“Will you come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”

        All this talk of a constituent assembly, a change to a parliamentary form of government; GMA running for congressman in her son’s district in Pampanga, then becoming the first Prime Minister, is a well-orchestrated PR campaign designed to change the conversation from the lying, the cheating, the stealing and the most hated president in the history of our country, to House Resolution No. 1109 and its possible consequences.

        Like the naïve fly, the Opposition, some in civil society, some businessmen, some bishops and some opinion writers are scared of the bogeyman. Who is afraid of GMA running for another position? They are. She is laughing all the way to the b… retirement, and visiting many countries at our expense almost every month the past few months.

        Remember when the national security adviser, the other Speedy Gonzales who is fast on the draw when it comes to shooting from the h… lips, signed a contract with a top American law firm to lobby the U.S. Congress to support a change to a parliamentary form of government in the Philippines?

        Well, the present Con-Ass (which is also the abbreviation for a con-man and an asshole) had the earmarks of a Western PR company.

        Look at how this change in the public’s negative perception of GMA is being cultivated:

        GMA visits almost every town in Pampanga to deliver projects. Last Independence Day, June 12, she was in Mindanao, which happened for the first time in our history. While there, her Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary, former Lanao governor Pangandaman, told the press that GMA is running for congressman in Pampanga in 2010. This was caught on tape and shown on TV, but later denied by him. Earlier, former Justice Secretary Gonzales also announced as much, later saying he was misquoted.

        Resolution No. 1109 for the House of Representatives to convene itself into a constituent assembly to propose amendments to the Constitution without the Senate could have easily been passed in ordinary time, but it was passed in the middle of the night, like GMA’s proclamation. Earlier, Rep. Louie Villafuerte withdrew his sponsorship of that resolution. The press had a field day speculating on the “feud” between LRV and Speaker Prospero Nograles [whose brothers, in case you don’t know it yet, are the top honchos in the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC)]. When LRV withdrew his sponsorship, the Speaker took up the gauntlet and sponsored the resolution, forgetting his own Con-Ass resolution which is on foreign investments. Now my good friend Rep. Joey Solis of Sorsogon and Rep. Rodolfo Antonio of Nueva Ecija are saying that the House will immediately convene a Con-Ass after the President’s SONA (state of the nation address) on July 27. That is adding more fuel to the fire, and by the end of this year, when everybody shall be talking of the presidential elections in 2010, the case for plunder against GMA might be dismissed by the Ombudsman before she leaves office, like the case against former Justice Secretary Perez.

        This tricksters’ PR campaign is complemented by daily ads on TV highlighting GMA’s accomplishments, most notably by PAGCOR, PCSO, TESDA, DOT, DOLE, although in the case of DOT, Secretary Ace Durano is also promoting his senatorial ambition.

        Why do I say that all this must have been thought out by a Western (American) PR agency? Because they do not care what happens to the Philippines, or are insensitive to agony and anger of millions of Filipinos who live below the poverty line. The Philippines can go to hell for all they care, as long as they are well paid in dollars.

        As for the presidentiables, all of them said in a dialogue on TV that they will pursue plunder cases against GMA if elected “if there is sufficient evidence.” To a man, they are afraid that GMA will again use the resources of the government against any of them who will categorically say that the first item on his agenda will be to make the Arroyos account for all their publicized wrongdoings.

         Like the naïve fly, they will end up on Lakas-Kampi’s dinner table. With a computerized election where the ballot is only marked, the evil practice in some places of the country where only one person writes out the names of the candidates on the ballot will be easier and faster to accomplish, and proclamation of the winning candidates will only be a matter of days, doing away with the expensive post-proclamation protest.