Group Urges Arroyo Cabinet to Resign
Kristine L. Alave, Philippine Daily Inquirer,18 February 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- In a move that could further stir political turbulence, about 60 former government officials on Sunday said the Arroyo administration had “gone wild” and urged Cabinet members who could no longer stomach its supposed greed to resign, declaring : “It’s time to cut clean. It’s time to go.”

The group made its appeal after thousands at a Mass rallied behind key Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., and a priest declared that a government that “suppresses the truth … loses its authority” to govern.

The moves, combined with Friday’s rally in Makati City by 10,000 protesters, appeared to mark an escalation of the campaign to force President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to step down following allegations of massive bribery in the now-scuttled $329-million broadband project in which her husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, was implicated.

The Arroyos have denied any wrongdoing.

The call for Cabinet officials to resign and the wave of support for Lozada came on the eve of the resumption of Senate hearings into the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

“Today, we can no longer stay silent. We can no longer ignore the reality of a government gone wild, wreaking havoc on our rights and institutions in a climate of impunity,” said a statement read by former Ambassador to the United States Albert del Rosario...We call on all government officials -- Cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries, heads of agencies -- who know about these anomalous transactions to join the heroic stand of Jun Lozada, to come forward and speak out,” they said in the two-page statement. “We call on all those who know about the extrajudicial killings and disappearances to go public and tell the truth.

Moral decadence

“We call on all those who can no longer endure this wrongful governance, with its structures of evil and un-moderated greed : It is time to cut clean! It is time to go!”

A mass resignation in 2005 of the so-called “Hyatt 10” -- comprising Cabinet members and other high officials -- in the wake of the “Hello Garci” election fraud scandal shook the Arroyo presidency but failed to bring her down.

“In a sense, all Jun Lozada did was to confirm what we already know: Our country is sliding into moral decadence. He also confirmed the systematic destruction of our democratic institutions and the systematic nature of our problems,” the statement said.

“We have seen this in the wanton disregard of checks and balances; abuse of the powers of the President; the cooptation through patronage and outright bribery of the other branches of government; politically sponsored corruption, facilitated, not thwarted, by bureaucratic procedures; the naked use of power and authority through the PNP (Philippine National Police), PSG (Presidential Security Group), NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport), among others, to strangle the truth, and the deployment of Cabinet, sub-Cabinet officials, and the military to obstruct justice and cover up illegal orders and act.”

The group said the “ephemeral gains” brought by the strength of the peso and an expanding economy had not improved the lives of most Filipinos.

Democracy under attack

The statement followed similarly sharp denunciations of the Arroyo administration recently issued by big business groups, such as the Makati Business Club. Lozada, a former government consultant, has tagged First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. with involvement in the NBN project, which was intended to electronically connect government offices down to the barangay (village) level.

Hanging on to power

The group released its statement at the gate of La Salle Green Hills, in full view of a police surveillance camera installed on Thursday. The ex-officials were among the estimated 5,000 people, including former President Corazon Aquino, who attended the Mass at the school gym organized by the Ateneo de Manila University and the De La Salle Brothers.

Fr. Manoling Francisco, who officiated the Mass, himself minced no words in his homily lambasting the administration for using “everything in its power to keep itself in power.” His homily was interrupted by applause -- including howls of cheering -- at least five times.

Saying an administration “loses its moral authority over its people when it fails … to uphold the truth,” Francisco fired off a series of tough questions centering on several unresolved issues confronting the Arroyo presidency, ranging from the failed automation of the national elections and the fertilizer scam to extrajudicial killings, the “Hello Garci” 2004 vote fraud scandal and Lozada’s exposés...

Credible witness

Saying Lozada was a credible witness, Francisco said: “Who in his or her right mind would accuse Malacañang of crimes against our people and implicate the First Family in a sordid tale of greed and corruption, knowing that by doing so, one endangers one’s life and the lives of his or her loved ones? But Jun is in his right mind. His story rings true.”

‘I can be the spark’

In his thank-you speech, he shared with congregation the prayer that emboldened him to tell what he knew of the ZTE project. The prayer runs in part: “Let me be the change I want to see … Even if I’m not the light, I can be the spark.”

Palace officials said all the President’s men were solidly behind her, and shrugged off calls for them to resign...Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said : “People who abandon friends are traitors. You agree to be the President’s alter ego and then you will leave her?”

From : www.inquirer.net, 18 February 2008, With reports from Christine O. Avendano and Leila B. Salaverria