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.###

"Malacanang Turns to Desperate Measures with the Staging of Mock-up Pro-Administration Rallies Today; Rice, Money Awaits GMA's Hakot Crowd" - KMU"

KILUSANG MAYO UNO(May First Labor Center)
TAGAPAMANDILA NG TUNAY NA UNYONISMO
No. 63 Narra St. Bgy. Claro, Proj. 3 Quezon City
Telefax 421-0768, 421-0986
kilusangmayouno@gmail.com

NEWS RELEASE
July 16, 2005

Everything about Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is fake and fabricated, including the pro-administration peace and unity rallies today at the Quirino Grandstand. It does not reflect the genuine sentiments and demands of the majority of Filipinos calling for Arroyo's resignation.

However Mrs. Arroyo tries to feign public support by mobilizing local government units (LGUs), students of AMA Computer Schools and Bro. Mike Velarde's El Shaddai members, the hard truth remains – Filipinos want Arroyo out of Malacanang ASAP," said KMU Chairperson Elmer Labog.

Labog lambasted Malacanang for its biased position towards the holding of rallies and demonstrations.

"After the successful people's rally at Ayala last July 13, Mrs. Arroyo said she will enforce the rule of law against those who want unrest in the streets. Obviously, she's referring to anti-Arroyo political forces and the mounting rallies nationwide demanding for her immediate resignation. She has no right to dismiss and belittle the people's growing clamor against her leadership. She is widely despised and unwanted because of her dishonesty, greed for power, involvement in corruption and many other brutal ways towards the people."

"While anti-riot police and other authorities are quick to block and disperse anti-Arroyo protests, the government is fully supporting pro-administration activities like the Rally for Peace and Unity today at Luneta. For the past weeks, the government disseminated taurpauline streamers with slogans like "Trabaho hindi gulo, Itigil ang destabilisasyon, sibilyang pagod, militar susugod among other slogans that aim to discredit the legitimate mounting protests against Arroyo," the labor leader said."

NCRPO Chief Vidal Querol went as far as saying that not too many people are attending anti-Arroyo rallies with his incredible and dumb crowd estimates. Some quarters from Malacanang brand 'Resign GMA' rallies as hakot or bayad (paid) rallies, but in fact, reliable information from pro-GMA ranks revealed that Malacanang, through local government officials loyal to Arroyo, shelled out millions of pesos only to convince many people to join the rallies at Luneta today.

In communities in Sampaloc, Manila, barangay captains are paid P2,000 and a sack of rice, barangay kagawads are given payment for jeepney rentals and a sack of rice while every person who will join the rally will receive P100, free lunch and snacks and free transportation."

"After putting the entire nation into deeper poverty with the weekly oil price hikes, low wages, unjust taxes and other anti-poor economic policies, Gloria is now using the poor people for her own advantage. We cannot blame those who are still blinded by her deceitful ways. Despite this, we are assured that protests aimed at unseating Arroyo will continue and intensify in the coming days. We are directing our sights to a bigger people's mobilization on July 25 as Gloria delivers her last State of the Nation Address," Labog concluded. ###

Iisang Paninidigan, Sama-samang Paglaban

Hindi malulunasan ang kasalukuyang krisis pampulitika at pang-ekonomya ng bansa habang nananatili sa puwesto si Gloria Arroyo. Higit na nararapat na pagkaisahin ang buong sambayanan at patuloy na palakasin at palawakin panawagang kagyat na pagbaba sa pwesto ni Gloria Arroyo.

Sa pagdausdos na approval rating ni GMA at umiigting na pagkadiskontento ng mamamayan sa pamamalakad ng pamahalaan, sunod-sunod na nanawagan sa pagbibitiw ni Arroyo ang iba't ibang grupo. Tampok dito ang panawagan ng mga nagbitiw na miyembro ng gabinete at ng dating Pangulong Corazon Aquino. Patuloy na lumalaki ang bilang ng mga dumadalo sa mga kilos-protesta na nananawagan ng pagbaba ni GMA. Gayong matagal nang naninindigan at kumikilos ang mga Iskolar ng Bayan, marapat lamang na ang UP bilang pamantasan ng mamamayan ay tumindig at kumilos.

