Home | To bottom

GMA out before year ends — Joma

BAGUIO CITY (June 28) — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo maybe ousted during the second half of the year claimed Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chair Jose Maria Sison apparently flaunting the signal that mainstream leftist forces in the country will intensify demonstrations to force Arroyo to step down.

Sison, the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating with the Philippine government said “a united front and mass movement can remove the Arroyo ruling clique from power.”

Sison believes that the “Oust Arroyo campaign” has a good chance of ousting the ruling clique within the second half of this year.

He however says that this can happen “if certain groups and movements of military and police forces keep their word to uphold civilian supremacy, respect the people’s rights and withdraw support from the hated regime.”

Sison said that after the confession of President Arroyo on Monday night, “there is greater and more compelling reason for the Filipino people to exercise their sovereign power to oust her and her cohorts from power or compel them to resign through the mass movement.”

The Leftist leader insisted that Arroyo’s confession on Monday night “is done in bad faith.”

Sison said, the apology “is insincere and worthless” because it is not accompanied by her resignation.

Sison said he could not buy the idea of an impeachment versus Arroyo because the present membership of the House of Representatives “is dominated by Arroyo loyalists headed by Speaker Jose de Venecia.” “It is therefore futile,” he pointed out, “to undertake impeachment proceedings against her.”

The only way to remove President Arroyo from power and make her answerable for her crimes, Sison claimed, “is to undertake a mass movement with cumulative strength, scope and intensity.”

On January 19, 2001 before Estrada vacated Malacañang, Sison similarly stated that demonstrators head to Mendiola bridge (near Malacanang) to force Estrada out from office. On that same day, Estrada exited the Palace.

Transition gov’t?

Sison said that in the event of Arroyo’s resignation or ouster, “a people’s democratic council can act as a transition government to conduct snap elections of executive officials as well as delegates to a constitutional convention that is not in the clutches of Arroyo and Speaker De Venecia.”

Sison’s political formula is similar to what the country’s mainstream legal Left, constitutionalists and political leaders in the Northern provinces are floating.

Baguio-based Bayan Muna National Vice President Manuel Loste said the proposal of Bayan Muna and its allied organizations “is a transition council that would be composed of people, who care for the rights and welfare of fellow Filipinos.”

Loste explained that the said council will pave the way for an election of a new set of officials.

“This will be different from EDSA 2, where the vice president automatically replaced the ousted president,” he said.

He stressed that Vice President Noli de Castro cannot replace Arroyo because he claimed that even the Vice President’s election into office is tainted with fraud.

Meanwhile, some constitutionalists and leading political leaders in the North are reportedly meeting “silently” to chart a manifesto vowing to block any attempt to install a military junta in the event that Pres. Arroyo steps down from power because of public pressure.

Citing the 1987 Constitution, these political leaders in the Northern provinces who still refuse to be named, believe that a council likened to Bayan Muna’s “transition government formula” is the best option rather than a military junta.

These constitutionalists and provincial leaders claim in their draft emergency declaration that a council composed of duly elected officials who have the mandate from the people shall be constituted in the event that Arroyo is ousted.

Government functions from the provincial level down to the towns and cities shall be normal under a council that is composed of elected officials while a preparation for a general election will be launched to replace the ousted president, the said emergency declaration said.

Sison however warned that if Pres. Arroyo is able to stay in power with the use of brute force and because certain forces condone and support it, “the Filipino people are more than ever justified in waging the armed revolution for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes.”

Meanwhile CPP spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal called on all NPA units nationwide to intensify armed attacks versus government forces to complement demonstrations in the streets to force Arroyo out of office. # Artemio A. Dumlao for NORDIS

Home | Back to top