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Relinquish the Presidency and save the people!

By Regional Ecumenical Council in the Cordillera

July 25, 2005

We, Church people belonging to various denominations of the Regional Ecumenical Council in the Cordillera, humbly implore the President to relinquish her post for the sake of decency and for the sake of the plight of the Filipino people.

Even now, many people are no longer at ease to even call her President because she won the elections via dubious means. Her public apology can no longer even be considered laudable for the simple fact that she told a lie in the guise of telling the truth. By saying, “I am sorry ….for my lapse in judgement…” she is hiding the truth that she cheated in the elections. Anyone who hears the tapes, (proven authentic by at least three independent studies) has no other conclusion that she and commissioner Garciliano rigged the elections in her favor. Yet she did not do this for the sake of the country but to save her own skin because of the mounting pressure of the people to break her silence. Thereby she asked apology not for the sake of the country but to preserve her position of power which she, her family, and her cronies use to amass wealth at the peoples’ expense.

Yet we are not calling for her to relinquish her post because of her cheating the elections. We are calling for her resignation because of her failed policies supportive of globalization which have driven the whole nation to the brink of a terrible economic and social crisis. The prices of oil and electricity have skyrocketed to such an alarming extent that many people are driven into outright poverty and destitution. Some 8.5 million Filipinos are unemployed and underemployed. The wages can now barely catch up with the costs of living. Coupled with these are taxation measures that bleed the people dry while the First Gentleman is using the peoples’ money to spend 18 million pesos a day in the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas. Meanwhile 94% of the national budget is allotted to paying our debts. Human rights violations are on the rise as we are now considered the worst country for media people to be. In the world we are now the number two most corrupt nation. The jueteng issue which ousted former President Estrada has infected the whole national police, mayors, and not excluding the First Family themselves. The liberalization policy has made the farmers of the Cordillera bankrupt and the president allowed foreign mining companies to encroach into our ancestral lands. The values of the market cannot overrun the values of justice and human dignity. We cannot support a President for espousing the values of globalization which are against the tenets of the Kingdom of God!

For these reasons, we call on Gloria — Relinquish your post now and save the economy so we can rebuild our nation’s pride! #

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