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Friday, November 25, 2005

UP Staff, Professors Protest Non-payment of Back COLA

About 1,000 administrative staff and professors in different campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP) staged pickets from Nov. 21 to 25 to protest the UP administration’s refusal to pay unpaid cost-of-living allowance (COLA). The strikers, who are members of the All-UP Workers Alliance (AUPWA), have been demanding the release of their COLA since 2001.

BY BULATLAT

About 1,000 administrative staff and professors in different campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP) staged pickets from Nov. 21 to 25 to protest the UP administration’s refusal to pay their back cost-of-living allowance (COLA).

The strikers, who are members of the All-UP Workers Alliance (AUPWA), have been demanding the release of their COLA since 2001, Buboy Cabrera, one of their leaders, said in an interview.

The AUPWA is composed of the unions of the rank and file (All-UP Workers Union) and the faculty (All-UP Academic Employees Union). Cabrera, who works at the UP Press in the Diliman campus, is president of the All-UP Workers Union.

Along with other government workers, UP administrative staff and professors have been calling on the national government to give back the COLA that was integrated into their basic salaries in line with the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law in 1989. However, it was not until 1999 that the law’s implementing rules and regulations got published.

Government employees have struggled for the release of their back COLAs from 1989 to 1999. Cabrera said other state colleges and universities like the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) and the Rizal Technological University (RTU) have issued back COLA to their employees.

Cabrera said the Board of Regents, UP’s highest policy-making body, decided in 2003 to defer the payment of back COLA until the Supreme Court (SC) decides on the issue. Early this year, the SC ruled that the payment of the back COLA is legal.

“But UP has not paid our back COLA,” said Cabrera. “The UP administration cites a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) memorandum stating that only government-owned and -controlled corporations are covered by the Supreme Court decision and not national government agencies which include UP.” The Supreme Court decision, Cabrera said, makes no such distinction.

He added, “President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued an order to release P1 billion ($18.5 million, based on an exchange rate of P54.15 per US dollar) for payment of back COLA, only to suddenly take it back.”

The strikers went on mass leave on Nov. 22 and 24. There was also a series of vigils through the week, as well as negotiations with the UP administration.

All-UP Academic Employees Union President Judy Taguiwalo, a professor at the College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD), said it was time to take the fight to a higher level. “For three years, the All-UP Workers Alliance has done many ways to send its message to the UP administration and the national government like dialogues, open letters and a rally at the DBM.”

Cabrera said the AUPWA will be holding consultations among its members in the coming days to plan for its next protest activities, among which is participation in a nationally-coordinated rally for the release of back COLA scheduled on Dec. 7.

The AUPWA also participated in the “People’s Procession” for truth, justice and human rights held in Manila Nov. 25. Bulatlat

© 2005 Bulatlat ■ Alipato Publications

Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.

Friday, November 11, 2005

All-Government Employees’ COLA Coalition's: MANIFESTO OF UNITY

The following Manifesto of Unity by the "All Government Employees COLA Coalition was adopted by the convenors during its 2nd meeting held at the CSWCD, U.P. Diliman on November 8, 2005.


WHEREAS, the Congress enacted Republic Act No. 6758 otherwise known as the Salary Standardization Law (SSL) for Government Employees effective July 1, 1989;

WHEREAS, section 12 of the said law provides for the consolidation of allowances and compensation into the basic salary of government employees except for those allowances enumerated therein and those that may be determined by Department of Budget and Management (DBM);

WHEREAS, to implement the quoted provision that DBM will determine such other allowances/and or additional compensation that may be deemed integrated into the basic salary, Sec. Diokno issued DBM Corporate Compensation Circular No.10, DBM National Compensation Circular Nos. 56 & 59 integrating among others the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) into the basic Salary;

WHEREAS, the DBM failed to inform the employees concerned by way of publication, and as required by law, its plan to integrate the COLA into the basic salary;

WHEREAS, the DBM published DBM CCC No. 10 only on March 16, 1999 and DBM NCC no. 59 and 56 only on May 3, 2004;

WHEREAS, since the time the law on salary standardization became effective, we as government employees have been unlawfully deprived of our COLA;

WHEREAS, salaries of the vast majority of government employees fall below the ever-rising cost of living, resulting in increasing economic hardship for the rank-and-file;

WHEREAS, the unlawful deprivation of COLA further eroded the living standards of government employees;

WHEREAS, the Supreme Court in the case of Philippine Ports Authority employees vs. Commission on Audit (G.R. 160396) held in favor of the grant of COLA to the employees of PPA covering the period from July 1, 1989 to March 16, 1999;

WHEREAS, under the doctrine of stare decisis, the ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of PPA vs. COA shall be applicable to all government employees because we are all similarly situated with the PPA employees, the issue being non-publication of DBM Circulars which were supposed to integrate COLA into the basic salaries;

WHEREAS, the National Government should pay COLA not only to the employees of the GOCC and GFIs but also to the employees in the National Government Agencies under the principle of equal protection of the law;

WHEREAS, in a Cabinet meeting on September 9, 2005, Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered the DBM to release P1 billion as initial “staggered payment” of the unpaid COLA of government employees;

WHEREAS, said order was rescinded following a recommendation by DBM that payment of COLA be deferred;

WHEREAS, the DBM, in its National Budget Circular 2005-502, dated October 26, 2005, continues to prohibit the payment of the COLA of national government agency employees based on the argument that COLA was already integrated into the basic salary and that payment of the same will allegedly cause double compensation;

WHEREAS, said argument was already thrown out by the Supreme Court in the case of PPA vs. COA;

WHEREAS, Malacanang’s continued refusal to pay the back COLA constitutes a denial of justice to government employees nationwide, who have long clamored for restitution;

WHEREAS, government employees nationwide have banded together to form the All-Government Employees’ COLA Coalition;

WHEREFORE, the Coalition hereby demands the following:

1) The immediate payment by the National Government of the unpaid COLA of national and local government agency, state universities and colleges, government-owned and controlled corporation and government financial institution employees;

2) That each individual employee entitled to back COLA be provided with an individual computation of the amount due him/her, based on official payroll records;

3) The allocation by National Government of a budget for the payment of said COLA.

Convenors:

Alliance of Health Workers (AHW)
Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)
Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE)
Manila Public School Teachers Association (MPSTA)
Quezon City Public School Teachers Association (QCPSTA)
All-UP Workers Union
All-UP Academic Employees Union
Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital Employees Union
National Children Hospital Employees Association
San Lazaro Hospital Employees Association - AHW
Tondo Medical Center Employees Association - AHW
National Orthopedic Hospital Workers Union - AHW
National Center for Mental Health Employees Association - AHW
Makati Public School Teachers Association
Department of Labor and Employment Employees Union - COURAGE
Social Welfare Employees Association of the Philippines - COURAGE
Department of Education Employees Union

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Public Health Workers Go BOLD For COLA Back Pay

Press Release
October 20, 2005
References:
Mr. Jossel Ebesate, Secretary General, AHW
CP # 09189276381
Ms. Emma Manuel, AHW President
CP # 09178008634


Hundreds of Public Health Workers from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), San Lazaro Hospital, National Center for Mental Health and other hospitals under the Department of Health (DOH) in their bold painted bodies gathered in front of the PGH today to press their demand to the government to pay their back pay of the cost of living allowance (COLA) amounting to P85,000.00 for each of the government employees. “The GMA government is hell bent in imposing E-VAT to the already impoverish Filipinos just to pay its foreign debts, but its debt to the health workers is taken for granted”, said Ms. Emma Manuel, AHW president.

The rallying public health workers lead by the All U.P. Workers Union and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) demanded that the national government through the Department of Budget and Management and respective government agencies immediately release P1 Billion for an initial payment of COLA as prescribed by Cabinet memorandum dated September 9, 2005.

Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, President of the All UP Workers Union in Manila and Secretary General of the AHW concluded that: “Now is the time for the government to walk the talk that it cares for its own health care givers. If it really served the interest of the people, no other concrete example would suffice than paying its own debts to its own employees.”

It must be recalled that in 1989 during the implementation of R.A. 6758 (Salary Standardization Law), the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) failed to publish in the National Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation the Implementing Rules and Regulations as required by law. It was only in 1999 and 2004 that said guidelines was published for employees in government owned and controlled corporations (GOCC) and other government employees, respectively. Said DBM guidelines stipulated among others that allowances and other income (COLA included) were already incorporated in the basic salary hence, the payment of which were no longer authorized, eliciting series of charges from concerned government employees that went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Subsequently, in a series of Supreme Court decisions (7 as of last account) starting from De Jesus, et. al .vs. Commission on Audit (COA) in 1998 to PPA vs. COA on September 6, 2005, the Court consistently ruled that said DBM Guidelines were declared “ineffective” in the absence of publication, hence “inapplicable.” The Court further ruled that: “in consonance of the equal protection clause of the Constitution, and considering that the employees were all similarly situated as to the matter of the COLA… they should all be treated similarly. All – not only incumbents as of July 1, 1989 – should be allowed to received back pay corresponding to the said benefits from July 1, 1989 to the new effectivity date…”

Monday, September 26, 2005

Kuryente

Noong nakaraang linggo, ang unyon ay pinutakte ng kaliwa't kanang tanong kung totoo daw na mayroong ibibigay na humigit-kumulang na P20,000 bawat isang kawani ng UP (kabilang ang PGH) bilang paunang bayad sa back COLA. Ang balitang ito ay mariin nating pinasinungalingan at anumang balita tungkol sa napipintong pagbibigay nito sa mga kawaning UP ay pawang walang batayan.

Ang totoo ay ang Unyon ay mayroon nang sulat noong nakaran pang dalawang linggo sa ating Vice President for Legal Affairs, Prof. Marvic Leonen kaugnay sa isyung ito pagkaraang ipinalabas ng Supreme Court ang bago nitong desisyon kaugnay sa back COLA (G.R. No. 160396, PPA Employees vs. COA, September 6, 2005). Pagkasagot ng ating sulat (na ating inaasahang paborable sa ating posisyon) ay magkakaron ulit tayo ng panibagong kampanya sa loob ng UP para sa ating COLA back pay. Ito ay habang wala pang desisyon ang Supreme Court kaugnay naman sa kasong isinampa ng OSG Employees noong 1992 laban sa DBM na siyang dapat babalikat sa pagbabayad ng back COLA at hindi lamang ang bawat ahensiya dahil sa ang DBM ang siyang nagkamali sa pagpapatupad ng RA 6758 (Salary Standardization Law) noong 1989.

