MANILA, 26 June 2005 — An opposition leader yesterday predicted an early end to the Arroyo presidency and critics urged Filipinos to mount a tax boycott until the president at least answers the allegations of wrongdoing against her.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, a former ally of Arroyo, said the president has lost credibility and can no longer lead the nation amid accusations that she rigged last year’s election and received support from illegal gambling operators.
As such, Pimentel said, Arroyo would spare the nation from further difficulties by stepping down and prevent another “people power” uprising.
Arroyo has denied receiving election campaign support from jueteng operators but has refused to comment on purported wiretapped conversations she allegedly had with an election official about rigging last year’s election to get a 1 million-vote margin over her main rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.
“We have a president who is sleepwalking ... does not know where she is going and who has lost total credibility and is therefore incapable of governing,” said Pimentel, who supported Poe.
“This to my mind is an indication that the days of Gloria really are numbered. It’s only a matter of time where she will have to say for the good of the nation she has to resign.”
In an ongoing Senate investigation of illegal gambling, witnesses claimed Arroyo’s son and a brother-in-law, both members of the House of Representatives, received payoffs. Arroyo has ordered an investigation. The two men have denied any links to jueteng and filed separate libel suits against a woman who said she personally handed the payoffs to them.
Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former president of the Philippines’ bishops’ assembly, quoted an unidentified witness as saying Arroyo received campaign contributions mostly “in kind” from illegal gambling operators.
Pimentel said the illegal gambling scandal “has reached the doorstep” of the presidential palace. “And if the jueteng racket has reached that proportion, you cannot say that the president is not involved,” he said.
No Ninoy
Pimentel and others also scored Arroyo for likening herself to the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., an opposition leader whose assassination by government soldiers on Aug. 21, 1983 sparked protests that led to the downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos more than two years later.
At Friday’s presentation of the Benigno Aquino Jr. Awards for Nationalism in Malaca?ang, Arroyo said: “By undergoing...the assaults on my character, I feel humbled because they are assassinating my character as they have assassinated Ninoy.”
Pimentel said Aquino was assassinated for his heroic efforts to dismantle a dictatorial regime and restoring democracy in the country. Arroyo is under fire for the alleged wrongdoings.
‘Pathetic’
Former Sen. Rene Saguisag, a key figure in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship, bristled at Arroyo’s statement comparing herself with Aquino. “Her self-serving declaration that she is like Ninoy was pathetic. Talaga pong walang delicadeza (She has no sense of propriety),” he said.
“Nakakapangilabot po (Her statement gives me goose bumps),” Saguisag said, pointing out that he could recall nothing that Arroyo and her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, did “during the dark years” to help Ninoy.
According to Saguisag, President Macapagal signed the 1973 Constitution that legalized the Marcos dictatorship, hoped to become prime minister in the National Assembly, and “buttered up to the dictator.”
“When he thought Marcos would have him arrested, he sought refuge in the American Embassy. The legislature honored Ninoy. (Arroyo), solely on her own, named an airport and a boulevard after her father. She could not wait for Congress to do so,” Saguisag said.
“Ninoy did not cheat to win and could not have been taped cheating,” he added.
No Talk, No Tax
Saguisag said a tax boycott may compel Arroyo to answer the accusations that she is trying to ignore. “If she wishes to answer when the time is proper, then we, the sovereign people, should also be allowed to pay taxes when we deem it proper,” he said.
Makati Rep. Agapito “Butz” Aquino, younger brother of Ninoy Aquino, said the president’s silence on the tape was contributing to the economy’s downturn.
“One of the causes of the economy being hurt is the uncertainty caused by her silence. While she has blamed destabilizers, I think it is the other way around,” Aquino said.
“Her silence is causing our instability. The longer she remains quiet, the more the possibility of civil disobedience,” he said. (With input from Inquirer News Service and Agencies)
