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Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Palace willing to have disputed returns opened
MANILA -- Malacañang is ready to have an independent body look into last year's presidential elections, even so far as opening the election returns (ERs) from some disputed areas.
However, Michael Defensor, environment secretary and presidential spokesman for political affairs, said the Palace will not initiate the creation of an independent non-political group to head the proposed truth commission.
"We are willing, but not as a Palace-initiated move. It could be and we would encourage a third party move to see how the voting went," Defensor said Monday.
President Arroyo has been accused of electoral fraud after wiretapped conversations with a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official were made public.
Results from Cebu are the subject of scrutiny because this is where Arroyo gained her over one-million edge against her closest rival, the late movie actor Ferdinand Poe.
Comelec officers and employees in Cebu Monday passed a manifesto to attest that there was no cheating in the province in the May 2004 polls.
"We, the Comelec employees of the Province of Cebu, in reply to the belated allegations questioning the results of the May 10, 2004 national and local election stand by the authenticity and integrity of the results. (We were) not remiss in the performance of our constitutionally mandated task of preserving our democratic process," the manifesto reads.
At the Provincial Board (PB), a resolution was passed on mass motion expressing "support, trust and confidence" in President Arroyo amid the calls for her resignation.
The call for Arroyo to step down, the PB said Monday, "is devoid of basis in law and in fact" and that "if need be, let the natural, logical and regular constitutional process of impeachment take its course."
Speaker Jose de Venecia said he will endorse the impeachment complaint filed against an opposition lawyer against the President, as this is his constitutional and ministerial duty.
De Venecia said he will endorse the complaint to the rules and justice committees of the House of Representatives within 10 session days after Arroyo's State of the Nation Address.
Lawyer Oliver Lozano, a personality close to deposed president Joseph Estrada, filed the complaint against Arroyo last June 27, banking on the contents of the wiretapped tapes.
Alan Paguia, another lawyer allied with Estrada, will not allow the playing in full of the three-hour tapes unless he is given immunity.
Meanwhile, former customs collector Billy Bibit said the recruitment of junior officers in the Armed Forces of the Philippines by a group wanting to oust the President has intensified after Arroyo admitted that she made calls to a Comelec official during the canvassing of votes.
Bibit, a member of Rebulosyonaryong Alyan-sang Makabayan that helped topple the Marcos regime in 1986, said he himself is disappointed with Arroyo and is ready to join the military officers.
"I am a person who wants to makes thing happen. I am not going to watch," he said over radio dyLA.
Bibit was replaced as Port of Cebu district collector last April because he lacks the career executive service eligibility.
The people are also watching out for the statement from the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), which is holding an assembly in Manila starting today.
However, political matters will only be discussed during the plenary on Friday.
CBCP Media Liaison Officer Mark Tallara said a pastoral letter addressing the political turmoil will be released on Sunday yet.
In Malacañang, Defensor suggested that Fr. Joaquin Bernas either head the commission or help in forming the independent commission.
He said as long as the members of the independent party are mutually acceptable to the administration and the opposition, they have no problem with it.
Defensor challenged the opposition to sit down with the third party to present their own evidence and compare it with the administration's own documents and proof that there was no cheating.
"I'm confident, 100 percent sure that there was no rigging, there was no cheating in the elections. But as far as we are concerned, the President apologized for the phone call but not for the cheating because we never cheated and the President won fair and square," he said.
Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye also shrugged off reports that the opposition has a witness who would prove that cheating occurred particularly in Cebu.
Bunye said, "practically all the congressman and the lone congresswoman from Cebu have belied the allegation, they have stated categorically that the elections in Cebu were fair and that the President has clearly won over her opponents."
He also expressed disinterest in the identity of the witness who is said to be a police director. "We have repeatedly stated, there are positions that there has been no fraud in Cebu and that the President as confirmed by practically all the legislators in Cebu won during the last election," he said.
Bunye also said the opposition is free to "court" former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to come out and testify because they are confident that in the end, it would be proven that nothing illegal or impeachable was committed by President Arroyo. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
(July 5, 2005 issue)
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