MANILA, Philippines - March is women’s month, or rather, a month for celebrating womanhood, and President Macapagal-Arroyo ushered the month in by insulting housewives when she told Gina de Venecia, “You are just a housewife, I am the President.”

“Just a housewife.” She is belittling housewives without which she would not have been born and which she is one now. At least one-fourth of the population are housewives but we have only one President. As a general rule, all housewives are honest, humble, hard-working, and believe in God’s commandment “Thou shall not steal” which presidents usually do not.

It is the housewife who rocks the cradle, and without whom there would be no family and no new generation. Every person owes his or her life and upbringing to a housewife. Children and grownups run to housewives for help and comfort but many people only curse their President and want her to go away—as was shown last Friday all over the Philippines. Indeed, they’d rather have a poor, loving housewife than a lying, thieving President.

I don’t know what the women will do—especially women’s groups like Gabriela—to this insult to them, and on Women’s Month yet. Will they take it sitting down?

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I don’t know how GMA can stay in Malacañang one moment longer when she can see how much Filipinos hate her. Although she took pains to stay away and pretended it was business as usual for her, she was watching television and she saw the huge crowd in Makati all demanding that she resign. Many more stayed at home and followed the happenings by watching TV, but they shared the sentiments of those in the rallies.

That’s only in Metro Manila, GMA’s rah-rah boys say, but we have seen the “Gloria Resign” rallies are all over the country—and even in Filipino communities in America. How can she stay in Malacañang when she can see and hear very clearly that her countrymen want her to go away? My mother always told me, “Don’t stay where you are not wanted.” Didn’t her mother teach her that?

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From the security preparations of the police and military, it is obvious that Malacañang was on the verge of panic, deathly afraid that the rallies may grow into another People Power that will kick out GMA. Besides police and soldiers in full battle gear, barbed wire and huge container vans barred the approaches to Malacañang. The military made a show of their tanks and armored personnel carriers by parading them in the streets. Thousands of troops were scattered all over Metro Manila and even at the approaches to it. Thousands more were held in readiness at the camps nearby.

Military checkpoints at the North and South Luzon Expressways stopped convoys from the provinces on the way to Makati to join the rally. The intention obviously was to prevent the crowds in Makati from swelling but they pretended that it was routine by saying they were checking the operating franchises of the jeepneys and buses carrying the ralliers. They have no franchises to operate in Metro Manila, the police said, and therefore did not allow them to proceed. How can vehicles from the provinces have franchises in Metro Manila? That was clearly a violation of the people’s rights to freely assemble and express their grievances.

All of these violations of the people’s rights are being done by the military to protect just one person. But the soldiers’ duty is to protect and serve all of the people who are paying their salaries. Yet they are abusing the rights of these people to serve just one person.

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Can’t the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and cellphone companies Smart and Globe do something about the illegal use of the phones by an army of black propagandists? Every few minutes my cellphone beeps and when I open it I am greeted by messages attacking Jun Lozada, the senators, the bishops, and all the witnesses exposing the corruption in this government. Obviously, the administration has loosed paid hacks to spread black propaganda against administration critics. Most of the things they say are libelous but the libeled people cannot go after them because they are anonymous.

This is clearly illegal and criminal. Can’t the NTC and Smart and Globe do something to stop them?

The cellphone subscribers are paying the phone companies to use them peacefully, not to be annoyed by this black propaganda—and also by all the commercials selling various products. The phone companies are cheating their subscribers by allowing this propaganda and these commercials because it means more income for them. But this is immoderate greed and unfair to their subscribers. NTC, please do something.

In addition, hacks clandestinely working for the administration infiltrate lunch and coffee get-togethers of journalists to spread falsehoods about Lozada and other witnesses in the guise of tips and inside information. Sadly, many of these clandestine PR hacks are friends of journalists, but they take advantage of this friendship by trying to fool them with false “inside information.” (But journalists are not being fooled.) The administration must be paying them plenty to do that.

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TODAY’S JOKES:

Three surgeons are boasting about their respective surgical skills.

“I operated on the leg of a man,” said the orthopedic surgeon, “and now he is a champion marathon runner.”

“I operated on the heart of a man,” said the cardiac surgeon, “and now he is an Olympic gold medalist in decathlon.”

“That’s nothing,” said the cosmetic surgeon. “I put a mole on the cheek of a dwarf, and now she is the President!"