Sun Tzu Advice No. 5:"Ma'am the lawyers have to go."

Sun Tzu says, "When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair. For you should not press a desperate foe too hard."

GMA has to waive the protection afforded to her by the anti-wiretapping act. Pounding the wiretapped tapes with all legal might will only make her enemies desperate and take the streets. I stated earlier that if this battle is fought in th streets, GMA is sure to lose it. But if this battle is fought on the courts, she has a fair chance of winning and surviving her term. If she waives the legal objections to the wiretapped tapes, then this will pave the way for the sensible people in the opposition to take the legal route of this crisis. Of course, the reds will stick to the streets, but that's expected of them. What is important is that the masses could be dissuaded from taking the streets because there is a democratic and legal way to resolve the conflict created by the wiretapped tapes.

Everyody knows at this point that the tapes are being brandished as the smoking gun of how she cheated in the elections. At present, her crisis team has received orders to prosecute all found to have possession of the same, including those who posted copies on their web pages. I don't know where GMA got this advice, but that person has no understanding of political strategy whatsoever. The adverse energy created by the tapes could be compared to water, it will seek its level. It will push where there is low gravity, and GMA will need a basin strong enough to contain its enormous power. Does she have this basin on hand? Will it last long enough for her to make it through? The answer is, of course, no. Nobody could possibly handle that, not for a long time. Remember Erap and his envelope no. 2? That legal ploy to defeat the motion to open envelope no. 2 sparked EDSA II. What's the lesson to be learned? Stonewalling the truth using legal tricks does not sit well with the Filipino psyche. It has led to the ouster of a President, and it is still as potent as ever. Thus, there is no use capturing all copies of those tapes. She has to waive all her legal objections to it, so the people will go to court and not the streets. Otherwise, she is going to have a desperate foe. And Sun Tzu says beware the courage of a desperate foe.

Ma'am, the legal objection has to go. If your lawyers do not approve, then your lawyers have to go.