A FEW friends abroad, mostly scholars and Philippine watchers, emailed me last week to ask: "Are things there getting really bad?" They were mainly referring to National Security Adviser Eduardo Año's screaming statement, bannered by several media outlets: "Any secession move to be met with force."

Not to be outdone, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said: "The military will use its forces to quell and stop any and all attempts to dismember the Republic."

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