Matatandaang ang All UP Workers Union din ang unang nangampanya nito pagkatapos ng CNA signing sa pagitan ng UP at ng AUPWU noong 2002, na ang kinalabasan ay ang pagsampa ng UP (at pagtanggap ng Supreme Court) ng Motion to Intervene sa kasong isinampa ng OSG Employees sa Supreme Court at ang pagtanggi ng Board of Regents ng kahit paunang bayad sa back pay kahit pa humantong ang ating kampanya sa panandaliang "pagkulong" natin sa mga kasapi ng BOR sa Board Room ng UP Diliman at UP Manila.

Kayat ang pakiusap natin sa mga kapwa kawani ng UP (kabilang ang PGH) ay huwag tayong padadala sa mga nagkukunyaring naglalakad daw ng ating back COLA sa UP. Ni HA ni HO ay wala nga tayong narinig sa kanila noong sila pa ang kinikilalang "sole and exclusive bargaining unit" (1994-2000) kung saan sila ang kausap ng UP noong 1998 ng lumabas ang kauna-unahang desisyong ng Supreme Court kaugnay sa pagbabayad ng back COLA, ngayon pa kayang hanggang panggugulo na lamang sa mga isyu ang kaya nilang gawin?

Palagi po tayong sumangguni sa bukod tanging unyon na nagdadala ng tunay na unyunismo sa UP (kasama ang PGH), ang All UP Workers Union. At inasahan sana namin na sumama ang mas malawak na bilang ng mga kawani sa ating panibagong kampanya para sa back pay ng COLA upang tuluyan nating makamit ang tagumpay

Mabuhay ang mga kawani ng UP at PGH!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Rule of Law and 'The Godfather'

First posted 02:05am (Mla time) Sept 09, 2005
By Raul Pangalangan
Inquirer News Service

WHEN legal technicalities were employed to suppress critical evidence during the impeachment of President Joseph Estrada, people mocked it as "legal gobbledygook." When legal technicalities were employed to block the impeachment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, full-page ads called it a victory for the rule of law. What's the difference?

When pro-impeachment lawyers walked out of the Estrada trial, they were hailed as heroes acting out their moral indignation. When pro-impeachment congressmen walked out of the Arroyo hearing to protest the railroading of the proceedings, they were branded as unparliamentary and uncouth. What gives?

Abroad, the newspapers report sightings of Elvis, the King from Graceland and beyond. Hereabouts, the papers report sightings of Garci, the conspiring Election Commissioner fleeing disgrace in the homeland. How low can we go?

The congressional choking of the Arroyo impeachment is not the triumph of the rule of law, but of Mafia-style politics. Erstwhile anti-Arroyo congressmen mysteriously did not vote to uphold the impeachment charges? Look no farther than "The Godfather" movie, in which a witness at a Senate hearing suddenly clammed up. Confused by the Catholic Church hierarchy's waffling on Ms Arroyo? The bishops were so big on the question of morality when it was Estrada's neck on the dock, but now they are suddenly reduced to quibbling that Ms Arroyo's culpability was just moral but not legal. Again recall how Don Michael Corleone so piously, so solemnly, received a papal citation.

The Inquirer's editorial last Wednesday noted the recent appointments by President Arroyo that rewarded her loyal congressmen and some offers dangled to entice anti-Arroyo legislators to switch sides. On the floor of the House of Representatives, some congressmen were candid enough to say that they blocked the Arroyo impeachment because the President had been so "generous" to their district, referring I suppose to their overflowing gratitude for the flow of pork-barrel money.

The biggest irony is that those full-page, paid ads supporting President Arroyo may be motivated less by love for the law and more by a loathing for Arroyo's legal successor, Vice President Noli de Castro. It bespeaks a class bias by the affluent, educated Filipino, looking down on a duly elected Vice President because he is not one of their own, and who consider it unthinkable to have him as their leader.

The pro-Arroyo middle forces go to great lengths, worthy of intellectual contortionists, to explain why President Arroyo must not go. Estrada was ousted on the issue of his moral fitness but Ms Arroyo must stay despite the moral cloud, they say, because we need to be united. They claim to venerate the Constitution but will do everything to thwart Ms Arroyo's constitutional successor.

Well, guys, if national unity is valued in itself, and the rule of law says that the Vice President is next in line, why couldn't you do all that "uniting" behind Noli? Why embrace the Constitution only when it can be twisted to support Arroyo, but not when it categorically benefits her duly-elected Vice President?

Today the rule of law is nothing but mere rhetorical cover for what are essentially Machiavellian aims. I wonder if even those who now speak of it so loftily hold it "truly, madly, deeply" in their hearts.

The ideal of "a government of laws and not of men" is supposed to be the antidote to feudal governance. It is the modern response to backward notions of power. It is institutional, rather than personal; rule-based, rather than discretionary; and it aims to be just rather than merely convenient. The rule of law is not an ideal that can be switched on and off, depending on what is politically expedient.

That precisely is the danger with deploying the rule of law as a rhetorical weapon. It is a weapon that is programmed to respect certain principles. Unlike guns that can be made to shoot any target chosen by the gun-wielder, the rule of law can command the wielder to shoot some but not others and only under certain conditions. That is why our Supreme Court had to provide juridically acceptable accounts of Cory Aquino's extra-constitutional People Power and Ms Arroyo's shortcut to Malacañang. Justice Robert Jackson, chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, said that the trials aimed "to establish incredible events with credible evidence" and exalted the tribunal as "the highest tribute that force ever paid to reason."

Those who exalt the crushing of the impeachment as the triumph of the rule of law may have missed the Constitution's Preamble. It states that "We, the sovereign Filipino people" seek the "blessings of … democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth…." Instead they find the rule of law in the deliberate misreading of the Constitution. But that has been the hallmark of this crisis over the Garci tapes, when being legalistic was mistaken for being just.

When President Arroyo gave her "I am sorry" speech for her repeated improper phone calls to an election official, she no sooner finessed it a week after with a "But I never admitted anything" speech. When her spokesmen said that the truth must be ascertained in the courts and not in the streets, we naively believed that she would allow the people and their elected deputies to hear the evidence against her. But President Arroyo's minions in Congress killed the impeachment charges and never gave the Senate a chance to examine the evidence. Gloria got her day in court. The Filipino people did not.

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(c)2005 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

Friday, August 26, 2005

'Benjamins' of the House

A LAW EACH DAY (KEEPS TROUBLE AWAY)
By Jose C. Sison
The Philippine Star 08/26/2005

The ongoing political drama (or comedy according to many others) happening in the House of Representatives impeachment proceedings somehow gives us a glimpse of our country's future – as clearly seen in the young, fresh faces who have been previously silent and preferred to stay in the background while the gristly veterans do their thing. Now they are starting to emerge from the shadow of their more experienced colleagues whose old brand of politics has given that Chamber a rather unwholesome reputation. It is indeed encouraging to see them speak up and make a firm and principled stand on the burning issues of the day.

The simplicity of their position and the purity oftheir intentions are easily noticeable. They are reassuring indications that the impeachment process will have a credible ending and that our country still has a bright and rosy future. I am sure there are still many of them in the lower house who will eventually speak out their still idealistic minds and make their presence felt.

These young legislators know that removal of a President is an extreme measure that should not be taken lightly as it has very grave political consequences on the nation and its government headed by an elected incumbent whose tenure has been precisely fixed by the Constitution for stability and permanence. Hence they acknowledge that it must be done in accordance with the "rule of law" or through the impeachment process. And for the "rule of law" to prevail, they realize that impeachment rules must be strictly enforced and carefully followed even if it takes time to do so.

Yet in their idealistic minds, they are also very much aware that upholding the "rule of law" means finding out or letting the truth come out of the impeachment process; that any proceeding resulting in a failure to determine the whole truth is never in accordance with the rule of law. Thus under the existing Constitutional scheme, they have correctly raised the point that the lower house's real function in the impeachment process is merely to determine whether or not to charge the President rather than to try and establish the truth or falsity of the charges which are the functions of the Senate; that when they impeach the president,they are not adjudging her as already guilty but precisely giving her the opportunity to prove her accusers wrong. For these reasons our young and idealistic legislators have started to speak out and voice their concerns on the apparent move of their more politically savvy colleagues to prevent process from reaching the Senate. They have seen through a scheme where their colleagues will use their superiority in numbers to cut short the impeachment proceedings through some hair-splitting technicalities. They believe that this move is not good for the President or beneficial to the country; that it will only plunge us deeper into a prolonged crisis and political bickering.

The veteran politicians in Congress should not ignore their young and idealistic colleagues. Pushing through with their scheme may even boomerang and alienate and drive these young and principled men and women away from their fold. Listening to these young people is listening to the voice of the nation's conscience. After all, they arethe hope of the motherland and also have a vital role in nation building.* * *

E-mail at: jcson@pldtdsl.net
Copyright (c) 2005 philstar.com . All rights reserved.

Juridical Guerrilla Warfare

By Raul Pangalangan
This story was taken from www.inq7.net
First posted 03:38am (Mla time) Aug 26, 2005
Inquirer News Service

THE BEST way to kill the impeachment complaint is to wear out the people. No need to show that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is innocent. Just tire the sovereign people, bore them, make them indifferent to whether or not she is guilty. Reduce Gloriagate from a debate about principles to a wager on technicalities bereft of moral content. That is the peril of the vote by the House ofRepresentatives' justice committee to focus first on "prejudicial questions." To paraphrase Sun Tzu, war is like fire. Rather than putting it out, let it burn itself out.

