What is the state of the nation today?
As things now stand – and viewed from the distance that removes us from the nation’s capital – there is a tendency to believe that martial law will be declared or that the writ of habeas corpus will be suspended again. There is also a spreading fear among us that may be it is true that he subversives are gaining strength and are now intensifying their activities to wreck the people’s faith in government and even to wreck the government itself.
Why is this so?
A few days ago, President Marcos issued public warnings that something big was going to happen. He pictured the subversive elements as having been emboldened by the support given them by the leaders of the Opposition and of business. He warned that even those who are contributing heavily to the communist cause will not be safe from the communists,
On the other hand, the leaders of the Opposition charged that Mr. Marcos is providing the atmosphere for the enforcement of military rule. One senator, in fact accused the President of causing confusion to benefit himself and his Admiistration.
All of this,naturally, does not promote the peace of mind, especially among our people who are even now reeling from the economic difficulties brought about by the recent typhoons and floods that hit Luzon and Manila, the seat of the national government and the nerve-center of commerce and industry.
When Manila is seriously disturbed so the whole nation is also disturbed.
WE who are not privy to the real and actual situation prevailing as viewed fromMalacañang are confused and cowed by the state of things as conjured by the many conflicting charges and counter-charges freely tossed about.
Therefore, we are proned to be alarmed and angered.
But what are we to do?
The less that we can do is to keep calm as best we can and hope that things would settle down so that we could also settle down to work.
At the same time, let us continue to expect that our leaders would soon restore sanity to the state of the nation instead behaving like peddlers of rumors that could stampede and panic the people who are the real losers in the end in this senseless struggle for supremacy among leaders.
