Home | To bottom

Cordi groups, Jamby hit GMA’s ‘reign of terror’

BAGUIO CITY (Mar.7) — Representatives from church, academe, media, business, legal community, NGO’s, and people’s organizations in the Cordillera criticized the lifting of Presidential Proclamation 1017 and the Arroyo regime in a roundtable discussion on civil liberties on March 7 at the University of the Philippines, here. In a separate forum earlier that day, Sen. Jamby Madrigal also lambasted Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), calling her names.

Both the Senator and the groups believed that the lifting of PP 1017 is not equivalent to the end of the state fascism; instead, GMA’s actions are leading towards another Martial Law.

In her speech, Madrigal said that GMA’s proclamation is worded almost the same as Proclamation 1081 or the Martial Law because it suspends human rights, freedom of expression and assembly. According to the constitution, only congress has power to decide for a military rule. The president should carry the proclamation down to the congress and the latter will deliberate if such proclamation should be enforced. However, GMA did not do what the law states, Madrigal said.

“GMA is a blatant cheat, a liar and a hypocrite. Mabuti pa si Marcos, nag - proclaim ng Martial Law. Si GMA nagkukunwaring namumuno sa ilalim ng demokrasya,” (GMA pretends to rule under a democracy) Madrigal added.

Madrigal explained that GMA is trying to consolidate LAKAS and KAMPI parties to form a unicameral party to get a centralized support because she wants to be a Prime Minister if the charter is changed. She [Madrigal] noted that this is what former President Marcos did during Martial rule.

“She [GMA] has not fulfilled one single promise. She is not governing but using the people’s money to keep her in power,” Madrigal concluded.

During the roundtable discussion in the afternoon, Judge Cleto Villacorta, member of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties said, PP 1017 was lifted yet the effects of it still remain. He cited the illegal arrest of Anakpawis Partylist Representative Crispin Beltran who is still in jail and other marginalized sectors in Congress who also become the target of arrests. He also mentioned that the military and police forces still hold the power for 99 warrantless arrests and media curtailment through surveillance and raids.

The Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Siyudad (ORNUS)-Kadamay group also claimed that the PP 1017 has already inflicted severe damages on people’s organizations allowing police forces to capture political leaders and civilians and violently disperse peaceful assemblies. However, they said that there is no way GMA can attain stability through these, instead, it only increases people’s resistance against the government. They also noted, “People are driven by their empty stomach to oppose Arroyo’s decaying administration.”

Also, Randy Kinaud of Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) said that GMA is like Marcos who once blamed the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) and other progressive and rightist groups for destabilization plots, also to justify her declaration of national emergency.

Meanwhile, in a statement, different sectors believed that it is ironic that GMA chose to launch her most serious attacks against civil liberties on the 20th EDSA anniversary, the same celebration last 2001 that brought her to power. The statement noted the irony of GMA using her power to make a similar Marcosian declaration on the same date that ended the Martial Law.

Church representative Rev. William Mariano read the statement of the Regional Ecumenical Councils in the Cordillera (Reccord) quoting Thomas Aquinas saying, “Silence is the best ally of tyranny.” Reccord believes that GMA has clearly violated the constitution by declaring the PP 1017, which prohibited people to participate in the checks and balances of the government, and for suppressing freedom of speech through media repression. They stated that GMA is the “rebel” to truth, peace, freedom and justice for attacking civil rights protected by the Constitution.

The media sector represented by Desiree Caluza, treasurer of the local National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), also assailed GMA’s repressive posture; saying that if press freedom is curtailed, all other freedoms are repressed.

There were also other groups present in the said forum, such as Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), League of Filipino Students (LFS) Metro-Baguio and National Union of the Students in the Philippines (NUSP) Baguio-Benguet, Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), Guardians and Tebtebba Foundation who also shared the same grievances.

The representatives call on the people to be vigilant and to support them in defending and promoting civil liberties and to resist any attempt to return martial rule in the country. They reiterated their call to immediately oust GMA; to defy EO 464 prohibiting government officials to testify on court; and to stop political killings, harassments, media repression, and other forms of misgovernance. # Katherine del Rosario, Joanne Lacsina and Keith Sison/UP Interns for NORDIS

Post your comments, reactions to this article

Home | Back to top