Now that the Chacha Choochoo Train is derailed for a long while, despite the push for a poisoned Concon, the Arroyo administration will have to draw another plan to save its skin and prevent a bitter, complete defeat in the elections next year.

The goals for the administration are as follows:

• Prevent an opposition sweep of the Senate. To meet this objective, the administration-led Chacha (PI, Con-Ass) called for a unicameral legislature, eliminating a nationally-elected chamber. Now that the train is derailed, it is imperative that the Senate will not go opposition.
  Hence you can hear ULAP threatening to conduct another PI. And this time they might succeed.
• Prevent allies in House from defeat. Losing the numbers at the Lower House means the third time’s the charm – impeachment will finally reach the Senate.
• Demolish the Church’s (all religions) newfound credibility. Remember that during the last attempt to impeach Arroyo, the CBCP was not a factor in the issue (despite the election of Archbishop Angel Lagdameo as president), which played to Arroyo’s favor. Remember those envelopes given to bishops?
  The biggest problem is the INC. It seems to be a formidable machine; it is rumored that what finally derailed the Chacha Choochoo train was the veto of INC. Arroyo must neutralize this threat; it still supports her, but for how long?
• Make the people forget about this debacle by projecting – pass the buck to those who advocate Concon as means of Chacha. This is the easiest to achieve, and it is actually – slowly – beginning to work.
  De Venecia tried to turn the tables by issuing an ultimatum to the Senate – call a Concon and forget Con-Ass. It backfired. The ultimatum was withdrawn.
  De Venecia and Bunye called on the Church to call off their rally, since Con-Ass is dead. The two were rebuffed.
  But the tendency of the people to forget so easily plays to the administration’s advantage. It just has to make sure that whatever shenanigans it will do, it will not be exposed to the public.
• Maintain the status quo in the Comelec.

If the opposition flounders again, if the current momentum brought about by the ill-fated Con-Ass ebbs immediately, the administration will remain safe until 2010. Even beyond, if it wants.

The military is a non-factor; take note that Arroyo remains the SecDef. The police is a loyal lapdog. The Church, while showing signs of resurrected respectability, is tarnished, derided, sneered at. The civil society is disdained together with the Leftists/progressives; the middle class can’t forget that they’d been had by the two groups. The mass remains an untapped resource, meandering, rudderless.

The middle class remains in denial, in apathy; unwilling to admit that it had a huge part in the mess we are in now, it is willing to maintain the status quo.

So with no institution, no leader credible enough to challenge it, and as long as it plays its cards right, the Arroyo administration is safe. For now.

—

For me, the middle class is typified by a sneering, leering individual whose mind is already closed to the reality that:

* People believe in faith; and
* Organized religion is not bad per se.

He believes that:

* The mass is ignorant, easily led and fooled by people of the cloth;
* Prayer rallies are more about the money than anything else;
* Those who rants are the minority since he/she does not share their views;
* Those who oppose the status quo are threats to his/her welfare; and
* People are not trustworthy, that they only push for their own self-interest, so he/she doesn’t care.

Cynicism is tiring; I see it more as an ego-boosting mechanism. Or a defense mechanism, if you like (it is not, actually).