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Saturday, July 09, 2005
Desertions in Arroyo's Cabinet-and stunning blow from Cory
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came under intense pressure to resign, with eight key cabinet members quitting and with former president Corazon Aquino urging her to step down and spare the country from further unrest.
The eight, who made up a fifth of the Cabinet, Friday said Arroyo should hand power to Vice President Noli de Castro, calls echoed by Aquino and the Liberal Party, a key ally of Arroyo's governing coalition.
"It is no longer possible for her to govern," said Aquino, who ruled through six tumultuous years of failed military coup attempts in the late 1980s.
"I urge her to make the supreme sacrifice to spare our country from the violence that threatens it," she said.
The head of the Armed Forces, Gen. Efren Abu, meanwhile, ordered soldiers to stay out of the crisis amid reports of coup plots.
The eight senior Cabinet members, including Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, said she should quit to spare the nation from further turmoil.
Fragile
Two senior officials, who advise President Arroyo on the peace process and the fight against poverty, also resigned.
"The longer the President stays in office under a cloud of doubt and mistrust, and with her style of decision-making, the greater the damage on the economy and the more vulnerable the fragile political situation becomes to extremists seeking to undermine our democracy," they said in a statement read by Purisima at the Hyatt Hotel.
The call was joined by the Liberal Party, a key support base for Arroyo in Congress, and the Makati Business Club.
De Castro, meanwhile, issued a carefully worded statement urging Filipinos to "give President Arroyo a chance to think and decide for the country."
De Castro has assured Arroyo, 58, that he is sticking with her, said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
"With all due respect to former president Aquino and others, I say that their actions cause deep and grievous harm to the nation, because they undermine our democratic principles and the very foundation of our Constitution," Arroyo said later, in a recorded address.
Impeachment
She said that as President, she was sworn to "defend our hard-won democracy at all costs."
"To those who forgot all of this, I say, take your grievances to Congress and I will be willing to submit to due process as called for by our Constitution. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on the people's business."
Arroyo faces an impeachment complaint after audiotapes surfaced last month, in which she was purportedly heard plotting to fix a million-vote victory against movie icon Fernando Poe in the May 2004 election.
The President spent most of Friday in Malacañang, meeting with her remaining Cabinet and other officials, including former president Fidel Ramos.
Of the 41 Cabinet members, including heads of line departments and other officials of Cabinet rank, 33 are sticking it out with the President, Ermita said.
The Cabinet members who handed in their irrevocable resignation said the President had preempted their moves to quit, since they had made up their minds to resign as early as Tuesday.
Sacrifice
Arroyo asked her entire Cabinet Thursday night to tender their resignation to give her a free hand to reorganize the administration team.
Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano handed in his courtesy resignation. However, he will continue to perform his duties until his replacement is named.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) national office also asked Arroyo to make the "supreme self-sacrifice" and immediately resign. If she does not step down by July 11, Congress must initiate impeachment proceedings.
The Cebu City chapter of the lawyers' group helped organize a rally of the Gloria Step Down Movement in Cebu Friday night.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Liberal Party, urged the President to resign or face impeachment proceedings that the party would support.
Change, now
The party, Drilon said, voted 20 for resignation, 11 for impeachment, one for a leave of absence, and one-Environment Secretary Michael Defensor-for continued support.
"We are convinced that the resignation of the President is the best step towards resolution of the current crisis as it will eliminate further uncertainties, ease current and further conflicts and allow our country to move ahead with critical reforms," Drilon said.
Speaker Jose de Venecia, meanwhile, said he and the majority congressmen in the House of Representatives continue to support the President.
He said the House members back "a wide-ranging program of reforms and a top-to-bottom revamp of the Cabinet."
De Venecia shared the view of former president Fidel Ramos for a change of government under a parliamentary, federal system by next year.
In a meeting in Malacañang with Arroyo, Ramos reiterated his proposal for the formation of a high commission that will help correct the country's problems. He also called for sacrifices from all warring factions.
Bishops' move
Amid fears that some military officers will again try to intervene, the armed forces head told soldiers to stay out of the crisis.
Abu said retired military officers "are busy enticing some of our personnel to use their units, their office, their uniform, their commission to express a political preference or meddle in the realm that belongs to politicians."
"The soldier has the duty to protect this political exercise. He is not expected to intervene in it," he said in a written directive read on nationwide television.
Generals and bishops were the decisive players that forced the ouster of Arroyo's predecessor Joseph Estrada, and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos before him in 1986, in bloodless people power revolts.
The 117-member Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines discussed the political crisis at their annual retreat, which began earlier this week and was to continue over the weekend, said a senior bishop, requesting anonymity.
Their "preferential option is to tell the President to sacrifice, meaning to step down," he said.
Arroyo apologized last June 27 for improperly telephoning an election official during the vote count but denied cheating. (Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex/Manila Standard Today)
(July 9, 2005 issue)
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