s repeated allegations that certain opposition individuals had plans to assassinate him (Marcos) had been true. One of the plans, I believe, included using a remote control airplane loaded with explosives, which would dive bomb Marcos while he was playing golf. “Oh, sure,” the oppositionist said, “we stuffed a cow with TNT and a timer. We tried it. Big explosion. Lots of ground round, but you know, we never did figure out how we’d get Marcos to go up and pet a constipated looking cow.”

The pundit roundup begins with the Inquirer’s editorial on the Noli factor; also on the Vice-President, Rudy Romero lists his shortcomings; Amando Doronila’s description of the big push and the need for the constitutional option of impeachment; regarding impeachment, Jarius Bondoc suggests looking at recent history; Raul Pangalanan suggests it’s a matter of how, not if, the President will go; Michael Tan does a brisk survey of our electoral systems (I disagree that the system under the 1935 Constitution was a carbon copy of the American system: it was not, except in a superficial sense); JB Baylon writes on the obstruction of justice; Ellen Tordesillas focuses on the e-mail brouhaha afflicting the Department of Foreign Affairs; Patricio Diaz doubts the President.

In the blogosphere, Torn and Frayed reacts to the news that FedEx is pulling out of Subic (Max Soliven, in his column, thinks politics might have been the last straw); Newsstand suggests the Supreme Court’s headed toward giving its ok to the VAT law (and starts the countdown to the decision); Jove says the President’s confidence is back; Tina Panganiban-Perez talks about “the addition, the addition”; Bangus Supremacy says the system is “fux0red”; koko politics focuses on God and politics; phoenix eyrie thinks time will take its toll on people opposing the President (and some thoughts on Edsa Dos); Citizen on Mars also looks back at Edsa Dos.