Kahapon ng umaga, pagkatapos ng matinding talakayan at diskusyon ay nakapagdesisyon na ang kaguruan na manawagan ng kagyat na pagbibitiw ni GMA. Nagkakaisa na ang tinig ng lahat ng sektor ng UP sa panawagang dapat umalis na si Arroyo sa Malacañang. Ayon sa University Council Statement: "We cannot afford to be led any further by a dishonest president who has shown no qualms about using the awesome powers of her office for purely personal interests."

Malinaw sa kanilang pahayag na kinikilala nilang hindi lehitimo ang pagiging pangulo ni GMA at tahasang paglabag sa kapasyahan ng mamamayan ang pag-upo nito sa puwesto. Kinilala din sa pahayag ang paggamit ni GMA sa puwesto nito para sa pagsusulong ng sariling interes. Hinding-hindi mapamumunuan ni GMA sa ganitong kalagayan ang bansa sa pag-ahon nito mula sa krisis pang-ekonomiya na kinakaharap nito ngayon.

Ngayong mayroon nang isang matibay na paninindigan at pingkakaisahan ang buong Unibersidad, nararapat lamang na buong lakas itong kumilos upang maalis si Arroyo sa Malacañang. Ito ang pananagutan ng bawat isang kabahagi ng unibersidad, ang paglingkuran ang sambayanan. Mahalaga ang pagkakaisa ng buong komunidad ng UP upang maabot ang higit na tagumpay. Muli tayong tinatawagan ng mamamayan na makiisa sa kanilang hangaring pagbabago.

Sa kabila ng sunod-sunod na mga pahayag at papatinding pagkilos ng mamamayan laban kay GMA, patuloy pa ring nagmamatigas si Gloria na manatili sa puwesto. Nakakabahala ang pahayag ni Arroyo na "I will defend democracy at all cost" na maaring mauwi sa pandarahas o maging sa pagdedeklara ng Martil Law upang supilin ang mga lehitimong panawagan ng mamamayan.

Pinatunayan ng kasaysayan na tanging sa sama-samang pagkilos lamang natin makakamit ang pagbaba ng isang pangulo, at pagsulong ng makabuluhang pagbabago. Sa mga panahon tulad ngayon, ang mga Iskolar at Guro ng Bayan ay nararapat na maging aktibong bahagi ng pagpapalakas ng kilusang-protesta upang pababain si Gloria.

Mula sa mayaman nating karanasan, natutunan natin na ang ating mga panawagan ay hindi mapagtatagumpayan sa simpleng pagpapalit na lamang ng mukha o pangalan ng may kapangyarihan. Kinakailangan na magkaroon ng mga batayang reporma patungo sa makabuluhang pagbabago na matagal ng hinihingi ng sambayanang Pilipino.

Kinakailangang magsagawa ng reporma sa pulitika at ekonomiya na magbibigay ng kaginhawaan sa mga mamamayan. Marapat na magkisa ang UP upang pangalagaan ang civilian supremacy at, higit sa lahat, ang interes ng sambayanan, at hindi ang mga personal na hangarin o ang interes ng dayuhan. Ito lamang ang nararapat at hinihinging pagbabago ng ating panahon.

Gloria alis d'yan, galit na ang mamamayan!

Dumalo sa University Convocation sa July 22.

Sumama sa SONA sa July 25.

Univerity Student Council (Diliman)

FOREIGN CREDITORS OR THE PEOPLE? ARROYO’S DILEMMA GROWS BY THE DAY

MEDIA RELEASE
IBON Foundation, Inc.,
3/F SCC Bldg 4427 Interior Old Sta Mesa, Manila, Philippines
Tel. (632) 713-2729, 713-2737 E-mail: media@ibon.orgJuly 14, 2005

The Finance Department’s knee-jerk reaction to the recent outlook downgrade imposed on the country by Fitch and Standard and Poor’s exposed the serious dilemma that President Arroyo and her economic managers face, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

To assure foreign creditors that the government is determined to pursue fiscal reforms, assistant Finance Secretary Gil Beltran said that they may revive the proposal to impose a tax on text messaging. But the political situation does not allow for such ‘bitter pills’ as the demand for Arroyo’s resignation intensifies by the day.