Three impeachment complaints have been filed against President Arroyo, the first, filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano, apparently the weakest. The next step, under the Constitution, is for the proper congressional committee to say whether the complaints are sufficient in form and substance.

However, the Constitution also says: "No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year." Pro-Arroyo congressmen say that the committee must first settle the "prejudicial" issue of whether the Lozano complaint has triggered off the one-year bar and, if yes, whether it can be supplemented by the stronger complaint drafted by opposition lawyers. Their goal, obviously, is to lock in the vulnerable Lozano version and knock out the high-octane opposition draft.

The Supreme Court has laid down the controlling doctrine. In Francisco v. House of Representatives, the Court cited the one-year bar and threw out a second impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Hilario Davide. The anti-Davide forces invoked Rules 16/17 of the impeachment procedure adopted by Congress, which says that "impeachment proceedings [are] deemed initiated" only after the justice committee has acted on the complaint; by that rule, the first complaint couldn't have activated the one-year rule. The Court thus struck down Rules16/17 as unconstitutional and pegged the triggering moment much earlier: when the complaint is filed and referred to the justice committee.

Citing one of the founding fathers of the 1987 Constitution, the Court said: "Father [Joaquin] Bernas further explains: The 'impeachment proceeding' is not initiated when the complaint is transmitted to the Senate for trial [nor] when the House deliberates on the resolution passed on to it by the Committee.... Rather, the proceeding is initiated or begins when a verified complaint is filed and referred to the Committee on Justice for action. This is the initiating step which triggers the series of steps that follow." Pro-Arroyo congressmen now claim that Lozano has tripped the constitutional switch.

But, as Rep. Francis Escudero said at a forum in the University of the Philippines, opposition legislators have anticipated this, and deftly packaged their complaint so that it can either "stand alone" as an independent complaint or merely supplement Lozano's.

There is no technical bar to a supplement. I have heard forced analogies to judicial process, both civil and criminal, all of them inapt to the "sui generis" ("class by itself") nature of impeachment proceedings. The current procedural rules on impeachment are silent on supplements. Therefore, to hinder the other complaints is an exercise of discretion. Our legislators must not wash their hands through technicalities, and be candid enough to confess that they are voting their true selves.

This gap ("lacuna") in the rules beckons us to turn to the "intent of the framers." Note the following exchange in the Constitutional Commission when they drafted the one-year bar.

Commissioner Villacorta: "Does this mean that even if evidence is discovered to support another charge ... a second ... proceeding cannot be initiated [within] one year? ... The intention may be to protect the public official from undue harassment. [But] is this not undue limitation on the accountability of public officers?"

Commissioner Romulo: "Yes, the intention here really is to limit. This is not only to protect public officials ... from harassment but also to allow the [Congress] to do its work, which is lawmaking. Impeachment proceedings take a lot of time."

Hearing the three complaints together will advance this constitutional intent -- no undue "harassment" of the respondent, or additional work for Congress.

But in addition, Rep. Teodoro Locsin shows that there is in fact a proper technical way to construe the three complaints. Congressional time is not normal people's time, he said. Congress can simply stop the clock and by parliamentary fiat freeze time, and the record will not show that they actually debated past midnight. Now by such reckoning, time stood still while Congress was on its constitutionally mandated one-month break. That Lozano filed first in that twilight zone is of no consequence.

Which brings us back to the controlling moment in Francisco, namely, July 25, when Congress re-convened, the "session day" when Speaker Jose de Venecia endorsed the complaints to the justice committee, simultaneously at 11:20 a.m. (recorded in the official Journal). Therefore, Francisco will hold that none of the complaints could have blocked off the others.

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. That, shorn of fancy lawyer talk, is one big part of the rule of law. The justices read the one-year bar liberally in favor of the "accused." This gave solace to the Chief Justice, who was worthy, but now it purportedly gives safe haven to President Arroyo, who is not. The solution is not to fudge what the Court said in Francisco, but to carry out our compelling intuitions through the disciplined craft of the law, and in Unger's words, "find the mind's opportunity in the heart's revenge." Remember Sun Tzu: Take away the energy of the enemy, take away their heart. * * *

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(c)2005 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

Thursday, August 18, 2005

EMERGENCY POWER IS A FORMULA FOR DICTATORSHIP - ­MAZA

NEWS RELEASE
18 August 2005

For Reference: REP. LIZA LARGOZA MAZA 0920-9134540
Tels: 9316268, 9315001 loc7230;

Jang Monte (Public Information Officer) 0917-8226635

GABRIELA Women's Party Representative Liza Largoza Maza criticized today proposals to give Mrs. Arroyo emergency powers as a formula for dictatorship.

"This emergency power could be abused by the administration not to control oil prices but to control critics and dissenters. It could be used not to manage the oil crisis but to maneuver a prolonged Arroyo leadership in the midst of this political crisis. Giving Mrs. Arroyo emergency powers while the question of the legitimacy of her leadership still hangs only means Martial Rule," said Maza.

The lady solon insisted that the imposition of price control mechanisms as well as the repeal of the oil deregulation law is all that is necessary for the government to arrest oil price increases and bring down oil prices by as much as P3.68 per liter. "These are urgent measures that the government should implement in the midst of increasing oil prices."

Maza cited a study made by think-tank IBON Foundation revealing that from while pump prices should have increased only by P6.91 per liter from 2000 to 2004, an increase of P10.59 per liter have been recorded. IBON's estimate takes into consideration the peso-dollar exchange rate and Dubai crude prices.

"Once the oil deregulation is repealed, government can easily arrest the overpricing being committed by major oil players by keeping oil prices at minimum levels," said Maza as she lashed out on all giants who continue to amass huge profits at the expense of ordinary consumers.

Maza sought the immediate passage of House Bill 1065—An Act Repealing RA 8479: Downstream Oil Deregulation Act of 1998 and House Bill 3219 which seeks to include LPG and kerosene in the list of basic necessities in the Price Act.

"More than a small-scale energy conservation program that will again place the burden of managing oil consumption to ordinary, individual consumers, a measure that is of a larger scale such as the repeal of the oil deregulation law is imperative in the face of skyrocketing world oil prices. Giving the public immediate relief should be a priority."#

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Pack Your Bags, Gloria

By: ALAN C. ROBLES
Hot Manila

Perhaps President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can't take a hint. The most respected and credible members of her cabinet have abandoned her and want her to resign; the Makati Business Club has asked that she stepdown; Cory Aquino twice called on her to relinquish her post. Demonstrations against her are increasing and show no signs of abating, opinion polls show her credibility in the negatives and political allies are turning against her. There's even a web site that's been set up called gmaresign now.com

Might there be something about the word "quit" that Mrs. Arroyo doesn't understand?

She maintains that if there's a case against her, it should be done constitutionally, through impeachment. Here's a quote for her: "Snap elections are unconstitutional, while impeachment is a long process." Who dared say this? Why, it was somebody named Gloria Arroyo - back in 2000 when she was vice-president and demanding that Joseph Estrada resign.

In the purely expedient world the President and her advisers apparently inhabit, nothing matters now except appearances. A pro-Arroyo rally that musters 120,000 people - most of them members of the El Shaddai cult, clients and employees of the loyalist Manila mayor or bussed-in province mates of Mrs. Arroyo -- is seen as proof of her popularity. The refusal of the Catholic hierarchy to call for her resignation is seen as a tremendous victory. A storm is building and the administration's reading tea leaves to check the weather.

To confuse the public, Arroyo allies last week released an alleged wiretap of Joseph Estrada plotting against the government. A shabby, amateurish production , the second wiretap doesn't invalidate the first, which strongly indicates President Arroyo cheating in last year's elections. Also, Estrada is already safely under custody. The persons in the "Garci" tape are not.

Mrs. Arroyo's spin meisters have been so busy conjuring the basest, darkest motives for her opponents (the resigned Cabinet secretaries are "traitors", Cory Aquino wants to protect Hacienda Luisita) that they haven't bothered to check how ridiculous their messages play. The smears are only causing irritation among people who are beginning to suspect their President is both a cheat and a liar, and her spouse could be seriously into graft.

Arroyo strategists might want to consult recent history in Central America and Eastern Europe, which shows that besieged governments that stubbornly cling to power tend to fall the same way, firing off defiant, blustering broadsides just before they suddenly capsize. The record also shows all the presidents ousted the last five years were driven to resign rather than impeached.

If for nothing else, Mrs. Arroyo should resign for an amazing display of crisis mismanagement. A chief executive can't even handle a deadly threat to her political career has no business handling the affairs of millions.

The whole wiretap scandal has been bungled from the get-go. In an alternate Universe in another dimension - one where the Philippines has ethical politicians - this is what an alternate Gloria Arroyo might do: if she were innocent, she would immediately and ferociously deny it, demand an investigation to clear her name, sue her accusers and order election commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano interrogated.

If she were guilty she would immediately apologize and resign, possibly making sure her husband is turned over to investigators.

Pick your poison

Faced with the hair-raising prospect of a Fernando Poe victory, the middle class was a passive accomplice. It turned its face to the wall and refused to see how the Arroyo administration packed the graft-ridden Comelec with allies, and profligately spent public funds on the campaign. Mrs. Arroyo didn't shrink from enlisting the same dirty tricks advisers, the notorious Puno brothers, Joseph Estrada used.

Mrs. Arroyo's middle class supporters could barely wait to rush in with fulsome congratulations when the President made a public confession and promised to "punish" herself by working twice as hard. Some of those supporters, writing on newsgroups, have put a class tone to the dispute: they've dismissed the anti-Arroyo protesters as "motley" because they're either poor or leftist. Presumably, rich and rightwing street demonstrators who support Mrs. Arroyo are not motley.

Civil society has been so misled by the perfumed rallies it used to overthrow Estrada that it's in danger of thinking it has an exclusive franchise on People Power.

The administration has tried to keep People Power off the agenda by insisting on a "constitutional" process. This means going through Congress, where a richly comic drama is being played out. Four years ago, Estrada's enemies were demanding that an envelope proving his corruption be opened, and his supporters blocked the move. Now, Mrs.Arroyo's allies are blocking a motion to play a recording of the wiretap.

