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Pro-GMA officials do not truly represent the will of the people

By Windel Bolinget, Cordillera Peoples Alliance
and Chie Galvez, Tongtongan Ti Umili

July 16, 2005

As part of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s (GMA) last tricks to stay in power, some local officials in the Cordillera and other Local Government Units in the country are staging mass meetings and rallies in support of the beleaguered president.

The ruling party LAKAS-CMD whose leaders are benefiting from the GMA administration is at the forefront of this campaign. Other officials outside LAKAS-CMD also favor the status-quo due to Malacañang’s promises of local projects.

Tongtongan Ti Umili (TTU) and Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) question the motives of our officials in organizing pro-GMA rallies. This is reminiscent of the hakot-crowd during the last days of the Marcos dictatorship. Thru this kind of activities, they want to project that their sentiment is the same as their constituents without the benefit of consultation.

It can be recalled that TTU and CPA, the broadest alliances of peoples’ organizations in Metro-Baguio and Cordillera have conducted activities to call for the ouster of GMA. In addition, the Gloria Step down Movement (GSM) in Baguio-Benguet has gathered various groups, formations and concerned individuals in a common objective to call for GMA’s resignation.

We pose the question as to why these officials are eager to support GMA when she has clearly lost the credibility and moral ascendancy to govern. The taped conversations between COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and GMA are damning evidence of massive fraud in 2004 elections. GMA’s lousy excuse of ‘lapse in judgment’ simply authenticates the tape and her admission should have been followed by her resignation. The country cannot move on with an illegitimate president whose credibility remains in question.

Her policies have dragged the country into a severe economic crisis with rising prices of oil and basic commodities, massive unemployment and lack of social services. Amid all these, the Arroyo government railroaded the approval of the expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) with the primary objective of paying foreign debt. The anti-people E-VAT was supported by some local government officials, including Cong. Mauricio Domogan.

GMA is a constant violator of indigenous people’s rights and an agent of imperialist globalization. She revitalized the Philippine mining industry and sacrificed the Philippine Constitution to serve the interest of foreign investors. This is a total surrender of our national patrimony and total sell-out of our ancestral lands and resources to foreign mining giants.

She also unleashed terror on the people with grave human rights violations and political killings under her regime. We felt this even in Baguio when Romy Sanchez , a leader of Bayan Muna and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Ilocos was murdered in the heart of the city’s public market on March 9, 2005. GMA also supported the National ID System and Anti-Terrorism bill which violates the people’s fundamental human rights.

She is the ‘president’ who formalized the integration of the notorious Cordillera Peoples Liberation Army (CPLA) into the AFP. Instead of dismantling the CPLA for its blood debts and crimes and rendering justice to the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera people, GMA added insult to injury by integrating the terrorist and mercenary CPLA factions into the AFP. It is not a surprise why the CPLA is among the top list of supporters of GMA. A terrorist group would fight to preserve in power their terrorist master.

Our conscience tells us that GMA is not worth the trust and confidence of the Cordillerans and the Filipino people. It is frustrating that our elected officials are not dealing with the validity of the issues haunting the Arroyo administration. Pro-GMA officials are banking on the constitutional process alone while evading the real issue at hand. They should be reminded that GMA violated the same constitution and the rule of law in order to win the elections. In addition, nobody categorically stated that People Power I and II are unconstitutional.

Congressman Mauricio Domogan, a staunch supporter of GMA stated; “let us not follow the rule of the mob”. But rallies, marches and demonstrations are not lawless mobs, but ordinary people exercising their constitutionally-guaranteed rights to seek redress of grievances against the adverse effects of anti-people programs and policies of a corrupt and insensitive government.

A truly enlightened citizenry should be heard and a truly democratic government should follow the wishes of the majority of the people. Cong. Domogan’s views are not those of the majority of the people of Baguio that he is supposed to represent.

Our constitution explicitly states that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. Once a public official loses the confidence of the people, he/she must step down. We, therefore, reiterate our call for GMA to resign. #

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