The Catholic Church Is Setting Up People Power against Pres. Aquino III and Operating a Rightist Rebel Government

Filipinos can sleep well despite the death of some 40 elite policemen in Mindanao due to lack of coordination.

Last week there had been a shoot out among, in one hand, a legitimate group and an illegal group, and on the other hand, elite policemen in Maguindanao.

The shooting was over in a few hours in a remote area. The investigation how this happened at all will take a longer time. Those who are not involved can get their deep sleep.

However, in less than a year the whole Filipino nation will wake up from their deep slumber. They will not get back to deep sleep for a long time. That reason is that the slug fest will take a long time. No life might be lost. However, the nation will become polarized. What will happen?

Is this a joke?

There will be a demand for Pres. Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III to resign the presidency within this year, 2015 that began in August last year.

There will be a protracted siege of Malacañang, residence and office of the president, to force the resignation of the president. At the same time there will be camp outs in all provinces demanding the resignation of the president. These will bring about polarization of Filipino society.

At the same time an alternative government to the present one will operate to coordinate the siege of Malacañang and the camp outs in the provinces. The Catholic dioceses of Metro Manila will supply the besiegers of Malacañang to be augmented by dioceses in the countryside.

The siege and camp outs will occur in 2016, a presidential election year. The president might not resign but at least his political party will be discredited to the voters. That way, candidates of his party, Liberal Party, and its allied parties will have less chances to win. Most of the winners will be those who were endorsed by the Catholic church. Filipinos are 85% Catholic that a Catholic vote is alive and kicking. In the recent election of 2013, most candidates endorsed by the Catholic church won.

[The first successful siege is called EDSA people power I that occurred in February 1985. It toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The siege was not in front or around Malacañang but along EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos avenue). Unarmed people blocked EDSA demanding the resignation of Marcos. The troops sent by Marcos to break up the throng came over to the side of people power. The siege showed foreign investors that Marcos could no longer rule. Ronald Reagan, USA president issued an instruction through one US senator: "Cut clear," and "Cut clean." Marcos and entourage were flown to Hawaii, USA by USA helicopters.

Corazon C. Aquino was ensconced as president. One straw of legitimacy to the ascension of Aquino was that it was highly probable that she won the snap election held in 1985 and Marcos edged her through fraud. Immediately France recognized Aquino as president; USA followed suit. The constitutional means was a ballot recount that was not done.

The second instance of successful people power was called EDSA II against Joseph Estrada. People power erected a siege on Malacañang on January 17,2001 to demand the resignation of Estrada. The day before, an envelop containing evidence of plunder for which he was being impeached was not allowed to be opened by the Senate voting 11-10. Estrada abandoned Malacañang with a letter of going "on leave" from the presidency. Then Vice-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as president. EDSA II had more characteristics of a coup. The chief of staff of the Philippine Armed Forces withdrew his support for Estrada; likewise, the Secretary of National Defense did.

After the coup, Estrada was charged, tried and convicted of plunder by a special court, Sandiganbayan for seven years, all the while jailed. However, he was pardoned by Pres. Gloria.

The factor that characterize both EDSA people power is legitimacy. Cory Aquino was a legitimate claimant of the presidency on the presumption that she won the election. The demand for the resignation of Estrada was led by the vice-president and other government officials. Had the botched impeachment trial proceeded, it could have been proven that Estrada committed plunder. This was proven by Sandiganbayan.]

The National Transformation Council has no straw of legitimacy. The leaders of NTC are self-proclaimed.

Once Pres. Aquino III will have shown a sign of paralysis due to NTC siege, the Vatican City State will recognize NTC. To recall, the recognition of the Fascist regime of Italy by the Vatican (after it was created by Benito Mussolini in 1929) legitimized the regime of Mussolini. Mussolini usurped power by intimidation and made King Emmanuel his puppet. In the same manner, the recognition by the Vatican City in 1933 of Germany legitimized the Nazi Party of Hitler. Vatican City is overseeing the NTC. Vatican City and curia (Holy See) are both ruled by the Pope. The Holy See and the Pope are one and the same.

What would comprise paralysis of Pres. Aquino III? The Chief of Staff of the Philippine Armed Forces withdraws support; the Secretary of National Defense withdraws support; at least 13 members of the cabinet resign; and civil disobedience. A sustained siege that results in paralysis can lead to the ouster of the president. One provision in international law says that: for a siege to be legal it should be sustained. Such a siege is usually by force.

For example, the annexation of the Philippines by the US in 1902 to 1946. The Filipinos fought the Americans to keep the freedom they won by an armed revolution from Spain. However, the Americans were much superior in weapons that they could not be driven out by the Filipino revolutionaries. The siege by the Americans was sustained. The annexation of the Philippines was recognized as legal by other nations.

The police forces and the Philippine army will be immobilized by their unwillingness to break up the siege of Malacañang and the camp outs in the provinces.

