The year about to pass began inauspiciously with the ASEAN summit in Cebu, postponed from December 2006 due to threatening typhoons, then marred by accusations of corruption when it finally pushed through.

But perhaps 2007 will be best remembered as the year when terror – whether caused by extremists or faulty septic tanks – crept right to the doorsteps of Metro Manila, with two explosions on either side of town in the last quarter of the year.

It was also a time for deposed presidents to be convicted and pardoned, the opposition to win the midterm polls, and the local currency to hit its highest level in years, which according to economists was both boon (cushioning the impact of high oil prices) and bane (for overseas workers and exporters).

The top stories for 2007:

• Two blasts in Metro Manila. At Glorietta 2 on Oct. 19, and at the Batasang Pambansa on Nov. 13. Eleven dead in the first, six in the second. The first, according to an official investigation, was caused by an accumulation of deadly gases in the basement of the high-end mall; the second was caused by a bomb planted on a motorcycle allegedly by political rivals of Akbar clan in Basilan. Police and mall owners dispute the cause of the first blast; political rivals of the Akbars deny involvement in the second blast. But police said the first blast was more complicated to solve than the second.

• Erap conviction on Sept. 12 and pardon little more than a month later. The six-year trial of ousted President Joseph Estrada finally ended with a guilty verdict for plunder, though not for perjury. In October however President Arroyo further extended the reconciliation hand by pardoning Estrada for reasons both humanitarian (he was 70 years old and wanted to visit his sick mother) and benign (he promised not to run for public office again).

• Opposition wins senatorial elections. Only three candidates in the administration slate were able to squeeze into the winning circle of 12 in the midterm elections last May, as the opposition won overwhelmingly in the Senate with such congressional stalwarts rich in soundbytes, Alan Cayetano and Chiz Escudero, taking seats in the upper chamber. Ironically the hardcore opposition would eventually still constitute the minority, as Senate President Manny Villar and president pro-tempore Jinggoy Estrada would cobble together a new majority with the pro-administration senators.

• Gov’t contracts on the spot - NBN, Cyber Ed. etc. A missing copy of the original contract and a resigned elections chief, intrigue at a swanky golf course and the First Gentleman telling the Speaker’s son to “back off,” these are just some of the trappings around the canceled $329-million national broadband contract with a China company that meant to connect all government agencies via fiber optic nerve. The cyber education project also to be undertaken by a Chinese firm has received much criticism and thus was also put on hold.

• Peso at highest level in years, 41.5:1. Not since before the unraveling of the Estrada administration has the peso been this strong, sending economists into a tizzy trying to determine whether it would be good or bad for the average peso earner on the street. Efforts were made to lessen impact of the slackening dollar on the families of overseas Filipino workers, whose remittances after all have propped up the economy all these years.

• Another failed coup - Pen siege by Trillanes and co. Eleven million Filipinos voted former Navy lieutenant Antonio Trillanes into the Senate last May, which observers said was something of a wake-up call for the Arroyo administration. On Nov. 29 the detained senator along with Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim walked out a Makati courtroom hearing their case related to the Oakwood mutiny of 2003 and led the standoff at the Peninsula Manila hotel, which ended in their surrender and the temporary detention of media workers, an instant curfew not to mention millions of pesos in damages to the luxury hotel.

• The Basilan beheadings. 10 soldiers are beheaded on July 10 while on a mission to locate kidnapped Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi. Father Bossi was kidnapped from his mission in Zamboanga Sibugay in June, prompting an extended search through the wilds of Mindanao including barrio Tipo-Tipo in Basilan, where 14 soldiers were killed in an encounter with Muslim separatists. Ten of the dead were beheaded, for which the Moro Islamic Liberation Front denied responsibility saying the Marines encroached on their territory. Bossi was mysteriously released 40 days after he was snatched.

• Human Security Act (Republic Act 9372) or the anti-terror law is signed in March and takes effect after the midterm elections. Critics feared the enactment of RA 9372 would allow the administration to crack down on the opposition and any form of dissent, though implementers of the law countered that it lacked teeth, particularly one provision that required a princely compensation for each day a terror suspect is wrongfully detained. But partner in anti-terror US and regional neighbors like Singapore hailed the passage of the law which they said was better than nothing.

• First Gentleman undergoes bypass surgery after the Holy Week. First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was taken ill just as the First Family was wrapping up its Lenten break in Baguio, the ailment initially suspected to be gastro-intestinal distress was later found to be much more serious. Mr. Arroyo, 60, was diagnosed to have aortic aneurysm and underwent triple bypass surgery overnight at St. Luke’s hospital to avert what might have been a fatal stroke.

• Jonas Burgos is abducted by suspected military men and to this day has not surfaced, underlining the significance of Alston report on extrajudicial killings and unexplained disappearances. Burgos, member of a militant farmers group and son of press freedom fighter Joe Burgos formerly of Malaya, was snatched by armed men on April 28 at a mall in Quezon City and has not been seen or heard from since. The President formed the fact-finding Melo Commission to look into these disappearances, and the writ of amparo was also invoked to help relatives of the aggrieved even as UP coeds Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno remain missing more than a year after abduction.

Source: By Juaniyo Arcellana, PhilStar News
Monday, December 31, 2007