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Watch out for suicide, not assassination
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2011-12-06
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Even occasional Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) defender, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile (JPE), didn’t believe the assassination tall tale — the Operation Plan (Oplan) “Put the little girl to sleep” — that Spokesperson Elena Bautista Horn tried to peddle. JPE remarked that only a crazy person in the President Noynoy Aquino (P-Noy) administration would think of killing GMA and that he sees no one in the P-Noy circle who is crazy. “What’s their motive?” JPE asked.
No president will know better than P-Noy the big miscalculation that Dictator Ferdinand Marcos had made. P-Noy knows only too well how an unjust act can demolish what people thought was an impregnable Marcos regime. The August 21, 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination triggered the series of events that culminated in the February 22 - 25 People Power Revolution, which ousted Marcos.
P-Noy knows that the objective is to convict GMA for all the allegations of corruption and human rights abuses being readied against her. Conviction of GMA is key to establishing P-Noy’s DAANG MATUWID (Straight Path). To be avoided at all costs is any act that will make GMA appear persecuted or worse — a martyr.
Even while she was in power, few really believed GMA’s lies. GMA tirelessly tested and manipulated the rules and the system. She and her band of loyalists conspired to build a world of lies where new lies were needed in order to cover up old ones.
After her term, she did exactly what news media had been predicting — from the highest executive in the land, she shamelessly ran for a Congress seat hoping that she can enjoy political immunity from lawsuits and perhaps be in the tender loving company of legislators with whom she shared good times.
But sitting as Congresswoman did not guarantee Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo her freedom from reckoning. She and her strategists knew they needed a continuum of exit plans that considered worst-case scenarios. Thus, when impending doom fell upon her, she made a quick dash for the exit door, being rolled on a wheelchair, appearing gaunt and weak and wearing a head brace. A nation of entertainment-savvy people can tell good acting from a bad one and her newly reengineered look made people laugh rather than take pity.
In the melee at the airport, the feeble, pitchy cry of the former first gentleman Mike Arroyo added fuel to the incredulous scene. “Maawa naman kayo sa asawa ko! May sakit!” (Please pity my wife! She is sick!). Senator Ping Lacson’s reaction succinctly captured the irony of the moment: “Naaawa ako sa kanya kasi walang naaawa sa kanya.” (I pity her because no one is taking pity on her).
As a gauge of current public sentiments, these media text and online surveys have consistently shown public ire and spite against GMA. The ABS-CBN on-line poll conducted last Friday asked viewers if they agreed to allow Arroyo to keep her cellphone and laptop while in hospital arrest. A whopping 90 percent said no. Previous surveys similarly reflected strong anti-GMA sentiments. For example, 77 percent backed the Department of Justice’s stand against Arroyo’s travel.
Not even a smooth-talking Elena Bautista-Horn — whose latest whopper came in the form of “Oplan: Put the little girl to sleep” — could not penetrate the deep level of distrust for GMA. This strangely worded plot brought out the natural Filipino talent for humor and entertainment. Before Horn’s expose of the longest-worded Oplan in history, humorists were poking fun at the attempts of the Arroyo camp to paint a picture of a deteriorating, or even near death condition of the Congresswoman. All this drama of course ended abruptly after her own doctors ruled out her condition as anything but critical.
If GMA’s allies are really very concerned about her welfare, then they should bring her to a psychiatrist. One who can lie and deceive without conscience or remorse is displaying signs of sociopathic behavior. Is it mere coincidence that Arroyo fits a number of characteristics that define a sociopath? Here are some of their traits as culled from psychiatric authorities:
• Sociopaths are manipulative, they are inherently evil and they will charm you into their world of deceit.
• They are pathological liars. They do not feel guilt or shame. On the contrary, lying is their way to attain their sadistic intentions.
• They lack remorse and will justify any bad deed they commit. They can stoop to any level just to satiate themselves. Paul Lawrence, Professor at the Harvard Business School, says that “people without a conscience don’t need to satisfy the drive to bond, and can focus entirely on the drive to acquire, making them more likely to seek leadership positions.”
• Their emotions are superficial; they are often used to cover their cruel intentions
• Expect them to breach your trust. Because they are emotionless, they really don’t care about destroying lives.
What the P-Noy administration should watch out for is not a fictitious assassination attempt on GMA but a GMA snapping under pressure and ending her own life. The climate of impunity that she imposed on us is reflective of a suicidal tendency to bring everyone to the brink.
Look at where sociopath Adolf Hitler brought the German people and how he ended his own life.
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