Erap: The issue is Gloria’s legitimacy – Malaya 12.14.2006
PRESIDENT Joseph Estrada yesterday said the real issue at the core of the people’s anger is neither the Constituent Assembly nor Constitutional Convention but the "bogus" presidency of Gloria Arroyo.
"It is not Con-Ass or Con-Con that is the issue, but the serious question of her legitimacy, which is the reason the nation remains divided and why political strife continues to surface again and again, raising the people’s outrage," the deposed leader said in statement.
He said that "no illegitimate president who lied, cheated and stole the sacred vote of the Filipino people should be allowed to lead them, because an illegitimate president can never get the support of the people whose sovereign will she thwarted."
"That she cheated twice over has been proven by evidence. The ‘Hello Garci’ tapes where she was caught talking to an election commissioner to cheat opposition standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. of his victory is evidence enough. The coup d’état she plotted along with the military and the elitist mob to topple my legitimate presidency, which admission to oust me a year before January 2001 was also caught on tape, is also concrete proof of her cheating, lying and stealing ways in grabbing power from a legitimately elected leader," Estrada said.
Estrada said the people cannot be fooled, even if two impeachment complaints failed, not because there was no evidence, but because Mrs. Arroyo had again bribed her allies in Congress to kill the impeachment complaints.
"The people’s anger is rooted on this legitimacy question. This is why we cannot progress as a nation; why we cannot move on; why the nation remains divided and why there is now a collective rage in the hearts of Filipinos," he said.
"The people do not deserve her for their leader. She was not their choice. She is a bogus president and must account for her lying, thieving and cheating ways.
"Let us remember this: The Filipino people are sovereign and cannot be ruled by a bogus president twice over."
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, United Opposition (UNO) president, described the failed attempt by the House Tuesday to constitute Congress into a Constituent Assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution as an "aborted Constitutional coup d’état."
Binay said "as long as Mrs. Arroyo is in Malacañang and her allies are the majority in Congress, they will not stop in their attempt to perpetuate themselves in power."
"There is only one motive behind the desperate moves of the administration and its allies in Congress: they want to stay in power indefinitely," he said.
To achieve this, Binay said, Arroyo and her allies "will soil the Constitution, disregard the law, undermine the institutions of governance, and use naked violence against critics."
"In short, they have no intention to leave Malacañang. And they will attempt to stay there no matter what the cost," he said.
Speaker Jose de Venecia and the House majority bloc on Monday shelved the Senate-less Con-Ass but would push for a Constitutional Convention in an apparent attempt to appease various sectors led by the Catholic Church.
PAGCOR, PCSO FUNDS FOR CON-CON?
Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned that proponents of a Constitutional Convention might be tempted to tap funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. just like what it did during the People’s Initiative campaign.
"Alam naman natin na may nagamit na pera (ng gobyerno) para sa PI," he said.
Lacson said only Congress can appropriate funds for a Constitutional Convention.
Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan called on the Supreme Court to act immediately on the petition of former Sen. John Osmeña against the Constituent Assembly to put an end to debates.
Osmeña asked the High Court to void Resolution 1450 which sought to enable the House to convene Congress into a Con-Ass without the participation of the Senate.
While the House appeared to have backtracked on Con-Ass, Pangilinan said magistrates should still issue a ruling with dispatch "amidst the outrage and confusion."
Pangilinan said a ruling "will guide future efforts at charter change to take the correct path as laid down by the Supreme Court."
PURIFIED VERSION
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called for a "purified" version of the Constitutional Convention as a mode to change the Constitution, "if ever it is really needed".
In a statement, CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said that consistent with the previous stand of the bishops, the CBCP is calling for a Con-Con but one that is "purified from negative impact that accompanied the People’s Initiative and Constituent Assembly."
"May the work of the Con-Con, if and when it shall be opportunely convoked, be the work of statesmen, whose concern will not be to fit it to a pre-determined framework, but who will discern, discuss and debate on what will be the best for our country," said the Jaro prelate.
De Venecia Wednesday night said he has directed majority leader Prospero Nograles and House secretary general Roberto Nazareno to archive Resolutions 197 and 1450 which enabled the House to convene a Con-Ass without Senate participation.
