Who’s afraid of Ate Glue?

 

By Al S. Mendoza 

NERO LAUGHED watching Rome burned. That was in the olden times.

 

Who was Nero?

 

He was then the power-mad ruler of the Roman Empire.  He was so drunk with power that he celebrated with maddening fury seeing Rome go up in flames.

 

In the present times, I say Ate Glue laughed maddeningly believing the people reeled under the weight of 1017. 

 

She laughed to her heart’s content seeing The Daily Tribune  threatened  with closure.

 

She was tickled pink seeing Satur Ocampo & Co. hole themselves up in Congress to escape arrest from Ate Glue’s minions led by Art Lomibao.

                                            

What’s this the resurrection of the Gestapo?

 

You know who Ate Glue is.

 

She is our President – allegedly, that is. 

 

Was she power-mad, too, like Nero of the olden times when she issued 1017, the way Marcos did when he decreed 1081 declaring martial law in 1972?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

 

According to Ate Glue, 1017 was her tool to protect the people and the state.

 

But that’s bull, to say the least.

 

As I said here, from whom was Ate Glue trying to protect the people and the state?

 

You didn’t see the Japanese Imperial Army invading us anew, did you?

 

If at all, 1017, which called for a state of national emergency, meant that Ate Glue had warned every Filipino who is anti-Ate Glue to behave.

 

You call for Ate Glue’s ouster with 1017 still in effect; you could land in prison without bail because that is sedition, if not outright rebellion.  Such was the power of 1017 that it created a chilling effect on the national psyche.

 

 From Laoag to Laoac Langka, from Manila to Mangatarem, from Damortis to Dapitan, 1017 gave the police and the military the power to arrest any one of us on mere suspicion one of us wants Ate Glue to banish the First Gentleman to America again.

 

In short, Ate Glue’s 1017 was her license to silence Filipinos critical of her style of administration. 1017 was a decree meant to kill free speech, freedom of expression and the freedom to peaceably assemble.

 

There was almost a deafening silence from a somewhat stunned populace when 1017 was decreed. 

 

But the initial reaction was: Ate Glue couldn’t be serious!

 

But she was. And, indeed, she laughed so heartily watching us all wandering and wondering why she ever did such a funny thing.

 

No one cowered in fear.

 

Everybody treated her 1017 as a piece of junk, if not a corny joke. 

 

Maybe Ate Glue’s favorite song is the Bee Gees hit, “I Started a Joke”?

 

Why the Supreme Court couldn’t act on its constitutionality with dispatch added to the comedy.

 

And so, thankfully, after the brief attack of amusement, you and I merely laughed off 1017.

 

Nobody gave it a hoot.  Even with 1017 in effect, you and I and any one who valued democracy and free speech went about our ways telling the world how bad this country is being run since Ate Glue came to power.

 

What’s this, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?” all over again?

 

Yes, come to think of it: Who’s afraid of Ate Glue?

 

Nobody.  Not even Mickey Mouse.

                    

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Comments to menju@pldtdsl.net

 

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