Economic mismanagement plus the political crisis have brought Arroyo to a tight spot. With an economic program that heavily relies on foreign debt and capital, Arroyo pursued fiscal reforms designed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ignored calls for a substantial wage hike, allowed oil pump prices to soar, etc.

Arroyo now wants to slow down with these policies, and may even entertain to reverse them, amid mass protests for her ouster, but this would displease foreign creditors and investors.

This dilemma shows that the Arroyo administration is no longer viable. She has long lost public support due to her anti-people policies and mismanagement of the economic and fiscal crises. Now indicators show that she is also losing the trust of foreign creditors and investors due to her handling of the political crisis.

The President may weather the present storm but it will never last as long the contradictions between her economic policies and the Filipino people’s interest remain. (end)

Political Gambit

First posted 02:20am (Mla time)
July 13, 2005
By Michael L. Tan
Inquirer News Service

THE NAMES of the pieces in chess, that fine game of strategy, tell us it took off from medieval European politics with its pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queens and kings. Victory or defeat will often depend on the gambits, the first moves made during the game, which could include sacrificing first pawns, then rooks, knights, bishops.

Think now of the parallels between chess and Philippine politics, with all the maneuvering and surprise moves of politicians, Cabinet members, the military, the bishops. The power of each of the different pieces will vary. Bishops, for example, can only move diagonally, although this early I'd warn people against underestimating their power. In Indian chess, the equivalent of the bishop is the elephant, slow-moving but formidable.

Although the objective of chess is to reach checkmate by trapping the king so he can't escape, the queens are the most powerful pieces in chess, with their ability to move across the board vertically, horizontally or diagonally. In Philippine politics, we have our share of powerful queens, notably Imelda, Cory, Gloria and Susan.

Gloria's gambits

In the rough and tumble real world of Philippine politics, most of the chess pieces come alive, able to move on their own. I said "most" because, sadly, pawns are pawns, on the chess board or in the real world, there to be manipulated and sacrificed.

As I said earlier, the queens are powerful. Cory Aquino and SusanRoces so far have the disadvantage. It is Gloria Arroyo who has the benefit of being the incumbent president. She has successfully bought time, using her loyalists in Congress to stall the investigations, and preempting a checkmate around the jueteng scandal by "exiling" the king to America.

Let's face the harsh reality: this is a President who will never resign. As the daughter of a president, she is determined to prove herself as great or greater than her father. In other societies, resignation would have been deemed honorable when tendered at the slightest hint of scandal. In our society-and we need to change this-even in the face of overwhelming evidence of wrong-doing, a politician will insist on innocence because this is the "honorable" thing to do.

The President's gambits have been drastic, with many pawns sacrificed. As pressure grows, she will continue to go through motions of token penitence. So expect more billboards with her cold wan smile, reminding Filipinos of her "servant" role (read Corinthians). She could even back track on the highly unpopular E-VAT and sacrifice a few more pawns, maybe even rooks and knights.

Even subjecting herself to the impeachment processes is a gambit; the President knows at this point that an attempt to impeach will not go very far because she still has the numbers in Congress. But what is so scary here is that we could go indefinitely in an end game, forcing us to live with a hobbled presidency for months, even years. We are a nation being held hostage by one woman's pride and messianic delusions.

Bishops' gambit

I look at the recent statement from the Catholic Bishops' Conferenceof the Philippines (CBCP) as a gambit, too. But let me leave, for now, the metaphors of chess, acknowledging that the stakes are much higher. So much of the focus has been on Ms Arroyo's survival when in fact it is the nation's future that is at stake.