Mrs. Arroyo herself has tarred all her current critics"destabilizers", while her propagandists have succeeded in defining "opposition" as consisting solely of Joseph Estrada and his Gangrene Gang. The president's supporters have also put down Susan Roces as a mere actress, forgetting how in 1985 a certain Cory Aquino wasdenigrated as a "mere housewife." Mrs. Aquino's subsequent career shows that it isn't necessarily what a leader can do that's important, it's what she symbolizes.

And right now Mrs. Arroyo symbolizes divisiveness. If this is just thef irst year of her term, it's hard to see her surviving until 2010. Her credibility has taken such a terrific battering that the only way she can recover is by doing something breathtaking and spectacular: repudiating the colossal debt on the useless Bataan reactor; jailing a couple of Marcoses and their cronies and recovering their ill-gotten wealth.

Assuming she survives this year, her administration will lurch along, trailing blood. She'll be hard put pushing her "terror n' taxes" agenda: codifying a national ID scheme, increasing revenues through regressive taxes, and ultimately perpetuating the administration by transitioning to a parliamentary system. And the Supreme Court just dealt her another blow by ordering an injunction against the extended VAT, a centerpiece of the government's economic program.

Weakened by massive graft and corruption, an unjust justice system and poverty, the country does not need a leadership crisis like this. The middle class, business leaders, and conservative politicians fear that throwing Mrs. Arroyo out of office could cause turmoil and economic devastation. They're not looking at the other side of the coin: an Arroyo who hangs on to office could also cause turmoil and economic devastation.

Painful as it seems, the time could soon come when the public will have to make some choices about a new leader. If the middle class refuses to involve itself in this process it might see the landscape dominated by the Estrada clique. Its own fear of bloodshed and violence could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

hotmanila.ph

Copyright 2005 Alan C. Robles All rights reserved editor@hotmanila.ph

Saturday, August 06, 2005

COMMENT: The Imperative of Impeachment

By Patricio P. Diaz
MindaNews /04 August 2005

A Publication of the Mindanao News and Information Cooperative Center
Vol. IV, No. 072/5 August 2005


GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- The impeachment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has become most imperative. The senators and House of Representatives should cast off partisan loyalties, biases and interests and proceed with the impeachment strictly according to merits. So judging the President is the immediate solution to the political crisis, not the change of the form of government.

The presidential unitary form of government has nothing to do with the very grave doubt in the legitimacy of the President's election in the May 2004 election and the suspicion about her part in the jueteng scandal. The legitimacy and jueteng issues are now being interwoven.

Our political crisis is not about the form of government but about the integrity of the President. The crisis is about moral leadership too bankrupt to sustain political leadership. Integrity must be beyond doubt in order to strengthen leadership and consequently untangle the crisis.

The Substitute

The President thinks a truth commission can sort out the mess. That will be poor substitute to impeachment in determining truth about the charges against her. Impeachment derives its authority from the Constitution.

It's even doubted if the truth commission can come out with the truth. And if it does, what will it do with the President should the truth call for her to vacate the presidency? If the commission finds her just maligned, it will be doubted by the opposition because it derived its authority from the President.

On the contrary, the Constitution has instituted impeachment with the mandate to Congress to investigate, try and convict or acquit an erring President -- defining the impeachable offenses and prescribing removal as the penalty in case of conviction. If the senators, as judges, and the congressmen as prosecutors act as statesmen, their verdict will not be doubted.

By impeachment, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be removed from office if found guilty. That will remove the root of the present political crisis which, like a storm, will abate.

If the President is found innocent of the charges against her after the evidence and witnesses have been subjected to intense and thorough judicial scrutiny, her innocence will restore integrity and confidence in her leadership. That, too, will remove the root of the crisis.

Garci to Zuce

The "Hello, Garci!" or "Gloria tape" played to the Malacañan greporters last June 6 triggered the political crisis embroiling the legitimacy of the President's election. The demand for her to resign built up and snowballed.

The President's admission last June 27 that the woman's voice in the tape was hers intensified the demand instead of defusing it, as calculated. She did not admit wrongdoing. But her owning the voice was enough to confirm the charges of the political, militant and radical oppositions.

"Hello, Garci!" did not die. Last August 1, Michaelangelo S. Zuce surfaced to reveal the well-funded and well-organized special operation in Mindanao intended to make President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo win in that region in the 2004 election by buying the election through the election officials.

Heading the special operation established in 2002 was Virgilio Garcillano, whom Zuce identified as his uncle. Zuce, a Malacañang employee in the office of Secretary Jose Ma. Rufino, the President's political adviser, coordinated the special operation under the direction of Garcillano.

Damaging

According to Zuce, it was he who introduced Garcillano to Rufino to organize and manage the special operation. This implied that among Rufino's functions is the election of the President paid with tax money.

Zuce also revealed that Garcillano, a retired Comelec regional director, worked for the election of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for vice president. His appointment as Comelec Commissioner was demanded by the special operation.

Evidently, however, the special operation was not only in Mindanao but nationwide. Zuce talked of meetings of regional directors and provincial supervisors at hotels in Manila and one at the La Vista residence of the President where the President appealed to them for help and they received money from Lilia Pineda, wife of jueteng lord Rodolfo Pineda.

This tied up the jueteng and election anomaly issues involving the President. Zuce also said in one meeting at La Vista, he saw Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr., who was reported to have said that before the election the regional directors received P2 million each from Pineda.

Zuce's affidavit if sustained and his documentary evidence if proven authentic are very damaging. By identifying the "Louie" in the Garci tape as himself, he authenticated the tape to strengthen the charge of vote-fixing against the President.

Responses

As usual, the Palace denied Zuce's revelations and discredited him. It is expected that in the next news report, Zuce will be buried in the avalanche of libel and damage suits like the jueteng witnesses who implicated the President's husband, son, and brother-in-law. But this will not defuse the crisis.

The Palace said the President will not be distracted from her work, a reiteration of past statements. The President herself said it, "My attention is focused in bringing about change in the lives of Filipinos who are in need." She has stated this many times since her first day as President on January 20, 2001. It only damages her credibility.

In her so-called "media blitz", the President and the Palace want to change the Filipinos' negative impression of her through the media. She's now pictured in the front pages as smiling, holding babies, or tripping along with children.

This will not help defuse the crisis. The President smiling among the unsmiling poor will not drive away poverty, one of the social components of the crisis. Neither will the oft-repeated promises do.

The Only Way

Only the fanatical anti-Gloria believe Zuce and other witnesses likeSandra Cam are telling the truth. Only the Palace and the loyal pro-Gloria believe the exposes are lies. The only fact is: The testimonies and documentary evidence are either true until proven as lies or lies until proven as true. As such, they erode more and more the President's leadership and credibility.

The President must be investigated. Evasion will only worsen the crisis and the bitter division. But only Congress can investigate her through impeachment. To the President's credit, she has dared her political foes and critics to take their cases to Congress.

The pro-administration majority in the House should endorse, not abort, the impeachment. That's the least expected of them. Let the minority prosecute the President at the impeachment court.

Both the pro- and anti-Gloria senators, as impeachment judges, should shed their party loyalty, biases and interests. They should judge the President strictly according to evidence.

The pro-Gloria and the anti-Gloria should not only be ready to accept a fair decision but to unite around such a decision. This, the senators must take to heart.

An innocent verdict can keep President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in office until June 30, 2010 unless her term is shortened by a constitutional amendment. But if such verdict is unfair, it will keep the country bitterly divided.

"Comment" is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz' column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. Mr. Diaz is the recipient of a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Titus Brandsma for his "commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate."

You may e-mail your comments to patpdiaz@mindanews.com.)

(c) Copyright 2004 MindaNews

Thursday, August 04, 2005

AN OPEN LETTER TO UP PRESIDENT EMERLINDA R. ROMAN

ALL-UP ACADEMIC EMPLOYEES UNION
The Union of UP Faculty and REPS
Member, All-UP Workers Alliance



PROMOTIONS SHOULD NOT BE LIMITED TO FACULTY BUT SHOULD INCLUDE REPS AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF


Dear President Roman:

We congratulate you on your investiture as the 19th UP President and the first woman president of our university.

Your investiture speech "The University of the Philippines: A National University in the 21st Century" delineates the attitude and direction of your administration with regards to the challenges of governing UP in the context of reduced government resources for education.

We are looking forward to working with you on areas of agreement between the union and the UP administration while maintaining our union responsibility of critiquing and opposing policies and projects inimical to the welfare of faculty, REPS, administrative staff and students. But as in our past dealing with you as Chancellor of UP Diliman, we know that our relationship would be one of openness to dialogue and principled disagreement and debate.

At the moment, we would like to bring to your attention our concern over official announcements made by the Chancellors and contained in your speech that "funds have been identified to support faculty promotions this year." This is welcome news as the last promotion in the UP System was in 2000. However, we are concerned that while the call for promotion for the faculty appears to be a "sure thing" with funds clearly earmarked for it, promotions for REPS and administrative staff are still dependent on fund sourcing. You said: "We are also doing our utmost to identify funding sources to allow the promotion of ever-dependable and loyal staff who continue to be by our side in pushing the University forward".

The past three system-wide promotions in 1995, 1997 and 2000 involved all three sectors of UP employees. This is but just considering that promotions not only give recognition to the meritorious service rendered by UP employees but also provide step or rank promotion with its corresponding increase in salary. With no salary increase in the past four years of the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency, promotions are one way of adding to the meager salaries of UP employees. Our REPS and administrative staff receive relatively lower salaries than many faculty members and equity considerations demand that promotion should include them as well.

All the faculty, REPS and staff are here as a team performing the various functions that help the University going. Thus, the All UP Academic Employees Union would like to request you to ensure the simultaneous call for promotions of all UP employees and not to limit such call to the promotion of faculty members alone. With this as a starting point, then guidelines for the sharing of the limited resources among the three sectors can be formulated.

We hope for your consideration.


