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Sunday, June 26, 2005
Opposition leader says Arroyo's days are numbered
MANILA -- An opposition leader said Saturday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's days in power are numbered and demanded that she resign over accusations of poll cheating and illegal gambling payoffs.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel, a former ally of Arroyo, said the president has lost credibility and can no longer lead the nation.
However, allies of Arroyo were quick to react and shrugged off efforts to oust the President through the formation of a new alliance of different opposition groups.
Accusations that Arroyo's family received payoffs from operators of the popular illegal numbers game called jueteng and that she rigged last year's election have plunged her administration into its most serious political crisis.
Arroyo has denied receiving election campaign support from jueteng operators but has refused to comment on purported wiretapped conversations she allegedly had with an election official about rigging last year's election to get a one million-vote margin over her main rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.
Pimentel supported Poe and has claimed the election was one of the most fraudulent in the country's history.
"We have a president who is sleepwalking ... does not know where she is going and who has lost total credibility and is therefore incapable of governing," Pimentel said.
"This to my mind is an indication that the days of Gloria really are numbered. It's only a matter of time where she will have to say for the good of the nation she has to resign."
In an ongoing Senate investigation of illegal gambling, witnesses claimed Arroyo's son and a brother-in-law, both members of the House of Representatives, received payoffs. Arroyo has ordered an investigation. The two men have denied any links to jueteng and filed separate libel suits against a woman who said she personally handed the payoffs to them.
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former president of the Philippines' bishops' assembly, quoted an unidentified witness as saying Arroyo received campaign contributions mostly "in kind" from illegal gambling operators.
Pimentel said the illegal gambling scandal "has reached the doorstep" of the presidential palace.
"And if the jueteng racket has reached that proportion, you cannot say that the president is not involved," he said.
The government has dismissed the accusations of payoffs and election fraud as a destabilization plot aimed at unseating Arroyo.
Pimentel was once an ally of Arroyo, presiding over the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada over corruption that eventually led to massive protests that forced Estrada to step down in 2001. Arroyo, then vice president, succeeded Estrada.
In one of the most enduring images of the event, Pimentel held the microphone for Arroyo when she took her oath in front of thousands of cheering supporters.
In addition to the allegations of payoffs and election fraud, Pimentel said Arroyo has failed to stop corruption and crime and halt the rising prices of basic goods, fuel, electricity and water.
However, Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Miriam Defensor-Santiago urged the opposition to respect the Constitution and not encourage the people to revolt against the government.
Biazon said the alliance of different opposition groups under the "Be-Not-Afraid" movement is only temporary and would not last especially since they do not have a leader.
"I think that there is no commonality of the selection of the alternative leader. Those organizations are fragmented and the move will not prosper," Biazon said.
Although the opposition has agreed to stand up against President Arroyo due to alleged involvement in jueteng operations and in electoral fraud, once the issue of leadership crops up, they do not have a common stand.
Senator Panfilo Lacson and supporters of the late movie icon and former presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. recently launched the Be-Not-Afraid" movement in order to inform the public about election fraud allegedly perpetrated by President Arroyo in last year's elections as contained in a purported telephone conversation she had with former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano which was captured in an audiotape.
Santiago said the opposition should abide by rule of law.
"Gusto nilang maging presidente, dapat magkampanya sila. Gusto nila parusahan, impeach nila (They want to be president, why don't they campaign for it? They want to punish the President and other government officials they why not impeach them?). All of these methodologies are found in the Constitution. Why do we have to take methods outside the Philippine Constitution?" said Santiago.
Santiago questioned the timing of Lacson's presentation of evidence showing that the President cheated in the elections.
Lacson earlier claimed to have four boxes of "prefabricated" election returns (ERs) containing votes for Arroyo that were used in the elections last year.
Santiago said Lacson should have given the documents to Poe before he died so that they could have been used to bolster his election protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.
On Garcillano, Santiago said he should come out and air his side on the controversial tape to clear the issue once and for all. The male voice in the tape reportedly belongs to Garcillano.
"Dapat maging matapang si Mr. Garcillano. Lumabas siya at magpaliwanag (Mr. Garcillano should be brave. He should come out and explain). Let's appeal to him," Santiago said.
Santiago said Garcillano could either deny or confirm that it is his voice I the tape and say who is the lady he was talking to, adding that the tape controversy has already caused so much political instability.
Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Garcillano is in Metro Manila contrary to reports that he fled the country.
Lacson said that Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane is keeping Garcillano somewhere in Metro Manila.
"Nasa Metro Manila lang siya at binabantayan ng mga tauhan ni (He is just in Metro Manila, being guarded by the men of) General Ebdane. His life is in danger. And best security niya (His best security) is to stay alive is to come out and speak out. Habang nagtatago siya, continuous ang threat sa buhay niya (While he is hiding, the threats to his life will continue)," he added. (AP/Sunnex)
(June 26, 2005 issue)
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