16,000 troops to guard Arroyo is ‘overreaction’, says Pimentel

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Sunday hit the deployment of about 16,000 troops to guard President Arroyo as she delivers her state of the nation address Monday. Pimentel said the deployment of thousands of police officers and soldiers “smacks of overreaction" to a perceived threat. “With 16,000 cops and soldiers guarding her SONA, [Arroyo] reveals her state of siege mentality. She fears her own people, and even her own shadow. Time for her to resign," the opposition lawmaker said. Pimentel said the number of security personnel who would be deployed Monday is almost equivalent to the entire police force of Metro Manila, adding that there is no justification for the massive deployment after authorities captured a group of rebel soldiers who were allegedly out to sabotage the event. The lawmaker said the Arroyo administration is “raising a phantom threat" by reportedly intercepting a plan by communist rebels to infiltrate and bomb the scheduled protest actions. The show of force is an indication of the President’s increasing isolation from the people and the extent of her efforts to keep herself in power, Pimentel said. “She is ruling the country by the use of force, backed by the arms of the military and police, and not by the force of persuasion," he said. - GMANews.TV