It is this understanding of the nation's future, rather than the President's political survival, that should give us the context for looking at the CBCP statement. The bishops' statement declares their pastoral role: "to shepherd people in the light of faith." I can appreciate the bishops' dilemma as they attempt to assume this role, to so many people. In previous political crises, we had either one person (Jaime Cardinal Sin in 1986) or a group of Manila's bishops (as in the crisis around Estrada in 2001) calling on Catholics to act. This time around, theCBCP faced the challenge of having a national statement. They succeeded, and isn't quite as ambiguous and non-committal as some people would take it to be.

Moral gambit

The CBCP statement leaves options open, which is absolutely essential at this stage of the crisis where, using existing legal frameworks, we would have a long way to go before the President can ever be convictedof any crime.

The bishops' statement is a crucial moral gambit, calling on Filipinos "to discern their decisions not in terms of political loyalties but in the light of the Gospel values of truth, justice and the common good. "The bishops help with this discernment, warning us against "those groups who seek to exploit our vulnerable national situation in orderto create confusion and social chaos" either through "juntas or revolutionary councils.

"Conversely, they identify options that could be adopted: "For we recognize that non-violent appeals for her resignation, the demand for a Truth Commission and the filing of an impeachment case are not against the Gospel." These options suggest how we might go beyond narrow legalistic frameworks toward a "moral inquiry" that should guide us to action.

That moral inquiry must, in the long term, look toward "ambivalent cultural values such as palakasan, pakikisama, utang na loob, and family-centeredness." I am very much encouraged by the bishops'recognition of how so many of our problems are based on these traditional values.

But there are short-term concerns as well. I am not surprised that so many of the calls for resignation come from people who take their roles seriously as educators and parents. I was listening to former Peace Adviser Teresita Deles on television, linking her resignation from the Cabinet to her role as a parent. How indeed do we explain to our children, and to our students, that cheating, lying and stealing are wrong, punishable by expulsion from school, and yet allowing a President to get away with an apology for a "lapse in judgement, "translated now into Tagalog as a retrospective "Ay, mali pala," oops, I erred.

Responding to the CBCP challenge will take many forms. Many of us in educational institutions and the mass media will continue with our calls to resign, not because they will make her resign but because our voices, while few right now and in the wilderness, are needed if we are to remain credible with our young.

Our voices, too, might help to embolden those who are waiting, hesitant about coming out with more expos's. And to Vice President Noli de Castro and others waiting in the wings, the louder the voices, the sterner the warning to them: if and when they do assume power, it will no longer be as easy for them to get away with corruption.

In Western chess, as end game approaches, the remaining pieces on the board all become indispensable. What we make of ourselves-dispensable pawns or rooks or knights or bishops, maybe even queens-depends on how we take up the challenge posed by the moral gambits.

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

AFP WARNED AGAINST ABETTING EROTICISM OF VIOLENCE

AFP & PNP should put policy in practice by not disrupting and breaking up peaceful assemblies.

Date: July 12, 2005
Ref: Omeng / (02) 5526731
http://www.nenepimentel.org

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today challenged the Armed Forces and the National Police to resist the temptation of succumbing to the "eroticism of violence" and to allow the people to freely exercise their freedom of assembly and speech.

Pimentel said the holding of a major protest rally by the mainstream opposition and multisectoral groups in Makati City on Wednesday will serve as a litmus test to the policy laid down by Gen. Efren Abu, Chief-of-Staff, that the military will not intervene in the crisis but will keep its sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and protect the people and leave the current political exercise to politicians.

During an AFP command conference at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City last week, Gen. Abu declared: "The soldier has the duty to protect this political exercise. He is not expected to intervene in it. To do so would betray the trust given to him by the State.

"Pimentel urged the AFP to put this policy in practice by not disrupting and breaking up peaceful marches and rallies which are among the means by which the people can openly express their views and grievances.

"As guardians of the rights of the people, the AFP should allow thepeople to speak and demonstrate freely," he said. I am afraid that it is easier to engage in the forcible use of state power to suppress rather than uphold unorthodox views of the people.

The minority leader said government troops should be deployed in the vicinity of the mass actions only to maintain law and order and to prevent any outbreak of violence.

