THE TURNOUT of warm bodies at the people power rally last Feb. 29 in Makati City lagged behind intentions of support for calls for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) scandal, as indicated in recent public opinion poll surveys.

In its latest survey, conducted from Feb. 21 to 24, on the eve of the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 People Power Revolution, the poll group Pulse Asia found that 69 percent of respondents in Metro Manila would support protest actions calling for the resignation of government officials. However, out of the 69 percent who supported demonstrations, only 16 percent said they would join the rallies, while 53 percent said they would not. Asked why they would not join the rallies, 26 percent said they had “more important things to do,” another 26 percent said there would be no change in government, 21 percent said they needed to earn a living, 7 percent said, there was no alternative leader, and 6 percent said they were “tired” of people power.

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AT THE VERY LEAST, it was a bad joke.  At the very most, it was the Lilliputian of all Lilliputian affairs. Even the lamest Dinagyang gig can draw a crowd! So yes, by all accounts, the crowd who congregated at the promenade of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol in last Friday’s interfaith rally failed to convince their kasimanwas.

Unlike the sea of humanity that flocked in the heart of the country’s financial district, less than 500 Ilonggos had the audacity to demand the government of Righteous Gloria to deliver justice to the people by telling the truth.

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THE CATHOLIC Bishops have intervened again as pastors as the Philippines is as ever in a state of “restlessness and confusion”, facing “a crisis of truth and the pervading cancer of corruption”. They, in their Pastoral Statement, said: “We must seek the truth and we must restore integrity.”

The search must be “relentless and determined, and the way to truth and integrity must be untrammeled” or without impediments, they emphasized. These are their conviction – the imperatives.

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THE STORY ON the number of fire incidents in the region should be read beyond the figures, particularly the number of deaths and amount of damage wrought by blazes that could have been prevented in the first place.

Firefighters have always been concerned with the narrow roads and pathways in squatters’ areas where most fires happen. These constricted roads prevent fire trucks and firemen from going directly in the fire scene and put out the blaze.

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ON A CLOUDY DAY, while sipping coffee at a McDo outlet, my kumpare Ted Sumaray and I chanced upon Ilonggo lawyer Salvador P. Demaisip. A one-time congressional candidate and retired legal officer of Jollibee, he now teaches Business Law at De La Salle in Manila.

We moved to his table for whatever insights he could share. These days, most Filipinos look “resigned” to the uncertain political future of the Philippines. Many want President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign, but few want her unusually silent constitutional successor, Vice President Noli de Castro, to take over.

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I ALWAYS LIKE reaction to what I take up, in agreement with me or not. That’s why this column has been named Feedback.

Two friends who have rice farms in Bago called up and said, they were happy fourth district Congressman Jeffrey Ferrer will take up with the National Irrigation Administration the problem of the repair of the irrigation that has adversely affected rice production as well as the livelihood of the Bago farmers.

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BUSINESS GROUPS and the opposition parties see the squatter of Malacañang as corrupt and urge her to step down. Former President Cory Aquino calls her corrupt and repeatedly asks her to resign. Civil society holds her as morally bankrupt and thus, must go. Militant organizations judge GMA not only as corrupt but criminal as well, thus, must be booted out if she refused to leave voluntarily.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines bewail that the Arroyo regime is graft ridden, many of them knowing her and members of her private and official families to be corrupt.

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IN TWO PREVIOUS COLUMNS, we have written about OTOP or the One-Town-One-Product idea as conceived under our government’s Medium Term Philippine Development Plan.

The concept is a very good strategy for development and we proposed that OTOP producers undertake an import-substitution campaign to overcome the huge trade deficit that we incur every year and achieve clear economic relevance.

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THE STEPPED-UP campaign to mount another people power revolt to force the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo fizzled out last week, driving the deadlock from the streets to another arena, the Supreme Court.

The court hears on Tuesday the petition of former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri seeking a ruling on the limits of Executive Order No. 464 that bars Cabinet members and other government officials from testifying in legislative investigations without presidential permission.

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I AM NOT in favor of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s stepping down voluntarily by resignation unless Washington, D.C. through a new Paul Laxalt calls and tells her to cut and cut cleanly.

I am in favor of the military and the police protecting her for like most Congressmen and local officials, they have enjoyed the perks and privileges not enjoyed by others before them. They should return the favor.

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