The looting of Malacanang demonstrates the extent to which the Bagong Alyasang Makabayan (BAYAN) has deteriorated into a tragicomic force.

1. A great many of the people who positioned themselves at the gate of Malacanang had been recruited by Bayan for the nation-wide people’s strike.

2. They surged into Malacanang, egged on by the broadcasts of those Bayan people at Channel 4 who proclaimed that other Bayan groups had easily taken over various government buildings.

3. The Bayan leaders on the spot could not hold back the rabble they had recruited.

4. Caught between their co-called followers who no longer followed them and the Marcos loyalists defending Malacanang, the frightened Bayan leaders ran.

5. Bayan leaders deny that they fled. They say they were only obeying Gen. Fidel Ramos who ordered that they clear the area. For once, Bayan leaders obeyed an army command enthusiastically. But they did so without first clearing the area of their followers.

Today, Bayan sanctimoniously announces that the people’s strike activities they had organized were turned into victory rallies for the Aquino administration.

WILSON G. ABAYA