Low-intensity Democracy

All the fuss about Arroyo establishing a Marcos-style Martial Law is nothing but white noise, I realized recently. After all, that was what Arroyo construed the purpose of her recent antidemocratic measures to begin with – to be a weapon of distraction against her opponents, or maybe another bargaining chip against the opposition (which she can use to buy time by “waiving” in “good faith”). That is not really particularly interesting. What is interesting, however, is how her style of governance (or more aptly, tyranny) imposes a change to the very nature of our democracy – a change which may very well be irreversible if unmitigated.

Games of States: Power Players in the Israel-Hezbollah War of Aggression

"The war in Lebanon then is not a war by the Arab or Jewish people but a war waged by its local elites managing their foreign-controlled governments. Whether or not wars like this will continue to be waged depends on the actions of the governments of these state actors, and inevitably, on the local elites which control the state apparatus."

Weapons of Choice: Arroyo’s Protracted Martial Law

Sidebar Article to Legalized Terror

Arroyo’s recent policies seem to form a seamless strategy – a controlled issuance of draconian measures so as to contain public reactions without triggering a critical mass of opposition enough to topple her. Thus, together with EO493, Arroyo unleashed a set of executive weapons against dissent.

As part of her protracted war against the opposition, the militants, and the civil society, Arroyo’s weapons intend to surgically dissect and dismantle critics and elements hostile to her regime. Let’s take a closer look at her arsenal:

Legalized Terror: EO 493, ATL, ASL, and the War against Democracy

Niccolo Machiavelli, in his seminal work The Prince, wrote that a leader ought to have no other aim, thought, nor subject of study but war, for it is the only discipline that will enable a leader to seize and hold power. Arroyo, in her struggle for political survival and eventual dominance, is now on a war mode. Now in control of the three branches of the government, Arroyo fortifies her regime through an edict that introduces wartime tactics into peacetime politics.

On January 17, 2006, Arroyo issued Executive Order 493 directing the creation of the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group (IALAG), a super-body under the National Intelligence Board (NIB) that is tasked to investigate, prosecute, monitor, and handle litigation processes of cases involving national security. A preliminary budget of P 50 million was allocated for the operations of the new super-agency.