August 3, 2005

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

CODAL Relaunch Statement on GMA Ouster, Impeachment and Truth Commission

UPHOLD THE RULE OF JUSTICE:
RESPECT THE PEOPLE'S SOVEREIGN POWER
A Critical View of Impeachment and the Truth Commission
(22 July 2005

CODAL, hitherto known as the Committee for the Defense of Lawyers, was organized on April 30, 2005 and was borne out of the situation and in response to the killings and attacks against lawyers, judges and the legal profession as a whole as well as on civil liberties. In the light of recent political developments, CODAL believes that the current issues on the "Gloriagate" are legitimate concerns for lawyers as they involve possible violations of the Constitution and threaten the administration of justice.

CODAL concluded in a legal study that the acts of President Arroyo did not merely constitute a "lapse in judgment" but clearly and openly violated several laws and the Constitution and are in fact impeachable offenses. CODAL was one of the first organizations of professionals to ask her to step down.

In view of the misrepresentations that mass actions and people power are unconstitutional, destabilizing and against the "rule of law," CODAL categorically assured the people that the exercise of the people's right to demand for Arroyo to step down is not an "extraconstitutional" or "unconstitutional" act as sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. In fact and in law, their actions are but a legitimate and democratic exercise of their civil and political liberties.

Given all these, CODAL has come with a consensus to transform the organization and expand its concerns and aptly rename it as Counsels for the Defense of Liberties.

CODAL – the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties - will continue to pursue the call to oust GMA through resignation, not only because she has violated our laws and the Constitution, but also because she has lost the public trust to effectively govern because of serious charges of electoral fraud, corruption, puppetry, and human rights violations amidst a grave economic crisis.

However, since the impeachment process is taking its course, CODAL will critically participate and contribute its individual and collective knowledge, skills and training to help legally prove that GMA is liable for violation of the laws and the Constitution. This, despite the consciousness that it could be a trap to unduly diffuse the heat against her and the situation, confuse the people and provide a purely legalist way out for GMA to escape liability.

However, CODAL finds Vice President Noli de Castro unacceptable as successor as he will just continue the unpopular policies and programs of GMA and would only result in a mere "changing of the guards."

CODAL believes that it is the height of arrogance and self-righteousness to say that no one can replace GMA among 84 million Filipinos.

Instead, CODAL shall support the establishment of a transitional council that will represent and pursue the interests of the majority of our people. CODAL's unified view on the finer aspects on the composition, parameters, nature, duration, safeguards, legal, political and moral bases of said council is currently the subject of a legal study. But certainly, CODAL is against the prospects of the military and the opportunists taking advantage of the council or any
successor government.

What is important for CODAL is the next government's reform agenda – there must be a total overhaul of the electoral system, thoroughgoing elimination of corruption, sustained battle against impunity through serious prosecution of human rights violators and corrupt public
officials, and lasting reforms in the economy that will effectively respond to the challenges of poverty and globalization. The new government should also ensure the protection of lawyers and the legal profession from attacks.

CODAL believes that notwithstanding the impeachment process, the direct action of the people - as an exercise of their sovereign right and again in recognition that all government authority emanates from them and, therefore, a constitutionally-recognized inherent right that we have respected with or without the impeachment – remains a legitimate option.

CODAL further believes that the proposed Truth Commission to be created under and by GMA herself is not only unconstitutional as it finds absolutely no basis in the Constitution but is also suspect and infirm because its members and findings will not have the credibility and capacity to resolve the crisis. It is likely that serious violence will ensue if the decision of the Senate conflicts with that of the Truth Commission. Should the impeachment court convict her, Pres. Arroyo could hold on to power is she is acquitted by her Truth Commission, creating a dangerous constitutional crisis.

CODAL believes that, contrary to the spin doctors of GMA, the people are not tired of mass actions for no one should be tired of bringing and working for meaningful changes in our government and society. As the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties marks its re-launching,
and as it conducts symbolic and political actions complementary to legal moves, it vows to continue to work for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo and unite on a principled basis with other forces, stand with the people in the defense of their rights and freedoms, and help in definition of a people's agenda that will attempt to bring meaningful changes in their lives. #

The Queen' Gambits

THE PRESIDENT: The Unmaking of the President

Mrs. Arroyo is reaping the consequences of the damage she has wrought on key institutions.

by SHEILA S. CORONEL
I Report Special Issue July 2005
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

UNTIL last month, the heavens seemed to have favored Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The economy was picking up, the stock market was trading briskly, and Congress had just passed a new tax measure. For sure, the budget deficit and rising oil prices were something to worry about. At the same time, the opposition seemed bent on raking the jueteng muck. But all these were part of life — and politics — as usual.

After all, the president had won by a convincing margin in 2004, and although doubts about the integrity of the balloting lingered, the main opposition contender in last year's elections, the actor Fernando Poe Jr., was dead and buried. Joseph Estrada was safely languishing in the ennui of luxurious house arrest. And the rest of the opposition, while strident and noisy, was also fractured, discredited, and somewhat dispirited. President Arroyo's popularity may have dipped because of the hard times, but she was clearly, unmistakably in command.

And then came The Tapes. Suddenly, it seemed that the President had lost favor with the stars.
And yet, the stars are not solely to blame. The crisis that has paralyzed the presidency is as much of Arroyo's making as it is of the confluence of circumstances that brought us to where we are now: on the brink, possibly, of another political upheaval.

Blaming the opposition for the current mess gives it too much credit and endows its members with more cunning than they have. Neither the opposition nor the stellar Susan Roces can lay claim to the unraveling of the Arroyo presidency. Gloria Arroyo did that largely on her own. She is reaping the consequences of the damage she and her predecessors have wrought on the electoral process and on key institutions, among them, the Commission on Elections, the military, and the police.

AN INSECURE PRESIDENT

Much more than Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, Arroyo has politicized these and other agencies of government, stunting their professionalism and turning them into puerile props for a president insecure about her mandate and the affections of her people. She has reasons to be insecure. She became president in 2001 only because Estrada fell and she was second in line to occupy Malacañang. Even those who voted for her in 2004 did so mainly because she was the safest bet, not because they believed in her, much less loved her, She was the lesser evil, not the principled choice.

The president's insecurity is also partly due to Edsa 3. Arroyo was traumatized by Labor Day 2001, when thousands of slum dwellers protesting Estrada's arrest came close to breaching the defenses of Malacañang. Even as angry masses were storming the Palace gates, the President remained isolated, unsure of .the loyalty of the military and the police. Edsa 3 defined her presidency and made her acutely aware of her vulnerabilities and perpetually anxious about the stability of her rule.

Since then, Arroyo has exerted every effort to win the allegiance of the military and the police by buying their loyalty through promotions, perks, and special access to her. She used these institutions to quell legitimate threats to her government, like the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny. Nothing wrong with that. But having courted the favor of strategic officers, these agencies were also used for more partisan purposes, including keeping tab of the president's political opponents and, if the conversations in the "Garci" tapes are to be believed, also to ensure her victory in 2004.

The Tapes that have set off the current crisis exist only because the head of Mrs. Arroyo's favorite military agency, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or ISAFP, ordered the wiretapping of presidential phone pal Virgilio Garcillano. President Arroyo called the elections commissioner 15 times in the span of three weeks in May and June 2004.
The wiretapping, according to military and intelligence sources, was instructed by Malacañang political operatives, who wanted to keep track of the commissioner's movements, for fear that he would favor the opposition instead. "This is because the administration party, as we've learned, considered Garcillano as a vulnerable target of the political opposition for them to be able to cheat in the last elections," a military officer told the Philippine Star a few days after the tape scandal broke.

THE WIRETAPPERS

Since she assumed power, the President has turned ISAFP into a sniffing dog against her enemies, most notably Sen. Panfilo Lacson but also an assortment of other "bad" guys (ex-RAM, ex-Erap, ex- and current communists). ISAFP officers could go straight to President Arroyo and to the First Gentleman, bypassing the chain of command. The president, as Newsbreak reported, also personally handpicked all the ISAFP commanders during her time, starting with the controversial Victor Corpus, who led the charges of "narcopolitics" against Lacson.

But that is a digression. Suffice it to say that Garcillano was wiretapped by ISAFP operatives on orders of their superiors, who in turn got their orders from the Palace.

The wiretaps would not have been made at all had President Arroyo left ISAFP alone and allowed it to operate as an independent, professional intelligence agency free from partisan politics. But even if for some reason ISAFP on its own had made the recordings, these would not have fallen into opposition hands had the morale of ISAFP personnel been high and their commander-in-chief commanded their respect and loyalty.

Intelligence sources say one of the ISAFP agents linked to the release of the tapes, the ill-starred T/Sgt. Vidal Doble, is a "loyal soldier" who would probably not have succumbed to opposition inducements to be part of the plot if ISAFP were a more disciplined and tightly run organization.

The problem is that President Arroyo's sense of institutions is overwhelmed by her inherent insecurity and instincts for survival. She has put her own partisan political interests over the long-term development of the institutions of government. The scandal over The Tapes shows the 'pitfalls of this approach: rather than bolstering her rule, the weakened institutions only further heightened her vulnerability.


CORRUPTING INSTITUTIONS

Take the Comelec: Arroyo went farther than either Ramos or Estrada ever dared. Ramos, who had ambitions to hang on to the presidency, named his trusted knaves — the autocratic and mercurial Bernardo Pardo and the "kissing lolo" Manolo Gorospe to the commission. Estrada got the controversial professor Luz Tangcangco, who used the Comelec to settle old academic scores and ended up being so powerful that she single-handedly delayed automation of the counting.

Instead of rebuilding the Comelec's shattered credibility by naming respectable commissioners, Arroyo handpicked a political ally, Benjamin Abalos, to head the commission. Just as the 2004 presidential campaign was kicking off, she also named Garcillano, a known dagdag-bawas (vote padding and shaving) expert, and Manuel Barcelona Jr., her campaign contributor, as commissioners. These appointments contributed to the further weakening of the Comelec's institutional capabilities and effectiveness, thereby only contributing to the general unease about the count. Thus, even if she really and truly won in 2004, the Comelec's bad performance darkened the shadow of doubt that hung over the results of the voting.

