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Monday, June 27, 2005
No paying of taxes will harm people: Arroyo aide
MANILA -- Malacañang warned Sunday that the non-payment of taxes proposed by human rights lawyer and former senator Rene Saguisag to compel President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to speak up on the audiotape controversy is illegal and would only end up hurting the public.
"We know he (Saguisag) hates the President, but his action will only hurt the people more," Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.
Saguisag over the weekend said if Arroyo, who is a public servant, wishes to answer the allegations at the right time, "we the sovereign people should also be allowed to pay taxes when we deem it proper."
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teddy Casiño said his group and other militant organizations are planning to do a similar action to provoke Arroyo into reacting to the issue. He said civil disobedience like tax boycott and mass protest are among the actions they are considering.
But presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio said refusal to pay taxes is "simply against the law."
"Politics is one thing, economic sabotage and blackmail is another," he said in a text message.
Claudio said there is nothing wrong in Arroyo's decision to keep silent on the issue, which some see as "upholding the rule of law."
"I don't see how you can draw a comparison between not paying taxes and the President holding her silence, at least for the time being. It's unreasonable and dangerous to make one a quid pro quo to the other," he said.
He said there is nothing unlawful against a president not responding to taunts and challenges to comment on the tapes, especially if they are dubious and probably illegal and sinister in both their origin and purpose.
Arroyo claimed that she would answer the allegations in due time. Among the issues raised since the audiotapes was made public was whether it was really the voice of the President on the tapes and if cheating did occur in the 2004 presidential elections where Arroyo was declared the winner.
The President insisted that she won the presidential elections.
The press secretary, meanwhile, shrugged off the decision of former president Joseph Estrada to open lines of communication and entertain the idea of a possible link up with former allies of Arroyo that help catapult her to the presidency in 2001.
Bunye said Estrada is "dreaming if he thinks he could regain the presidency by linking with Edsa 2 forces."
Didagen Dilangalen, spokesman for Estrada, said the former president is willing to join forces with those that ousted him to prompt Arroyo to speak up and eventually resign from her post. (JMR/Sunnex)
(June 27, 2005 issue)
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