Investigators gave misleading answers, which lured more fake soldiers to converge at a nearby mall, where they were also busted. In fairly short order, they led authorities to a building where about 50 more goons were nabbed. A total of 68 militia members were collared, with evidence indicating that the private army had been operating from that building for the last six months. The key point is that if there's one such private army, there are probably a lot more. Geez, these are the kind of guys that make folks disappear from the face of the earth.
Polarization is the name of the game.
Most attention is focused on the all-important Senate race. Thus, it is indeed a nervous time. However, fears of total stalemate may be unfounded given the fluidity of political party boundaries in the Philippines and the free-wheeling horse trading that always goes on. While few of the opposition Senators are likely to defect to GMA's People Power Coalition, they may opt to play ball with the administration. And the Philippine social volcano has erupted before - for example, when the poor rioted and burned churches in Pampanga in the 1930's, when the Hukbalhap rebellion of the late 1940's almost brought down the government, and at various times during the long insurrections of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army.