MANILA, 6 April 2006 — Opponents of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday renewed their calls for her to step down, urging her to follow the example of resigned Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to save the country from destruction.
Former President Joseph Estrada offered as his birthday gift to Arroyo, who turned 59 yesterday, his suggestion that resignation was the most honorable thing to do considering her alleged loss of credibility.
Five senators led by Senate President Franklin Drilon launched the “Gloria Resign Movement” at the Senate also as their birthday present for the president.
After months of clinging to power, Thailand’s embattled prime minister gave way to public opinion and announced on Tuesday night that he was stepping down for the sake of unity.
As in the case of Thaksin, Arroyo’s resignation would also usher in political stability in the country, said Estrada, who stepped down in January 2001 amid a military-backed “people power” uprising against his alleged abuse of power.
“I will pray that she (Arroyo) will be enlightened and realize the need for her to step down from office,” Estrada said on radio. He said the country could have a new president through snap elections by July.
Different Environments
Gabriel Claudio, Arroyo’s political adviser, rejected the comparison between Arroyo and Thaksin, saying conditions in Thailand and the Philippines were different. Claudio said developments in Thailand were “unique and peculiar to itself.” “In Thailand prior to the announcement, there was an environment of gloom and pessimism and a lot of outrage and anger, such is not the situation here in the Philippines. There are lots of positive development in the economic and the political front that should make the Filipinos feel optimistic and hopeful,” Claudio said from Lubao in Pampanga province where Arroyo celebrated her birthday.
Claudio said the Philippines had “every momentum and every reason to move forward and look forward to better things ahead, which is not the situation in Thailand.”
“The Philippines is a different story and situation altogether,” Claudio said.
Claudio said he expected the opposition to draw parallelism with the situation in Thailand to renew their call for Arroyo to step down. But he said such a move would not succeed, saying the people could feel “how much brighter the situation was in the country.”
He also cited the local opposition’s failure to stir up a major upheaval against Arroyo. “Filipinos are tired of political bickering and confrontation, that is why despite the relentless agitation by the opposition, there is no upheaval against the president or the government,” Claudio said.
After attempts to undermine the Arroyo administration, Claudio said the prospects of national stability, harmony, and economic progress were “vivid and real.”
In a news briefing in Malacañang, presidential Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said unlike the situation in Thailand, he believed that there was no reason to call for a snap election because “everything was regular” in the 2004 presidential election.
No Credibility
But Estrada insisted that Arroyo “can no longer lead, especially given the present situation where she has already lost the support of the people.”
During a break in his corruption trial yesterday at the at the Sandiganbayan court in suburban Quezon City, Estrada said of Arroyo: “If you’re not loved and trusted, it’s so hard for you to govern.”
Left-wing legislators also pressed their demand for Arroyo to step down.
“I envy our Thai comrades,” said Rep. Teodoro Casiño of the left-wing Bayan-Muna party. “I hope Arroyo, too, will heed the writings on the wall.”
While Thai opposition groups took just a few months to pressure Thaksin from power, Casiño said Arroyo had tenaciously clung to power, despite continuous street protests that started in June last year when allegations of her corruption and that she rigged the 2004 presidential elections surfaced.
“While Thaksin showed he had a heart, Arroyo will cling to power at all costs, even if our institutions, the congress, judiciary, executive get destroyed in the process,” Casiño said.
Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the large left-wing group Bayan, said Arroyo, unlike Thaksin, may be afraid of landing in jail if she relinquishes power because so many criminal allegations and political enemies have surfaced against her.
“To everyone who thinks Gloria would ‘do a Thaksin’ soon, they might end up disappointed,” Reyes said. “Self-sacrifice doesn’t rank very high among the values of this president.”
In addition to Senate President Drilon, those who spearheaded the “Gloria Resign Movement” were Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, and Panfilo Lacson, all of the opposition.
Drilon chairs the Liberal Party, the second biggest political party in the country which is also part of Arroyo’s ruling coalition.
Pimentel said they, together with civil society groups, would be going on a roadshow across the country during Congress’ Lenten break to drum up support for Arroyo’s resignation.
Unloved but Unbowed
Arroyo’s woes began in June 2005 with the release of audio tapes of illegally wiretapped conversations allegedly between her and a senior elections’ official about rigging the results of the May 2004 presidential vote.
In February, authorities said they foiled an attempt to oust Arroyo by an alliance of opposition politicians, rogue soldiers and communist rebels. Several people have been charged with rebellion for the coup plot.
But recent public opinion surveys showed that many Filipinos still believe that Arroyo should be removed from office, either through a “people power” uprising, a military coup or resignation. According to a March 8-14 survey by the Social Weather Stations, 48 percent of respondents agree with removing Arroyo by people power, while 36 percent agreed that toppling the president by “a military coup would be good for the country.”
Forty-four percent of 1,200 respondents nationwide also believe that it would be good for the Philippines if Arroyo resigns.
‘Cha-Cha’
Also yesterday, the Senate began a campaign against the Palace-endorsed people’s initiative mode to change the constitution.
Twenty-one senators, officials, and staff of the Senate joined the campaign launch at the Senate parking lot, where stickers calling for the resignation of Arroyo were distributed and stuck on vehicles. Pimentel told reporters that only Edgardo Angara and Manuel Lapid were not participating in the “protracted” war against moves to rewrite the 1987 Constitution.
Angara said the Senate should allow the process to proceed so as not to unwittingly convey the message that “we’re anti-change or anti-reform.”
A people’s initiative is one mode of changing the constitution that is reserved for the people. And now, we are trying to block even this particular mode,” Angara said.
“This gives the wrong impression that senators are for the status quo, when in fact, many of us want change,” he said. “It is not for the Senate to judge as to what mode is improper or unauthorized. That decision is for the Supreme Court to make.”
Arroyo endorsed last week the people’s initiative as a means to amend the constitution and allow a shift into a unicameral parliamentary system of government.
But the opposition-dominated Senate opposed the move and passed a resolution declaring as unlawful the signature campaign initiated by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to change the constitution through the people’s initiative mode. Arroyo has remained hounded by allegations she rigged the 2004 presidential polls. Her foes at the House of Representatives tried unsuccessfully to impeach her in September. But calls for her resignation persist as the president insists on rewriting the charter, saying the present presidential-unitary system after “long years of degeneration, has become a hindrance to progress.” (With reports from the Inquirer & Agencies)
