MANILA, 13 June 2005 — In one of her toughest acts so far, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday promised to wipe out corruption in government without even mentioning allegations that members of her family were collecting protection money from illegal gambling operators.
She also urged the nation to eschew “dirty politics” amid charges that she had been caught talking with a Commission on Election official to rig the 2004 election.
“In three years, the government will be rid of graft and corruption. We want to curb corruption stemming from illegal gambling,” the president said din her speech marking the 107th anniversary of the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain.
“I am calling on everyone to do away with dirty politics and focus our energies to improve the economy,” she said in a speech delivered mostly in Filipino at the Rizal Park.
Amid coup rumors sparked by the election fraud and corruption allegations, Arroyo also threatened to answer with force any attempt to grab power with force.
“Mark it on stone, I would harness my power and determination for a strong democracy and to keep the country focused on the right path,” Arroyo said.
“As we extol the lessons and memory of our heroes today, I call on everybody to ward off dirty politics and fix our attention on bringing the economy forward,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo sought public support for her economic reform program, which she said is “key to absolute independence.”
Last week, Arroyo faced her toughest period since last year’s bitterly contested presidential election because of allegations that she tried to fix the poll results — an impeachable offense — and her family had pocketed illegal gambling payoffs.
The government strongly denied the accusations, saying they were part of a plot to unseat Arroyo. Government troops in the capital and national police were placed on full alert against a possible power grab, spooking markets in a country with a recent history of coup attempts.
A key witness in a Senate investigation on illegal gambling claimed she had delivered illegal gambling payoffs to Arroyo’s son Mikey and brother-in-law Ignacio, who are both members of the House of Representatives. The two denied the accusations.
On Friday, Samuel Ong, the dismissed deputy head of the Justice Department’s investigation agency, claimed he was the source of an audio recording on which Arroyo purportedly talks to an election official about fixing last year’s election to gain a 1 million vote margin over her closest rival, Fernando Poe Jr. Poe, who died in December following a stroke.
Ong said disgruntled military intelligence agents gave him the alleged wiretaps. Fearing for his life and arrest, he sought refuge in a Roman Catholic seminary and called on people to protect him, drawing a small anti-government crowd. A phalanx of riot policemen arrived to keep order.
Opposition politicians said they have sent the taped recordings to voice experts in Australia and the United States to verify if they were altered, as claimed by Arroyo’s aides, to portray her as trying to fix the election’s outcome. They expect to receive the findings in a few days — an indication they plan to press their election fraud allegation against Arroyo.
About 5,000 protesters on Saturday demanded Arroyo’s resignation in the biggest anti-government rally since the allegations surfaced, but later peacefully dispersed.
Government troops were posted at key access points to the capital and at Manila’s airport to prevent anti-government protesters from nearby provinces from entering the capital. But there has been no sign of either deep military unrest or the large disgruntled crowds that gathered in the capital for peaceful “people power” revolts that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001.
Military chief of staff Gen. Efren Abu said yesterday that “the chain of command remains intact.” His spokesman, Lt. Col. Bienvenido Pascual, said the military would not hesitate to use force against groups aiming to destabilize the government.
However anti-government rallies on Saturday failed to draw the mass support organizers had hoped for. About 2,000 people from various opposition groups converged on the Manila post office in what was a relatively peaceful demonstration.
Calls Ignored
Apart from ignoring opposition calls to resign, Arroyo also ignored demands by her own allies to compel her son and brother-in-law to quit from the House of Representatives.
Her staunch ally and Senate President Franklin Drilon had urged Arroyo to use Independence Day to make a significant statement about her relatives’ alleged involvement in the illegal numbers game.
The closest reference she made in her speech to the gambling scandal was when she said her administration intended to cut by half the incidence of corruption in government in three years’ time and hopefully eradicate graft by the end of her term in 2010.
“As part of this campaign ... we also intend in a year’s time to end corruption that comes from illegal gambling,” she said.
Arroyo reiterated that no one was above the law. “There is a reason why the Philippine flag is above us all,” she said. “This means that no one is above the flag or the law that holds the country together.”
Another ally, Sen. Richard Gordon, said the resignation of the two lawmakers was crucial to the survival of the Arroyo administration now buffeted by allegations of corruption and electoral fraud.
Although the charges had not been proven, public perception that Arroyo’s son and brother-in-law had received huge payoffs from “jueteng” was weighing down heavily on her credibility to govern, Gordon said.
“They should not wait for the president to ask them to resign. In the interest of the country, without admitting guilt, the two should offer to resign, take a leave and face the Ombudsman,” Gordon said.
Resignation would be the “highest form of statesmanship” they could do for the country, he added. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, also of the administration, agreed with this and other suggestions by colleagues that the president institute reforms and “discipline her family.”
These suggestions, he said in an interview, should be heeded to “repair the damage” wrought by the scandals on Arroyo’s capacity to govern.
“If the capacity to govern is totally destroyed, this will throw the country in turmoil and desperate elements will step in to fill the vacuum. It is, therefore, important to repair the damage, and the repair will include the three suggestions,” he said.
Senators Ramon Magsaysay and Panfilo Lacson on Saturday joined Drilon in calling on the president to crack down on her family.
Drilon had suggested that Arroyo institute reforms over the “perceived involvement of her family in jueteng,” while Magsaysay proposed that she discipline her family and get rid of the “barnacles around her.”
Susan Roces
Still, Arroyo and men had reason to be thankful yesterday.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the many expressions of support for the administration, the refusal of the Catholic Church to join the oust-Arroyo clamor, the loyalty of the police and military, and the support of the United States helped “effectively douse the most recent attempt to unseat President Gloria.”
Bunye said Malaca?ang appreciated the calls made by former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos for the nation to remain calm.
“Even Susan Roces said there was nothing to gain from this,” Bunye said, referring to the widow of the late opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr.
In Cebu City, Arroyo’s allies plan to hold a “unity rally” today to show their support for her.
Capitol legal consultant Pablo John Garcia said the rally would be held on the Capitol grounds because it was where Arroyo took her oath of office on June 30, 2004.
“We should let Metro Manila know, particularly those authors of this destabilization effort, that the country is not only centered in Manila, but there are also other provinces in the country that should be heard,” he said.
The rally was to be spearheaded by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano and Dalaguete Mayor Ronald Alan Cesante, president of the Cebu Municipal Mayors League. (Additional input from INS & agencies)