Pimentel bewailed the fact that the Armed Forces and the National Police, acting upon orders of Malacañang, had employed scary tactics by dispersing protest rallies even in freedom parks in blatant disregard for the people's constitutional right to assembly and speech and to redress of legitimate grievances.

As Jacobo Timerman, the eminent political dissident warned of the escalating violence that engulfed his native Argentina in the '70s, "no one is immune to episodes of violence and terrorism, yet, it should be possible at least to avoid a situation in which terrorism and violence are the sole creative potential, the sole imaginative emotional, erotic expression of the nation."

He said even local chief executives have allowed themselves to be unwittingly used by Malacañang to suppress these sacrosanct rights by denying applications for rally permits based on whimsical and illogical reasons.

Pimentel also reiterated his appeal to the army and the police to take steps to neutralize any attempt by extremist groups to prevent a peaceful transition to a new government.

"We call on the military and police to guard against saboteurs from their own ranks or elsewhere who might do a Marcos pre-martial law scenario," he said.

Pimentel said potential troubles could emanate from elements within the military and police who may be in league with certain groups in pursuing their own political agenda. They should avoid doing a fake ambush like that of the car of the then Minister of Defense (nowSenator) Juan Ponce Enrile that triggered the imposition of martial law on Sept. 21, 1972.

He said the threat of a military coup, revolution and other extra-constitutional methods of seizing power could be averted if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice President de Castro will voluntarily resign and pave the way for a bloodless change in nation's leadership.

The People Are Ready for Bold Reforms

Macapagal-Arroyo’s own political allies who have asked her to resign the presidency now pit themselves against the clamor for a people’s transitional governing council. Not that their call for resignation is a retrogressive move; it’s simply that they loathe the day the aroused masses may suddenly take the reins of government.

By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat

At this early, the growing clamor to install a people’s transitional governing council upon the resignation or ouster of embattled President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo faces an orchestrated resistance from factions of the country’s ruling elite. These factions, led by former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, Senate President Franklin Drilon, other political parties, and the business elite – all traditional allies of Macapagal-Arroyo broke their silence last week and asked the incumbent president to step down.

Another former president and armed forces chief, Fidel V. Ramos, took a wavering position by asking Macapagal-Arroyo to stay on as “caretaker president” for one year. Within the year, a constituent assembly would be convened that would amend the constitution and adopt a parliamentary form of government. Elections will be held in May 2006.

Ramos’ proposal differs from that of Cojuangco-Aquino, Drilon and company who want a “constitutional succession” that would name Vice President Noli de Castro as the new president.
All agree, however, that these measures would ensure a smooth transition in the presidency and avoid the acrimonious impeachment or people power that have unseated two presidents – Joseph E. Estrada in 2001 and before him, Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986.

Before they made the decision, these national figures and groups had supported Macapagal-Arroyo who is accused of stealing the presidency in the May 2004 polls and of connections to jueteng (illegal numbers game) lords before she became president.

Their plea for the president’s resignation coincided with the resignation of at least 10 members of the cabinet who also called for the turnover of power to De Castro. A day earlier, they were stunned by Macapagal-Arroyo who, instead of herself resigning, used them as sacrificial lambs by asking them to quit their cabinet posts so that, she claimed, she could start a much-needed reform program. In a news conference, the cabinet secretaries chorused that the chief executive is already unable to govern and that she should go in order to avert a political crisis.

Explanations

Coming from elements who apparently benefited from the illegitimate presidency of Macapagal-Arroyo - with Cojuangco-Aquino’s 6,000-ha hacienda itself protected by the president’s labor, police and military forces in the ongoing workers’ strike that saw the massacre of seven strikers and the extra-judicial execution of several others - one is tempted to search for explanations.

Leaders of mass organizations identified with the oust-Gloria movement have a common reaction to this sudden move by the former allies of Macapagal-Arroyo: To pre-empt another people power revolt and the formation of a proposed people’s governing transition council.

