Thursday, July 21, 2005
Board nixes session to attend Arroyo address
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Instead of scheduling a session on Monday, members of the Pampanga Provincial Board (PB) will troop to Congress to show support for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she delivers her State-of-the-Nation Address (Sona).
Pampanga Third District Board Member Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr., who sponsored the resolution, asked members of the PB to support the embattled President.
Arroyo will be delivering her Sona before the joint session of the two houses of Congress on Monday.
While Malacañang prepares for the occasion, groups opposed to Arroyo have threatened to stage a bigger rally than the Makati convergence last week.
The resolution, Gonzales said, was approved during the PB session last Monday.
Gonzales said the President's Sona would attract more protests, thus the need to show support for the Kapampangan President.
"As it was in the past, Sonas have been magnets for anti-government forces, and the one on Monday would not be an exemption. This is one of the best times when we can express our unwavering support to our cabalen President," he said.
Former allies of Arroyo, who have parted ways with the administration at the height of calls for the President to resign the other week, said Monday's event would be a "perilous flashpoint" for the President.
Meanwhile, Malacañang doubts that the opposition could even draw half of the total number that attended the pro-Arroyo rally at the Rizal Park in Manila last Saturday.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye made the comment in response to militant groups and demonstrators' threat of a bigger crowd to press President Arroyo to resign during the Sona.
Bunye said what is important at this point is that the present administration already has sent a strong message to President Arroyo's detractors that a greater number of people still have respect to the rule of law and due process.
He said that the greater number of Filipino people prefers constitutional means to address the country's political turmoil. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
(July 21, 2005 issue)
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