After The Tapes, that shadow is now a huge, ominous cloud. Comelec's credibility is now completely shattered. Thanks to President Arroyo's phone calls, it's one key institution now wallowing in the muck.

As this whole affair unravels, one wonders which agency of government will next be covered in slime. The revelations in The Tapes of the collusion of the military and the police in election fraud will likely take on a life of its own. As the opposition gets the upper hand, it is more than possible that insiders in the police and the armed forces who were part of that conspiracy will talk.

THE POLITICS OF DIRTY TRICKS

Apart from these, the staff and resources of civilian agencies of government were also used for the campaign. There's Philhealth, the state insurance company that issued millions of health cards that Arroyo gave away as largesse during the campaign. Part of the funding for those health cards came from the medicare program of the Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration or OWWA, which authorized the possibly illegal fund diversion. The Philhealth chief then, Francisco Duque III, is a neighbor of the Arroyos at La Vista and has been rewarded for his role in the elections by being named health secretary, replacing the more professional Manuel Dayrit.

There's the Department of Agriculture (DA), headed until last week by lawyer Arthur Yap, Arroyo's former student and a known crony of the First Gentleman. The DA released millions of pesos in fertilizer subsidies to win the support of local officials. During the campaign, Yap headed the National Food Authority, which was reported to be giving out free rice as part of the effort to win votes for Arroyo in the May 2004 polls.

There's the Department of Public Works and Highways, which implemented the road-repair programs that oiled the administration's patronage machine. The current chief of that department, former police top gun Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane, is another officer known to be close to the First Gentleman.

There's of course the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. or Pagcor, headed by yet another close buddy of the First Gentleman, Ephraim Genuino. Pagcor has been accused of releasing millions to fund various doleout projects associated with the presidential campaign. Genuino was also reported to have handed money to fund Garcillano's postelection manipulation of the count (see the article, "Master Operator," in this issue).

In her desire to be elected president, Gloria Arroyo (with the more than ample help of her husband) mobilized the whole machinery of govemment for her campaign, in the process wreaking havoc on key institutions. Having so used the police in the elections, even mobilizing them to do a parallel count, how can she now discipline them over such matters as jueteng, for example? Having played favorites with the generals, how can she now punish them for the corruption that is ravaging the armed forces? Having owed so much to the Garcias of Cebu for her landslide win in the province, how can she now get rid of Winston Garcia, who has been accused of messing around with state pension funds?

THE PRICE OF VICTORY

Her victory (if she really won) was exacted at a very high price: the effectiveness and credibility of the most important office of all — the Office of the President. The conduct of the elections and the use of state resources for the campaign took the luster out of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's electoral triumph. Even without The Tapes, the long count and the blatant use of government resources did little to shore up the Office of the President.

The cynical public response, first to Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye's two tapes and later, to President Arroyo's apology and her banishment of the First Gentleman, shows how little trust and respect is left in the office. The distrust is reflected not so much in street protests, but in the ring tones, the jokes, and the blogs. These are not just forms of entertainment, they are cries of anger and disapproval. Malacañang's belated recognition of the extent of public disaffection only shows how unfeeling of the pulse of the people it has become.

It is doubtful that the public can now be appeased by such actions as Big Mike's disappearing act. The First Gentleman's voluntary exile is the belated acknowledgment of the damage he has wrought on the presidency. The "FG's" parallel power structure and his intervention in government appointments and contracts has so diminished the Office of the President, his banishment is unlikely to revive a mortally wounded presidency.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Finally, and most importantly, there is the unfinished business of Edsa 2, Edsa 3, and Elections 2004. The poor were left out of Edsa 2, when they felt that the Manila elite and middle class deprived them of their president. Edsa 3 was their response, but that went largely unheeded. In 2004, they voted in droves for Fernando Poe Jr. If they were indeed robbed of their vote, then they had been, in the span of just three years, twice denied their president.

The last elections showed the class divide, with the middle class and the business community supporting the "safe choice." They applauded Gloria Arroyo's victory and paid little heed to the charges of fraud, reasoning that all sides cheat in Philippine elections anyway, and besides, the incumbent's margin was significant enough, even discounting the margin of fraud. Thus, the pollwatch groups, the survey agencies, the Roman Catholic Church, and the majority in Congress took what they deemed was the prudent stance: despite some doubt, the lesser evil seemed to have won, so there was no point in rocking the boat.

Now that The Tapes have shaken the boat, they are in a real dilemma. Accustomed in Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 to taking the high ground and marching in the streets against discredited presidents, they are now the ones calling for calm and sobriety. In 1986 and 2001, they advocated "people power" over constitutional and legal processes, but today they are the ones arguing for stability and "the rule of law." The shoe is on the other foot. Other forces now claim the high ground.
The businessmen and the middle class can, if they wish, blame President Arroyo for making their safe choice now seem like an unprincipled one. While they ponder, the political initiative is being wrested away from them.

If this crisis is drawn out, then the very system that put Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power will be put in question. This did not happen in Edsa 2: Erap's transgressions were seen as the excesses of an individual, not the product of a political system that is rotten to the core. Yet it should be clear by now that our woes cannot be blamed solely on the wrongdoings of individuals; they are systemic and structural. That was why, even with Erap gone, it was business as usual — jueteng, relatives dipping their fingers in the public coffers, corrupt politicians taking cuts from government contracts. The scandals that have rocked the Arroyo presidency, like those that booted Estrada out of power, are all signs that the system remains fundamentally unchanged even if it is fundamentally unsound.

It is a system that is made for scandal and crisis. Even if President Arroyo weathers this one, another crisis is likely in the offing. And even if she were replaced, as long as the system remains the way it is, we will remain trapped in the politics of perpetual scandal and recurring crisis.

Legend of the 'Fall'

By Noralyn Mustafa
Inquirer News Service
First posted 01:43am (Manila Time) July 25, 2005

CONGENITAL, habitual, pathological, incurable, compulsive, hypocritical, vicious, immoral. Never had I read as many modifiers being used to describe the noun "liar." These-and others too embarrassing to print-were in the text messages that came in from readers and friends after GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo delivered her "I'm sorry" speech. (I learned from some colleagues that the messages crisscrossed the country that night in different variations.)

Which got me to thinking: when was the last time the Filipino people called their President (however he or she became one) a congenital, habitual, pathological, incurable, compulsive, hypocritical, vicious, immoral liar?

This was a very bothersome thought, because from it, all else follow.

It is, as Sen. Panfilo Lacson described in his "True State of the Nation" address delivered last Friday, the debilitating cancer that has contaminated and corroded the moral and social fiber of our nation.

And because of this, nothing is going to work. Not the elaborate attempts to cover up or tone down the effects of the so-called Garcitapes, not the supposed demonstrations of support from local government officials; neither the frequent "kodakan" and walk-abouts with Cabinet secretaries and other allies, all of which only come off as cheap theater.

Because of this, every statement Ms Arroyo issues, every television appearance or radio broadcast she makes is now greeted only with more derision and/or laughter.

Not even the impeccable reputations of the personalities nominated to the truth commission she proposes can lend a shred of credibility to that body, simply because lying and truth are contradictory, and one cannot result from the other. We are confident that these respected individuals will choose to spare themselves the ignominy of being used in this highly oxymoronic endeavor.

Never has the presidency been so disgraced. And never have we, as a people, been so degraded as when her allies kept on scaring us with declarations that there is "no alternative" to Ms Arroyo, implying that the best that the Filipino race can produce is, to quote Neal Cruz, "an incoherent midget."

Not a few seemed disappointed with the very mild and motherly speech of Susan Roces in the Makati rally, which was in direct contrast to that famous fire-and-brimstone salvo she spewed on Ms Arroyo on television.

But the Makati speech was perfect. As simple as the Ten Commandments, as precise as the Panatang Makabayan which, she told the youth who were at the rally, "it seems we, your elders, have now forgotten." Because, next to the home, it is the school and the church-education and religion-where we are taught not to bear false witness and to love our country enough so that we do not screw our countrymen from Day One of our assumption to the highest office of the land.

And Susan Roces did not have to go to Georgetown University to learn these lessons.

After all, even the value of education, which really means drawing out and developing what we intrinsically are, depends to a very large extent on the moral framework of the recipient.

Which is why one can understand how Luli Arroyo, acknowledged like her mother for her academic excellence-diplomatic studies in her case-could engage in such undiplomatic language as "porke't maganda ka, actress ka, may mga award ka sa pag-artista, kaya mo na (maging presidente)." (Being an awarded actress does not mean you can be president.)

Of course, had Inday stooped to that level, she could very well have replied "porke't may doctorate ka, kahit ka dakilang sinungaling, pwede kang mamuno?" (And just because one has a Ph. D., no matter if one is a liar, then can be president?) But then Ms Poe is what my mother would call "a lady." And she doesn't need a college degree to be one.

This is the reason I am very glad that we have someone like there markable in-your-face Rep. Francis Escudero overseeing the impeachment complaint. He is the kind who-as he has done and proved-can keep his sights above the dizzying mountain of sins that MsArroyo has committed against us, and can lump them all up under three focused headings that we can all comprehend: lying, cheating and stealing.

Don't lie, don't steal, don't cheat. That's what we were taught as early as Grade I by our underpaid teachers in the public schools. Surely, the good sisters in Assumption College never ceased teaching the same, and with much more zeal.

No, let us not, as the administration so ardently desires, allow ourselves to be distracted by the legal labyrinth regarding the source of the wiretapped tapes or their admissibility as evidence; or by the maelstrom of statistics proving alleged accomplishments, regularly coming out of Rep. Joey Salceda's bag of tricks; or by Secretary MikeDefensor's deafening defense of the indefensible.

Neither should we torment ourselves by wondering about the moves of the opposition, as to what they are doing to remove from our midst the cause of all our miseries here at home and the cause of all our shame in the global community.

I am willing to give the opposition my trust and can only hope that it will not betray us. Because Ms Arroyo has so damaged our collective psyche that we have almost totally lost trust in each other and in our institutions.

