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War of the flea

At the rate the Arroyo government is being dealt with blows from a wide spectrum of the opposition from the traditional to the underground, it is really amazing how the president pulls off with her portrait of composure and apathy. Beneath the cover of arrogant and authoritarian posturing is a president trembling in fear and anxiety at the strength and magnitude of so-called “destabilization” plots and moves.

The escape of four junior officers involved in the Oakwood mutiny from their military detention sparked a wave of speculations that starting with Capt. Faeldon’s earlier walk-out from his own detention cell, there is a growing restlessness and shifting of loyalty within the military. We cannot underestimate the power of discontent and disillusionment that motivated and propelled the young military officers and the genuinely patriotic rank and file among them to discontinue their allegiance to the president. At this moment, we can surmise that unities are being forged with other political forces, and bold statements of loyalty to the people are being made by these growing number of soldiers who seem to have burned bridges from the military establishment, or at least from the president whose legitimacy they are doubting.

To borrow from a national daily, there is a resurgence of insurgency. Parallel to the military restiveness is a renewed, invigorated surge of military actions by the Communist Party of the Philippines-led New People’s Army (NPA). There is an increasing public opinion that the latest series of military offensives from the NPA which rendered sizeable loss of lives and ammunition to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is a signal that out in the countryside, the “matatag na republika” is actually standing on shaky grounds. The ease and speed of operations by the revolutionary army raise doubts about the AFP’s centralized control and effectivity over their local counterparts.

The song “War of the Flea” describes the ongoing turmoil in the country today. Seemingly small and scattered, forces demanding and working for radical social change may seem powerless against a monolithic state and its ferocious AFP. But their moves are worth watching and analyzing. Combined energies from small particles may prove to be the most explosive. The song goes “where the strongest bomb is human that is bursting to be free….” #

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