October 22, 2007	Monday	Shawwal 9, 1428

MANILA: Within minutes of Friday’s deadly bomb blast in a Manila shopping mall the text messages started circulating in this SMS-obsessed Southeast Asian nation.

In a country that thrives on rumour and gossip, the messages all shared a common theme: it was the work of either rogue or loyalist elements within the military.

There was no mention of the communist and Muslim insurgencies which have plagued the country for more than 30 years.

No one puts much credibility on the messages, which usually originate from anonymous sources, but in the murky world of Philippine politics, fact is often difficult to separate from fiction.

Ten people were killed and at least 113 injured in the blast which tore through an up-market mall in the heart of Manila’s Makati financial district.

For President Gloria Arroyo, who is facing yet another scandal in her turbulent six-year rule and more rumblings of unrest within the military, the bombing could not have come at a worse time.

Earlier in the week the Philippine Marine commandant General Benjamin Dolorfino, warned that the country faced “civil war” if soldiers joined any attempt to overthrow the government.

Discontent within the military is almost routine here — there have been more than a dozen coup attempts in the last 20 years.

“Some civil society groups as well as individuals concerned with the state of governance in this country have been asking why Filipinos remain unmoved by the corruption scandals the Arroyo regime has generated,” commentator Louis Teodoro wrote in the BusinessWorld newspaper last week.

“In addition to the usual, predictable answers the people are preoccupied with survival; they have become so cynical about government they no longer think any kind of reform is possible.” Despite overseeing strong economic growth in recent years, Arroyo has been unable to shift public opinion in her favour where many see her administration so riddled with corruption that it is beyond saving.

The Roman Catholic Church which was instrumental in bringing down dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 has denounced the Arroyo government for its “moral bankruptcy” but has stopped short in calling for her resignation.

Opinions polls have repeatedly shown Arroyo to be one of the country’s most unpopular presidents.

The American-educated economist shrugs off her poor image and sees herself as the only person capable to taking this poor Southeast Asian nation of 7,000 islands into what she often calls the “the magic kingdom of the first world.”

Ordinary Filipinos see Arroyo as being aloof and as someone who lacks the common touch. They see her as having conspired with the military to overthrow the now discredited president Joseph Estrada in 2001 and as having cheated in the 2004 presidential election which gave her six years in office, analysts say.

—AFP