"It means Con-Ass is officially dead," he said. – Dennis Gadil, Gerard Anthony Naval and Wendell Vigilia
"It is not Con-Ass or Con-Con that is the issue, but the serious question of her legitimacy, which is the reason the nation remains divided and why political strife continues to surface again and again, raising the people’s outrage," the deposed leader said in statement.
He said that "no illegitimate president who lied, cheated and stole the sacred vote of the Filipino people should be allowed to lead them, because an illegitimate president can never get the support of the people whose sovereign will she thwarted."
"That she cheated twice over has been proven by evidence. The ‘Hello Garci’ tapes where she was caught talking to an election commissioner to cheat opposition standard bearer Fernando Poe Jr. of his victory is evidence enough. The coup d’état she plotted along with the military and the elitist mob to topple my legitimate presidency, which admission to oust me a year before January 2001 was also caught on tape, is also concrete proof of her cheating, lying and stealing ways in grabbing power from a legitimately elected leader," Estrada said.
Estrada said the people cannot be fooled, even if two impeachment complaints failed, not because there was no evidence, but because Mrs. Arroyo had again bribed her allies in Congress to kill the impeachment complaints.
"The people’s anger is rooted on this legitimacy question. This is why we cannot progress as a nation; why we cannot move on; why the nation remains divided and why there is now a collective rage in the hearts of Filipinos," he said.
"The people do not deserve her for their leader. She was not their choice. She is a bogus president and must account for her lying, thieving and cheating ways.
"Let us remember this: The Filipino people are sovereign and cannot be ruled by a bogus president twice over."
Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, United Opposition (UNO) president, described the failed attempt by the House Tuesday to constitute Congress into a Constituent Assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution as an "aborted Constitutional coup d’état."
Binay said "as long as Mrs. Arroyo is in Malacañang and her allies are the majority in Congress, they will not stop in their attempt to perpetuate themselves in power."
"There is only one motive behind the desperate moves of the administration and its allies in Congress: they want to stay in power indefinitely," he said.
To achieve this, Binay said, Arroyo and her allies "will soil the Constitution, disregard the law, undermine the institutions of governance, and use naked violence against critics."
"In short, they have no intention to leave Malacañang. And they will attempt to stay there no matter what the cost," he said.
Speaker Jose de Venecia and the House majority bloc on Monday shelved the Senate-less Con-Ass but would push for a Constitutional Convention in an apparent attempt to appease various sectors led by the Catholic Church.
PAGCOR, PCSO FUNDS FOR CON-CON?
Sen. Panfilo Lacson warned that proponents of a Constitutional Convention might be tempted to tap funds from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. just like what it did during the People’s Initiative campaign.
"Alam naman natin na may nagamit na pera (ng gobyerno) para sa PI," he said.
Lacson said only Congress can appropriate funds for a Constitutional Convention.
Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan called on the Supreme Court to act immediately on the petition of former Sen. John Osmeña against the Constituent Assembly to put an end to debates.
Osmeña asked the High Court to void Resolution 1450 which sought to enable the House to convene Congress into a Con-Ass without the participation of the Senate.
While the House appeared to have backtracked on Con-Ass, Pangilinan said magistrates should still issue a ruling with dispatch "amidst the outrage and confusion."
Pangilinan said a ruling "will guide future efforts at charter change to take the correct path as laid down by the Supreme Court."
PURIFIED VERSION
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called for a "purified" version of the Constitutional Convention as a mode to change the Constitution, "if ever it is really needed".
In a statement, CBCP president Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said that consistent with the previous stand of the bishops, the CBCP is calling for a Con-Con but one that is "purified from negative impact that accompanied the People’s Initiative and Constituent Assembly."
"May the work of the Con-Con, if and when it shall be opportunely convoked, be the work of statesmen, whose concern will not be to fit it to a pre-determined framework, but who will discern, discuss and debate on what will be the best for our country," said the Jaro prelate.
De Venecia Wednesday night said he has directed majority leader Prospero Nograles and House secretary general Roberto Nazareno to archive Resolutions 197 and 1450 which enabled the House to convene a Con-Ass without Senate participation.
"It means Con-Ass is officially dead," he said. – Dennis Gadil, Gerard Anthony Naval and Wendell Vigilia
posted by brodkaster43 at Huwebes, Disyembre 14, 2006
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