Her recently acquired propensity to quote from the Scriptures (anability, indeed, that even the devil can and does exercise) might even, heaven forbid, make us lose our trust in the Almighty. And that will be our perdition.

String up all video clips of the Cabinet in prayer before each meeting and observe. While all heads are bowed, Ms Arroyo is smiling at the camera, or looking at someone across the table, or up at the ceiling. That is the "Omen." Be forewarned.

Friday, July 22, 2005

UP AWARE STATEMENT -- GETTING THE POINT

Gloria misses the point once more when she acquiesced to the clamor of certain sectors towards the establishment of a Truth Commission. After the harrowing revelations of the past month, it is baffling why Mrs. Arroyo is suddenly interested in the truth. Not when we have seen her muster virtually all the powers of government to cover up the “Hello, Garci” tapes controversy. We only need to recall her own Press Secretary dangling the notorious CDs and proclaiming them as fabrications in a frantic attemptto diffuse public outrage.

As concerned citizens source out vital information regarding the rigging of the presidential elections through the CDs, Arroyo sends out her Justice Secretary to threaten arrest for these people distributing the CDs – well-meaning citizens performing the highest degree of civic-mindedness with their concern for public welfare and the truth.

In the weeks that followed, Gloria ignored the public’s clamor for the truth only to insult this legitimate demand by cloaking her eventual admission with an insincere double-speak. Her apologists have been speaking this strange language since then. It is a language that is steep inspine less reasoning and in legal gobbledygook. Certainly, no respectable citizen would lend his name and provide legitimacy to a Truth Commission established by this administration.

What we are witnessing are the last-ditch attempts byArroyo and her cohorts to maintain themselves in power. Malacanang’s call for the shift towards a parliamentary form of government is an indication that they have been employing political concession as a means to unite with traditional politicians and the far right. Parallel to these efforts is a massive publicity campaign that includes releasing dubious wire-tapped conversations of political enemies and the staging of demonstrations-for-hire. The entry of publicists and acting coaches in Malacañang further elevates this Presidency to farcical heights.

But the public cannot be fooled. Despite her best attempts in misleading the people, the public has been able to discern the truth about the Arroyo presidency– that it is an administration propelled to power by election irregularities and political patronage. Numerous surveys and public pronouncements of various institutions in the past weeks indicate that in the bar of public opinion, Mrs. Arroyo has lost all her claims to legitimacy. Mammoth mass demonstrations have since filled the streets of the metropolis and the urgent call of this exasperated public has been for Gloria to resign.

Members of our very own UP community have participated in these efforts to rid ourselves of an unworthy leader. At the forefront of these struggles are the militant students who bring to life the spirit of being true scholars of the people by campaigning in the classroom and in the streets for genuine social change. Their ranks has since swelled as members of faculty, employees and research staff of the University join them in calling for Arroyo’s removal.

Last July 13, the Faculty of the University of thePhilippines-Diliman has joined this chorus. In a statement by the University Council of Diliman, Arroyo, having violated the tenets of honesty, personal integrity, and responsibility so cherished byUP, is practically disowned as a daughter of the University. Furthermore, the UP faculty declares that Arroyo has almost single-handedly destroyed our political institutions and robbed our country of its self-esteem. Their call is for the president to “immediately resign.”

The University of the Philippines-Diliman has spoken. And it is time for Gloria and her administration to hear what we have to say. On July 25, this illegitimate president will stand before the nation and deliver her State of the Nation Address (SONA). However, we will not listen about the state of the nation from someone so indifferent to the public clamor for change. Instead, we will unite our voices with the multitude that suffer her warped economic and political policies and deliver the true state of the nation. It is a nation that is tired of her presidency and everything that she represents – patronage, corruption, and the politics of concession at the expense of the interests of the public.

This Monday, the University of the Philippines and thousands of others will pour out into the streets. This time Gloria is going to get the point!

JOIN THE MOBILIZATION FOR THE SONA! GLORIA RESIGN NOW! UP-AWARE (Alliance Working for Arroyo’s Removal)

UP AWARE is a broad alliance of faculty, students, research and extension personnel, and administrative staff calling for the removal of GMA

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Any Delay in the Resignation of Mrs. Arroyo Further Pushes the Country in a Quagmire: AUPWU Manila

Press Release
July 21, 2005

Reference: Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, R.N.
President
Contact Numbers: 0918-9276381/632-4043721

TODAY, Employees of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with some Faculty and students of the University of the Philippines Manila (The Philippines’ Health Sciences’ Center) staged a picket-rally and noise barrage in front of the Department of Out-patient Services (DOPS) of the PGH calling for the immediate resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The protesters numbering around 200 were led by the All-U.P. Workers Union, Manila Chapter.

“Any minute longer that the Mrs. Arroyo stays in office, the more that our country will be further pushed in a quagmire. She must resign now before things come to worst ” Said Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, a Nurse Supervisor in the PGH Nursing Service and President of the All UP Workers Union Manila. “Mrs. Arroyo has become a liability to the country not because of the brickbats thrown by the political opposition but, on her own admission, her “lapse in judgment” related to the 2004 Presidential Election and other scandals and graft cases involving her appointees and even the First Gentleman and the First Son.” added Mr. Ebesate.

Mr. Ebesate further added that: “If we demand honesty and integrity among ordinary government employees how much more from the highest official of the land? We therefore call on our fellow public health workers, and government employees to join us in this call for Mrs. Arroyo to resign immediately in order to avoid further damage to the image of public institutions especially the Presidency.”

The picket-rally was also supported by the All U.P. Academic Employees Union, Manila Chapter, the ASAP Katipunan Student Party, the PGH Physicians’ Association, UMAGAP-PGH and the Utility Workers Association of PGH.

OSMEÑA'S REVELATION ON POLL CHEATING EXPLAINS WHY GMA'S ALLIES DIDN'TWANT TO OPEN ELECTION RETURNS

Date: July 20, 2005
Ref: Omeng / (02) 5526731
http://www.nenepimentel.org

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) said today the well-documented revelation of former Senator JohnOsmeña about padding of votes for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in at least 10 regions, including his home-province, Cebu, explains why administration lawmakers dismissed with a plain "noted" all motions of the opposition to examine tampered certificates of canvass, election returns and other election documents during the congressional canvassing of the votes cast in the 2004 presidential election.

Pimentel said Osmeña's finding that Ms. Arroyo's vote count in Cebuwas fraudulently padded in Cebu alone was the most credible confirmation of the opposition's claim that the administration camp fabricated the certificates of canvass and election returns with the connivance of election local government officials to give her an incredible one million vote lead over Fernando Poe, Jr. in the Central Visayan province.

"John has uncovered Cebu's quicksand political pit where Gloria's false claims of victory are fast sinking and from which the more she struggles, the more she sinks," he said.

Pimentel debunked Malacañang's puerile criticism questioning why it is only now that Osmeña, who ran for senator under Arroyo's party in 2004, exposed this election bombshell.

He said that during the congressional canvassing of votes in May-June,2004, John Osmeña and his cousin, Sen. Serge Osmeña, articulated their view that the Cebu votes for Arroyo were "statistically improbable" considering that in 38 municipalities in the province, the President obtained 80 percent of the votes consistently and Mr. Poe got 10 percent of the votes consistently in the same localities.

Moreover, Pimentel said the opposition found out that in several towns, "more votes were recorded than the registered votes. He said had certain election returns in Cebu been opened, it would have been shown that many were prepared by only one hand.

The minority leader said the political turmoil in the country would have been avoided had President Arroyo's legislative allies agreed to make the canvass of votes for president and vice president transparent. "Instead, in their haste to proclaim Gloria and Noli as the winners, Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Iloilo Rep. Raul Gonzales merely 'noted' every objection raised by the opposition during the canvass," Pimentel said.

Pangilinan and Gonzales chaired the Senate and House panel respectively, in the joint congressional canvassing.

Pimentel said the administration legislators even accused him of being obstructionist and delaying the proclamation of Arroyo and De Castro.

"Now the shoe is on the other foot with Secretary Michael Defensor proposing to open the ballot boxes in a desperate attempt to prove the Gloria and Noli won the election. Unfortunately for them, it is too late in the day to do so. Nothing will erase the public perception that the administration cheated the people of their votes. Haste can truly make waste of a nation!" Pimentel said.

"Gloria and Noli should simply resign and save the nation from more discord," Pimentel said.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Gloria Arroyo Taksil Sa Mga Manggagawang Pangkalusugan At Sa Masa, Patalsikin Na

Pahayag ng All-UP Workers Union Manila Chapter
Ika-8 ng Hulyo 2005

(This Position of the union was adopted by an expanded Chapter Executive Board Meeting on July 5, 2005 and finalized only today, July 19.)

“Nababagabag ako….” Ito ang mga katagang namutawi mula sa bibig ni Gng Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa isang makasaysayang gabi ng Hunyo 27, 2005, kung saan inamin niya ang pakikipag-usap sa isang opisyal ng Comelec noong panahon ng 2004 Eleksyon. Ngunit ang pag-aming ito ay kalahati lamang ng katotohanan ng sistematikong pakikipagsabwatan upang impluwensyahan ang eleksyon.

“Hindi ako magre-resign….” Nagresulta ng pagdami ng mga kilos protesta upang malaman pa ang buong katotohanan sa likod nito at nanawagan ng kanyang pagbibitiw. . Ngunit patuloy siyang nagpanggap na kontrolado pa ang sitwasyon at hawak pa niya ang tiwala at kompiyansa ng mamamayan. At nito ngang nakalipas na linggo hinamon pa niya ang kanyang mga kabinete na magsipagbitiw na sa kanilang mga posisyon kung hindi na siya kinikilala ng mga ito.

Ang Pilipinas ay lugmok na sa kahirapan. Ito ay isang katotohanan na walang pasubali at walang kagatol-gatol na sasagutin ng bawat Pilipino ng “oo”. Bago pa man lumabas ang kontrobersyal na “Gloriagate tapes,” talamak na ang korapsyon at katiwalian sa pamahalaan at sumasadsad na ang ekonomiya. Ang mahirap ay patuloy na naghihirap at ang mga tiwaling nakaluklok sa kapangyarihan ay patuloy na nagkakamal ng salapi.

