SAKAPANG!

We had a STOP Cha Cha assessment meeting today. Well timed, on the heels of the Luneta prayer rally and just before allowing holiday fever to take over.

Most of us were still tired, having worked for a week or more to make sure we went to Luneta in good numbers. We are not known for mobilizing thousands, as our competence is more grounded on up close and personal work like forums and assemblies. Quality as opposed to quantity. Whatever. Anyway, we believe that B&W and STOP Cha Cha got more of the recognizable faces of the middle forces to attend along with the "usual suspects".














We were honored to march with our urban poor arm, B&W Katipunan; with folks from Alabang, Quezon City, the enclaves of Makati; the Liberal Party; Senators Drilon and Osmena; the members of the Makati Business Club and friends from media. Best of all, there were people we had never met before (was that you, cvj?). To all of them we give thanks for joining our ranks.


























The next day the papers were full of criticism - the numbers were disappointing, the act of "archiving" Con-Ass helped lower the enthusiasm, the CBCP messaging was diluted and unclear. But Vergel Santos said, and I paraphrase, "This is the way things are in the beginning, the awakening of our people takes time, this is as good start as any". And he's right. There is no hurrying awareness. The people that attended the prayer rally were the ones that wanted to be there. There is always the hope that many others will multiply our numbers, leave it to Gloria and her henchmen to see to that.

You see, disappointment has a way of turning into joy. Just as we were bemoaning the "flop" that was Luneta, lo and behold! Gloria saw the low numbers and less than powerful utterances of our bishops as a signal to forge ahead with her plans of keeping ensconced in power via Cha-Cha, who cares if she said she was abandoning it. Ah, she is so predictable. She will now continue to ram Cha-Cha down our throats with "urgency and fervor". Think of the audience she was targetting at the time - the foreign community. Who told her that would win her brownie points?

And so, allow me to end with the explanation of this post's title, a term coined by a couple of good friends - SAKAPANG. Gloria and her ilk are "Sakim sa Kapangyarihan". How apt.