Soon the enlightened nations will put on trial those who have hitherto ruled over them. The kings shall flee into the deserts, into the company of the wild beasts whom they resemble. --Saint-Just, Sur la Constitution de la France, Discours prononcé à la Convention, 24 April 1793-- [ANTI-ESTRADA PROTESTORS ARE CURRENTLY ORGANISING FOR MASS ACTION IN MANILA] Read on for the latest!!!
With seething anger, we condemn the 11 senators for suppressing the truth by brazenly--and without any basis in law-- rejecting evidence pertaining to the Estrada/Velarde bank account. This dastardly act of the 11 senators--a cabal of fascists, lapdogs, and imbeciles--has wiped out whatever credibility is left of the impeachment trial. Moreover, it has fully exposed not only the decay of the Senate under the Estrada regime but also the breakdown of the supposedly democratic political system.
We have no recourse but bring the struggle to the parliament of the streets and intensify the struggle to oust Estrada.
The unfolding earth-shaking democratic upheaval is a continuation of the non-violent people-power revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. But a revolution is a protracted process. In the last fifteen years, we have seen the seesaw battle between the forces of progress and reaction. Sadly, the ruling elite has squandered opportunities to strengthen the liberal democratic institutions, both in the political and economic realms. The result is entropy (a term used by Raul Fabella of the UP School of Economics). Worse, such entropy has led to the accession of the Estrada regime, which is nothing but a barbaric reaction and a fascist revanche.
We must end this corrupt, cruel and venal regime. We still believe that the Filipino is worth dying for, and we will exert all peaceful efforts to defeat reaction and secure the victory of the democratic revolution. It will be a constructive revolution--building the institutions of an accountable, transparent, and fair political system and a competitive and equity-oriented economy.
To hasten the fall of the Estrada regime, we call on the few remaining honest executive officials to cross over to the other side of the battle line. In particular, we appeal to Felipe Medalla and Leonor M. Briones, economic managers whom we hold in respect, to take a moral stand and resign from their posts. To remain in office is to conspire with an evil regime.
We call on the heroic 10 senators, the prosecution team, and their allies in the Lower House to join the people in the parliament of the streets. We likewise call on the member states of the United Nations system and the international financial institutions to withdraw their recognition of a regime that is the anti-thesis of democracy and good governance.
In the end, it is the people's revolution that will break Estrada's desperate resistance. It is an irresistible revolution that will justly round up Estrada and his cabal, bring them to the political guillotine, and banish them to their deserved place in the dustbin of history.
