Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will address the UN General Assembly this Friday. Reports say, she’s now in Washington, DC trying to have an audience with US President George Dubya Bush. Talks are rife that she failed. The question is–why is she so desperate in trying to talk to Bush?

In Myanmar, thousands of people are marching in the streets of Rangon right now. The March of a Million Monks, as what I describe it, aims to topple the military junta in that country. Widespread poverty have forced these monks and the people to express their anger against the prevailing order. Previous to this, an international propaganda campaign was launched, aimed at exposing the real state of Myanmar society. The people of Myanmar saw how their military generals wallow in extreme wealth while most of them scrap the soil for food. Will this lead to a full-blown revolution or will the world see another appalling massacre?

In Thailand, the military junta who ousted former Thai president Shinawatra is giving way to a civilian caretaker government. After launching a palace coup, the military installed their own set of leaders, with the blessing of the Thai King. They then reviewed their constitution and instituted some changes into it to prevent another Shinawatra disaster from happening. The coup was a peaceful one, devoid of any bloodshed. Now, the prevailing Thai leadership wants to hand over the reins of power to the civilians, deciding that its time to go back to the barracks.

Here in the Philippines, the administration of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is being wracked by accusations of widespread corruption. The ZTE deal, which some sectors say was tainted with extreme graft, is being used by civil society against Arroyo. Previous attempts at ousting Arroyo have failed. Now, even her administration admitted that this issue is being used by destabilizers to again launch another power grab. The question is—will a power grab really work this time?

Arroyo’s former economic planning secretary Romulo Neri is expected to spill the beans at the Senate today (see my dig to this at http://newphilrevolution.blogspot.com). Neri, who reportedly received an indecent proposal just to favor the deal, said that he’ll brave the waters this time and is prepared to lose his job and “go to a sabbatical” just for the truth. Will he be the focal point of protests against Arroyo? Will he do a Charissa Ocampo?

Uncanny Resemblance

Analysts are seeing a pattern here. First, it seems that Joey de Venecia’s revelation at the Senate bears all the hallmarks of a Chavit, with some indications of an Ocampo. Joey told the Senate that the First Gentleman tried to pressure him to “back off” from the deal. He did not directly implicate Mrs. Arroyo, obviously because of his previous “deal” with his father, Speaker Jose de Venecia.

Neri is expected to directly implicate Arroyo, because he had an audience with the president at the palace. News reports say Neri will admit at the Senate that he exposed the bribery attempt to the president and got a lame answer. ” Don’t receive the money, but accept the deal”, was the supposed answer by the president.

The Iskra

With forces slowly converging this time, albeit in silence, will this finally bring this administration on its knees? Will we see a Thai, combined with a Myanmar? Only time will tell.

My take on this is this—admittedly, there is a revolutionary situation. This is more dangerous than all the other attempts because of its silence. It bears all the indications of an EDSA repeat. Should these forces lose this chance this time, we see a prolonged rule by Arroyo.