The earlier decision to declare the country under a state of emergency was not an easy one for the President to make. The President was only too aware that the opposition and left-wing groups would take advantage of the situation to depict her as an authoritarian leader.

Yet, she did what she had to do. A preemptive self-defense, as Senator Miriam Santiago put it. To paraphrase Senator Santiago, you do not have to wait for the other guy to shoot you before you take defensive action. It is enough that the other guy reaches for his gun.

Had the President not acted in the timely manner that she did, we would in all probability find ourselves now under the clutches of a civilian-rightist-leftist junta which would soon be fighting among themselves for supremacy.

Some sectors including the media railed against what they perceived as an over-reacting presidency. They belabored the point that the crackdown was being undertaken during the week of the EDSA celebration. We maintain that press freedom was never under threat, but due to poisoned politics, the qualities of fairness and sober reporting were.

Nevertheless, AFP Chief Generoso Senga, in a documentary shown over NBN 4, RPN 9, and IBC 13 over the weekend, proved beyond doubt the existence of an intricate web of conspiracy among extremists of the Left, Right and hard-core political opportunists to topple the government. The timing to coincide with the 20th anniversary celebration of EDSA I was part of this insidious plan.

With the plot effectively beaten back, we can now get back on track. The enemies of the State will always test a new threshold of destabilization but they will never dent the rock steady foundations of our constitutional democracy. So we leave to our law enforcers and the criminal justice system the task of meeting the residual threats posed by the remnants of the failed conspiracy

In displaying decisive leadership, the President has firmly steered the ship of state away from raging waters into safer ground. Now, the President is back on schedule as the nation leaves this crisis behind and goes back to the business of the people. She has a job to do and that is to grow the economy, fight poverty, hunger and unemployment, and lift the Filipino to greater heights of excellence.

Note:

CD copies of the documentary entitled "Paglaban sa Kataksilan: 1017" are available upon request. For the computer-savvy, you may wish to check out www.gov.ph.