Si Gng. Arroyo ay kapit-tuko sa kanyang posisyon at ni katiting na balak mag-resign sa puwesto ay wala. Nagkasala si Gng Arroyo sa Sambayanan at dapat lang siyang managot. Kapag tayo ay magsawalang kibo sa mga nangyayari ay para na rin nating sinabi na magsawalang kibo na lang tayo sa mga katiwalian at sa lahat ng gumagawa ng kasalanan sa ating lipunan.

Bantad na ang mamamayan sa kahirapan at tayong mga manggagawang pangkalusugan ay hindi naiiba sa ganitong kalagayan. Ang mga benipisyong matagal nang dapat naibigay sa atin ay patuloy na ipinagkakait sa kabila ng legalidad sa likod nito, kagaya ng COLA, libreng pagpapa-ospital at iba pang mga benipisyo. Ang P3000 across-the-board monthly salary increase na matagal na rin nating ipinaglalaban ay nakabinbin pa rin sa Kongreso at ni isang sentimo na pagtaas ng sweldo nating mga kawani ay wala tayong natanggap sa kasalukuyang rehimen.

Ang anumang sandaling pananatili ni Gng Arroyo sa poder ay lalo lamang magsasadlak sa atin sa ibayong kahirapan at mga paglulubid ng kasinungalingan tungkol sa ating ekonomiya.

Hanggang kailan magtitiis at aasa ang mga Pilipino na isang araw ay magbabago ang takbo ng kanilang buhay? Sa kasaysayan ng mga dakilang bansa sa buong mundo, ang mga ordinaryong mamamayan ang siyang nag-uukit ng kanilang kasaysayan tungo sa kadakilaan at kaunlaran. Nasa ating mga kamay kung gayon ang ating kinabukasan. Kung hindi tayo kikilos at gagawa ng aksyon ngayon; sino ang kikilos para sa atin, at kailan pa?

Tayo ay nanawagang patalsikin na si Gng Arroyo sa Malacañang at bumuo ng isang Transition Government na magpapatakbo ng pamahalaan. Isang pamahalaan na mapagkalinga sa mamamayan, hindi ng interes ng dayuhan at iilan; at kumakatawan sa lahat na sektor ng
lipunang Pilipino.

Peke at taksil na Pangulo, bumaba ka na sa puwesto bago mo matikman ang paniningil ng Sambayanan!

Resignations to Mount as SONA of Excuses, Apologies and Empty Promises Near; Truth Commission, Impeachment To Strengthen Basis for GMA’s Removal

Mula sa Tanggapan ni Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
News Release July 19, 2005
House of Representatives, South Wing Rm 602
931-6615 Ina Alleco R. Silverio, Chief of Staff
Email:
paggawa@edsamail.com.ph, anakpawis2003@yahoo.com
Cellphone number 09213907362
Visit geocities.com/ap_news

Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran today said that the resignation of two more officials from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s cabinet was proof-positive that the presidency was crumbling. He said that for all the brave talk and strong front being put up by Pres. Arroyo and her various spokespersons such as presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio, the fact remains that the Pres. Arroyo’s credibility is severely damaged and is already beyond salvaging.

“Pres. Arroyo had no inkling that half her cabinet officials were going to abandon her, and now the remaining stragglers are also leaving,” he said, referring to the recent resignation of Vicky Garchitorena, Corazon Guidote and Silvestre Afable. “Before long, she will be left with a skeleton of a government, regardless of how swiftly she tries to replace the officials who resigned as a result of disgust and disillusionment. After all, who want to be associated with a corrupt presidency?”

He said that Arroyo administration hangers-on such as DOLE secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas and Justice secretary Raul Gonzales were already among the most notorious officials, and while their respective resignations were not expected, he said that that the two still have a chance to redeem themselves and can begin so by turning in their papers.

The veteran labor leader turned lawmaker said that Pres. Arroyo was hanging on to the presidency by the skin of her teeth. “The countdown to her State of the Nation Address (SONA) is nearing, and so is the showdown between political forces demanding her resignation, impeachment or ouster, and those who are blindly loyal to her corrupt presidency. Never again will Pres. Arroyo be able to say that she has the Filipino people’s trust and confidence, and all her succeeding speeches and declarations will always be treated with distrust and disdain. She has no moral or legal right to continue as president.”

Beltran said that GMA’s SONA will most likely be yet another series of excuses, apologies, and empty promises. “This will be her last SONA. No one is expecting her to last until the end of the year, especially when the impeachment process begins and more of her crimes and lies against the Filipino people are exposed. The true SONA will be delivered in the streets where hundreds of thousands of Filipinos will be demanding her removal from office.”

Truth Commission, Impeachment process

Beltran said that he was not wholly against the recommendation of some quarters for the establishment of a truth commission as a parallel move to the massive street protests and the impeachment process now being begun in Congress. He said that so long as the truth commission was handled by impartial individuals and groups whose main objectives are to ferret out the truth as to the deeds of the Arroyo presidency and the genuine political and economic situation faced by majority of Filipinos, the truth commission should prove to be valuable venue for the further exposure of the corruption of the administration.

“All these steps being taken – the impeachment process, the truth commission, and most importantly the rallies and mobilizations all over the country – they serve to be important venues for debate and awakening of public awareness, involvement and concern. No matter how hard the Arroyo administration and the executive tries to explain away the accusations and charges of corruption and failure of governance, the truth will still come out. More and more Filipinos are getting involved in the process of exposing the ugliness of Philippine politics and the corruption of the economic and political system in place. Inevitably, there will be major political upheaval and Pres. Arroyo will be forced out of office,” he said.#

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Prolongation of Arroyo Regime Aggravates Crisis of the Ruling System

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
NDFP Chief Political Consultant
July 17, 2005

As in counting votes, Gloria M. Arroyo and her subalterns engage in dagdag bawas (add-subtract) in counting rallyists. They claim that the anti-Arroyorally of 30,000 people on July 8 was only 3,000 to10,000 and that of 70,000 to 80,000 on July 13 was only 9,000 to 15,000 although some pro-Arroyo journalists concede that it was 40,000 or even 50,000. The July 13 rally in Makati was even more impressive if we consider that the police and military of the regime blocked many of the rallyists coming from Central and Southern Luzon.

The officials, police and press operatives of the Arroyo regime go to extremes in belittling the anti-Arroyo mass actions as well as in exaggerating the number of rallyists on July 16 at Rizal Park. The pro-Arroyo organizers of the rally press ganged local government employees, teachers and students and deceived them that they were attending a prayer rally.

The police gave absurdly high estimates of the crowd, ranging from 125,000 to 250,000. Two major pro-Arroyo newspapers also estimated the crowd at 120,000 and125,000. The seemingly more modest but arithmetically confused propagandists of Arroyo claim less than100,000 but boast that the pro-Arroyo rallyists were"twice" the peak of 80,000 rallyists on July 13. The same press drumbeaters of Arroyo during the 2004 electional campaign and vote count are still serving her faithfully.

The mass movement for the ouster or resignation ofArroyo has grown in size, scope and intensity in the national capital region and in the provinces since June. Every new peak in the mass actions are preceded by localized build up mass actions by various mass organizations of the national democratic movement. But her subalterns in the media keep on harping that the people suffer from protest fatigue and that mass actions are failing to attract enough people to topple the regime.

Subsequently, they spread the brazen lie that the broad united front and the broad masses of the people are giving up on mass actions and are submitting themselves exclusively to proceedings in Congress or a "truth commission". Arroyo and her sycophants daydream and boast in pro-Arroyo print and electronic media that they could bring the people's outrage to a venue in order to squelch it.

The regime is terrified that the broad united front would soon be able to muster at least 500,000 at some focal point in the national capital region, expose the inability of Arroyo to govern and encourage the military and police forces to withdraw their support from her. At the same time, the regime is jittery about the fact that the oppositionists in the House of Representatives are now close to gathering 79 signatures for the Senate to try her for high crimes and for Noli de Castro to start opposing her.

The Arroyo regime has a definite objective inconsistently belittling and mocking at the mass actions of the people outraged by electoral fraud, corruption, puppetry and human rights violations and in trying to frighten the people with the malicious claim that communists and Muslims are out to disrupt the mass actions. The rabid loyalists of the regime in the military and police forces are in fact preparing for the violent suppression of the mass actions.

They anticipate that the anti-Arroyo marches and rallies on July 25 on the occasion of the state of the nation address (SONA) will be larger than previous ones. Thus, they are now planning to block and assault the prospective rallyists. But the various forces inthe broad united front are now alerted and are adopting the measures to frustrate the regime. Patriotic military and police officers have assured them that they will openly make a stand and act against the regime if its loyalists unleash violence against the rallying people.

The Arroyo regime would throw itself post haste into the abyss if it used violence against the people. It does not have the resources that were still available to Marcos when he imposed a fascist dictatorship on the country. The suppression of legal and peaceful but militant mass actions would give justification to a wide range of militant actions for proving the inability of the regime to govern in the urban areas. Such actions would encourage the rapid spread of tactical offensives against the local police forces in the rural areas, as in Nepal from 1996 onwards.

The prolongation of the Arroyo regime by any means is nothing but an aggravation of the socio-economic and political crisis of the ruling system of big compradors and landlords. However, even if impeachment proceedings would induce Arroyo to resign and enable De Castro to replace Arroyo, he would not be able to last long in power. He would dig his own political grave by following the same Arroyo policies dictated by the US and the IMF, World Bank and WTO. The people would reject him as one complicit in electoral fraud, corruption and other high crimes of the Arroyo regime.

The broad masses of the people would not be satisfied with the replacement of one reactionary president by another through whatever method. They want ultimately to overthrow the rotten ruling system of big compradors and landlords and to establish a truly new democratic system of the working people and the middle social strata. They wish to bring about a newPhilippines that is independent, democratic, just, progressive, prosperous and peace-loving. They want to liberate themselves from the clutches of imperialism and reaction.###