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Saturday, June 25, 2005
Speak, CH ally urges Gloria
President Arroyo still has his “unwavering support,” but Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella yesterday joined calls for her to break her silence and help save the economy.
While Arroyo’s privacy should be respected, her continued silence has led to a “brewing political uncertainty” that has adverse effects on our economic climate, he said.
Political uncertainty and economic instability will have a telling and sweeping effect that will paralyze, if not destroy the country, he added.
Labella, chairman of the council committee on laws, ordinances, public accountability and good government, said “the privacy expectation of a person diminishes once she becomes a public official.”
His call came a month after he and his fellow city councilors unanimously reaffirmed their support for the President and her administration, following allegations of her brother-in-law and son’s involvement in jueteng.
Breaking her silence, Labella said, would diffuse the “groundswell of public indignation.”
Former president Fidel Ramos and one-time presidential contender Jovito Salonga have made similar pleas, saying Arroyo owed the nation transparency.
First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and son Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo have denied they received payoffs from jueteng operations, and Arroyo promised not to intercede for them in a congressional investigation.
The council has asked all Cebuanos and the rest of the country to heed the call for sobriety and to support the Arroyo administration.
The jueteng issue was followed by another controversy, this time involving Arroyo and a wiretapped conversation, allegedly between her and former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
The opposition alleged that the taped conversation contained evidence of massive cheating in the 2004 national elections, which the camp of the late Fernando Poe Jr. insists the movie actor won.
Labella said Arroyo’s leadership has his “unwavering allegiance and support,” but the President should address the situation.
The call for a definitive presidential statement regarding the controversial tapes is a valid plea that Arroyo should consider, he said.
It appeared to him that protest actions from different groups were, to a large extent, triggered by her refusal to issue a categorical statement, which “will show with finality” whether the woman’s voice on the tape was hers or not. (RHM)
(June 25, 2005 issue)
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