this is not a reality show.

Gov’t declares curfew in Metro Manila, nearby provinces
‘This is not martial law’--PNP chief

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 07:49pm (Mla time) 11/29/2007

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The government, through Interior and Local Secretary Ronaldo Puno has imposed a curfew throughout Metro Manila, in Central Luzon (Region 3), and CALABARZON (Region 4-A).

The curfew starts 12 midnight to 5 a.m. Friday.

"We are doing this to protect the citizenry. This is not martial law," Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

Razon said the curfew would hopefully be implemented for just a day.

In a news briefing in Malacañang, Puno appealed to the public to "bear with the inconvenience" brought about by the declaration of the curfew.

He said the curfew was issued "to allow law enforcement agencies to continue their follow-up operation."

Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon has been directed to issue the guidelines on the curfew, Puno added.

"We would encourage everyone to cooperate with the rules and guidelines relative to this curfew," he said.

Puno said regions 3 and 4-A were included in the curfew because there were some areas here that were part of the greater Manila area.

"Police authorities want to ensure that Manila is safe and sound," he said.

Asked if there was a possibility of extending the curfew, Puno said this could be the case "if the follow up operations that would ensue will not achieve their objectives," but added that this would be reviewed on a day-to-day basis.

wonderful. this country never fails to outdo itself when coming out with an international news spectacles.

i guess it's easy to be a journalist in the philippines. sure, it's a serious health hazard but you can't say that you'll run out of something newsworthy to write. i suspect the dailies sometimes wish they could have more space in the front page to cram everything in.

this is even better than a reality show, people. because, as unreal as the makati standoff seems, it really happened. and people are once again speculating about martial law, especially after the declaration of curfew. almost 40 years since martial law was declared in the philippines (and 30 years after it has been lifted), the memory of that period still haunts the collective fears of filipinos.

could somebody please spank mr. trillanes for being such a naughty boy? what he did was absolutely stupid. that some people actually joined him in makati is so incredulously unreal, it could only happen in a country like this. we don't need another EDSA. we've had enough of EDSA already, but where did it lead to? it's become a farce.

this nation lacks collective EQ. we've seen the first two EDSAs seemingly work, so we thought we could invoke the same thing when we're disgusted with the government. it's like an instant solution. but it never works completely because afterwards, things go back to how they were. we as a people have a very short attention span, and we've had it even before the term short attention span was coined.

i think coming to work tonight has been a bad move.