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Sunday, July 10, 2005
RP Catholic Church leaders not likely to ask Arroyo to resign (10:48 a.m.)
MANILA -- Influential Philippine Roman Catholic leaders were locked in debate Sunday over whether to ask the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign, and an outspoken bishop said they were unlikely to join calls for the leader to quit amid allegations of vote-rigging and corruption.
Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz, one of about 10 bishops who has urged Arroyo to step down, said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines is looking at deeper solutions to the nation's problems.
"We are looking at institutions," he told The Associated Press. "I think they (other bishops) are correct. For example, if you remove one and it leaves, will everything be fine? It won't. So your solution should be deeper than just the president resigning."
Cruz added, "It's not that easy...because resignation will not really solve the problem. There are many things to consider."
He said more than 80 bishops attending a general assembly in Manila will vote Sunday on a statement they would issue to the public.
The political turmoil flared last month after Senate witnesses said Arroyo's husband, son and brother-in-law received illegal gambling kickbacks. The controversy was also fueled by wiretapped phone conversations with Arroyo allegedly seeking assurance from an election official that she would win the May 2004 election by more than a million votes.
Those calling for Arroyo's resignation include former president Corazon Aquino, 10 key Arroyo Cabinet officials who resigned, a party in the ruling coalition, two business groups, various opposition parties and church leaders.
Arroyo has asked her husband to leave the country and apologized for the "lapse in judgment" in talking to the election official. But she denied she committed any wrongdoing. She repeatedly rejected calls for her resignation, vowing to defend the presidency and the constitution.
The predominantly Roman Catholic nation had been waiting for the statement on the crisis from bishops, who along with the military played key roles in the 1986 "people power" revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the 2001 repeat which forced out Arroyo's predecessor, Joseph Estrada.
"I am just one voice," Cruz told the AP. "When we all put our voices together, a different tune comes out."
He said the controversy over the popular illegal numbers game called jueteng and the wiretaps were questions of "morality, integrity and accountability" that would be included in the bishops' statement.
On Saturday, loyal Cabinet members lashed out at their former colleagues who resigned, calling them "traitors" who attempted to unseat Arroyo.
The resignations, announced Friday by the Cabinet members led by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, would only strengthen the presidency, said Arroyo political adviser Gabriel Claudio.
"Filipinos do not like treachery. Filipinos go for the underdog. By what they've done, they made an underdog of the president," he said. (AP) |
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