The main reasons are that the demand for resignation, siege and camp outs are legal under the concepts of freedom of speech, association and assembly. The elbow rooms for camp outs can be narrowed by means of denial of permits to hold rallies. However, such a policy will be difficult to enforce because they will be directed against the religious who are unarmed. They will have rosaries and bibles in hand instead.

If there will be arrests, besiegers or camp outers will be willing to go to jail. The reason is that they will turn heroes in the eyes of the Catholic faithful in the Philippines and in the world. That will add to the power levers of NTC, instances of non-violent resistance.

That will be a rightist rebellion instigated and coordinated by the National Transformation Council (NTC).

The NTC will put in place puppets to run the government. Priests or bishops cannot directly hold government office except being a chaplain. It is against the church doctrine. Besides, Filipinos will abhor it even when they are faithful Catholics. The case of Fr. Eddie Panlilio who was governor of Pampanga in 2011 to 2013 is a case in point. He was defrocked, as it were, during election campaign and his incumbency.

Puppets are necessary even when a military regime occupies a conquered country. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II (1941-45) the Japanese put up a Filipino puppet as president: Jose B. Laurel.

In the governance of Japan after its defeat in WWII, the Emperor was retained even as the real power was Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of occupation forces.

Is the above scenario a joke? NO, no, no....

The National Transformation Council began building up its forces on August 27,2014. It held a first assembly in Lipa City, Batangas.

Those assembled agreed to call for the resignation of Pres. Aquino III. They made plans for the organization of an alternative government. They called on the Philippine Army to protect them.

Some parts of the “Lipa Declaration.”

“Therefore, faithful to the objective moral law and to the universally honored constitutional principle that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them, we declare that President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd has lost the moral right to lead the nation, and had become a danger to the Philippine Democratic and Republican state and to the peace, freedom, security and moral and spiritual well-being of the Filipino people.

“We further declare that we have lost all trust and confidence in President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd, and we call upon him to immediately relinquish his position.

“And we call upon the National Transformation Council, (Hereafter the council), to assume the urgent and necessary task of restoring our damaged political institutions to their original status and form before we begin to consider electing a new government under normal political conditions.

“As the council prepares to embark upon the necessary reforms, we call upon the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as the constitutional “protector of the people and the state,” to extend its protective shield to the council, and not to allow any armed group to sow violence, disorder or discord into its peaceful ranks” (Adopted in Lipa City, this 27th day of August A.D. 2014 / 2nd day of DHU AL-QA’DA A.H. 1435).

Then in the Cebu assembly, NTC confirmed the organization of an alternative government.

Some parts of Cebu declaration

“...we who broadly represent the citizenry, under the leadership of delegates from the visayas and mindanao, have gathered in Cebu city on October 1, A.D. 2014 / DHU al-Hijjah 7 A.H. 1453 to proclaim our support for the Lipa Declaration and to propose concrete and immediate steps to translate the desired objective of national transformation into a viable program of action” (The Cebu Declaration: Defining the first steps toward national transformation.October 2, 2014. Emphasis supplied).

"... It called upon the Council “to pursue all necessary and available lawful means to compel President Aquino to step down at the soonest possible time,” and “to immediately organize an alternative government, consisting of men and women of integrity and proven worth, in order to assure the nation and the international community that Aquino’s removal and the prosecution and imprisonment of every culpable member of the government for corruption will not create a political vacuum.” (Tatad, F. Palace plot to ‘neutralize’ Cardinal Vidal fails. The Manila Times.October 5, 2014. Emphasis supplied).

The National Transformation Council have already conducted six assemblies: Lipa, August 27,2014; Butuan, Nov. 12,2014; Cebu, Dec. 2,2014; Angeles City, Dec. 3,2014; Davao City, Dec. 5,2014.

At the rate assemblies are being held in archdioceses, assemblies can be held in all 16 archdioceses in six month in 2015. It can be done in a shorter time because each archdiocese has its own archbishop to conduct an assembly.

Leaders

In the Lipa assembly:

“.. Former senator Francisco Tatad... explained the role of the NTC under whose auspices the Lipa Declaration was drafted.

“...The role in the transformation efforts of the Catholic Church (was) given by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the role of the Muslim community (was) given by Dr. Kamil Unda and the participation of the Protestant movement (was) given by Rev. Arthur Corpuz.

“Archbishop Fernando Capalla, a former chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, also discussed the role of the Catholic Church...

“The final call to action was given by Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who appealed to Filipinos to act now on the country’s economic and social ills and not wait until it is too late” (Tina Ganzon, Reina Tolentino and Jefferson Antiporda. Step down now. Manila Times. August 27, 2014).

Most of the leaders belong to the Catholic church. The National Transformation Council is a rightist rebel.

Rightist rebel

When a group has shown a structure of government and has proclaimed its goals of organizing and operating a government as an alternative to the present government it has become a rebel. It is a rightist rebel when its vision, guiding principles or ideology cannot be identified with Marxism. An exception is one espousing Theology of National Liberation that is a graft between Catholicism and Marxism (Handelman, H. "Religion and Politics." The Challenge of Third World Development. 2nd Ed. 2000: 23-47).