Indeed, if the incumbent president finally takes the “supreme sacrifice” of stepping down, then she would be succeeded by De Castro, a protégé of the Lopez oligarchs, with either Drilon, House Speaker Jose de Venecia or Sen. Manny Villar appointed as vice president. Everybody will be happy, the new administration will govern, Congress will continue with its legislative job, so too would be the judiciary. Close associates of Macapagal-Arroyo will be happy too – she would have been saved from a possible impeachment or from suffering the disgrace of being booted out of power by a people’s uprising and joining Estrada in his detention in Tanay, Rizal.

People wonder why they, including the incumbent president, invoke the constitution when it suits them but thrash it like garbage when it does not. Cojuangco-Aquino became president through extra-constitutional means in 1986. Impeachment – a constitutional proceeding – collapsed in the plunder case against Estrada and this sparked the extra-constitutional uprising that transferred power to Macapagal-Arroyo. Among many flawed policies, Cojuangco-Aquino saw the emasculation of land reform whereas the constitution pledged justice for the poor; Ramos violated the constitution by signing the onerous Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States allowing the return of U.S. forces and military facilities. And now Macapagal-Arroyo stands accused of heinous crimes under the constitution and at least four other legal codes.

As of press time, however, Macapagal-Arroyo is holding her fort and is about to name a new cabinet. She has dared her critics to go ahead and impeach her, assuming that she still enjoys a clear majority in both the House – where the impeachment will be initiated – and the Senate, where she will be tried. But as events are unfolding, she might not be able to muster enough support in Congress, either.

A misreading

But members of the ruling elite are again misreading the public pulse. Rather, they refuse to believe that many Filipinos have had enough of being ruled by corrupt presidents and of the entire apparatuses that also reek of corruption and other malfeasance. Credible public opinion surveys suggest that not only do most Filipinos see a bleak future under the present political and economic dispensation, an increasing number of them (at least 12 percent last year) are also open to changing the whole system of governance. These figures would be higher today.

Apparently, the traditional figures’ push for a “constitutional succession” is motivated now by their own proprietary considerations to preserve the institutions of governance – the presidency, Congress and judiciary. Their own economic and political interests prospered under these institutions at the expense, however, of the people’s welfare. They are no different from Ramos and other charter change advocates who believe that the solution to the country’s ills lies in shifting to a parliamentary system even if this modality only seeks to preserve or rehabilitate the rule by the elite. Or even its other intention is to resurrect an authoritarian state.

More than this, they simply loathe the day when the masses begin to exercise their sovereign and collective will to not only topple a president but to overhaul the rotten political system. They aim to preempt the formation of a people’s transition governing council for unity and reform – an idea that is fast catching fire among many Filipinos representing the basic masses as well as significant segments of the middle class and other sectors.

Now being articulated by mass leaders, the progressive party-list bloc in Congress and progressive elements among the academe, church, lawyers, students and even the military institution, the people’s council will be comprised of patriotic and pro-people figures known for their integrity and competence in political leadership. They will also be comprised of democratic forces and progressive elements in the opposition parties who are in the forefront of the oust-Arroyo struggle.

In effect, the council as envisioned will arise from the multitudes of people especially organizations with broad mass constituencies of workers, farmers and urban poor who are instrumental in the ouster of the incumbent discredited president.

Urgent tasks

The council will be tasked with drafting a new patriotic and progressive constitution and call for genuine elections thereafter. Its short-term tasks are articulated by the party-list Bayan Muna (people first) which has been one of the leading lights in the ouster of Estrada and in the current campaign to force Macapagal-Arroyo out of power.

The council’s urgent tasks include: to investigate the involvement and culpability of Macapagal-Arroyo, elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, military officials and others involved in electoral fruit and deceit; prosecute cases of graft and corruption involving the Macapagal-Arroyos and other government officials; institute meaningful electoral and political reforms; render justice and indemnify victims of human rights violations and ensure the respect and protection of civil liberties; resume the peace process with the Moro and Communist revolutionary groups by fulfilling all existing requirements; solve the fiscal crisis by canceling or repudiating the country’s onerous debts; protect the country from the ravages of free market globalization and reversing the disastrous structural adjustment programs imposed by the country’s creditors. Bulatlat