The controversial manner in which the resolution was overwhelmingly endorsed by the House sparked denunciations in and out of the Batasan complex.

HR No. 197 will now pave the way towards convening the majority congressmen’s favored body, the Constituent Assembly, by Tuesday, December 12.

But it is an atrocious handiwork. What the sponsors did not expect or anticipate was a multi-sectoral defiance that came instantaneously. And the majority congressmen may have to pay a price, a very costly one.

Yesterday, a pastoral letter issued by the Most Rev. Antonio R. Tobias, Bishop of the Diocese of Novaliches, was read in our parish. It carried a provocative title, Expose and Oppose a Grand Deception. I leave it to the readers to surmise the contents.

Filipinos from across the archipelago are strongly criticizing what he 193 lawmakers have done. Now they have mass protests in their hands.

If the recent opinion surveys revealed that 67 percent of Filipinos were not in favor of changing the Constitution, there were maybe 90 percent of them now who are spewing vituperative words against the lawmakers who were responsible in the bulldozing operation.

All radio and TV stations which took the national pulse Thursday morning via their provincial stations in live interviews with a cross-section of the populace, rang with unmistakable derision of what the House just did.

"And those were just millions of Mang Pandoys," says a radio commentator who tried sounding sarcastic.

Derisive or not, what followed that morning and all through Friday were relentless condemnations of the lower chamber’s "abuse of their superiority in numbers."

Then a stinging statement came from a group which even Malacañang is afraid of antagonizing — the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.

The CBCP has called the majority lawmakers’ armtwisting approval without the participation of the Senate, for the convening of the assembly, "fraudulently illegal and scandalously immoral."

Moreover, it asked the faithful to denounce the manner with which the supposed Con-Ass was to be convened. And enjoined parishioners to join church-organized prayer rallies this week.

A man in Davao City told a live radio interview: "It short of asked parishioners throughout the land to repudiate in the coming May elections all congressmen who voted for the railroaded resolution."

If a religious group makes known its disapproval of a public issue then the four-million members El Shaddai led by Brother Mike Velarde, and the Jesus Is Lord Ministry of Brother Eddie Villanueva and his political party, Bangon Pilipinas (membership also in the millions) were not far behind.

Both charismatic leaders are fiery speakers. Their followers have only irreverent words for the administration legislators in the House.

The preachers vowed to climb back to the pulpit to mount offensive sermons against the Con-Ass in the coming days.

The Civil Society groups like One Voice and the Makati Business Club were unkind to the House majority leadership.

The United Opposition and Hyatt 10 will be in forums, broadcast talk shows and freedom parks to explain to their audiences "how the congressmen put one over the people in a shameless scheme."

The Black and White Movement will not only go to the streets, it will go to court and challenge the convening of a hastily approved Con-Ass.

How HR197 rammed down the throat, was seen as justifiable reason to go the streets, militant groups like Partido ng Manggawa and Akbayan. The more-restrained ProFPJ and Pro-Erap camps jumped the gun on the rest.

By Thursday evening, they staged rallies in Mabuhay Rotunda, as well as around the circle of Timog and Tomas Morato junction.

Summing up all those mass protests and demonstrations in front of government buildings, in parks and on the streets, one can only surmise how tremendous the backlash is coming from various sectors and strata of society. It is something that this administration will surely not belittle or ignore.

The question that is now loudly asked: "How can the government stop these "destabilizers?"