This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 23, July 17-23, 2005
The Anti-GMA Forces
and Their Proposed Solutions
While there is a unity among various political forces on the campaign to remove
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from office, there are different ideas on who
or what should replace Macapagal-Arroyo should she be unseated. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO The July 13 rally along
Ayala Avenue in Makati City calling for the removal of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo from office was, so to speak, an all-star cast of the various
groups opposing the current Malacañang occupant. The forces ranged from Left
to Right. Present were the different cause-oriented groups under the banner of
the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), the National
Coalition of Concerned Volunteers (NCCV) led by actor Rez Cortez, the United
Opposition (UNO) led by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, the Be Not Afraid Movement
led by Sen. Panfilo Lacson and the so-called rejectionist groups coalesced into
the Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight). Anti-Arroyo rallies have
been held almost daily since June 6. While there is a unity
among various political forces on the campaign to remove Macapagal-Arroyo from
office, there have been different ideas on what should replace Macapagal-Arroyo
if she is unseated. Transition council Many of the groups present
in the July 13 rally gravitate toward the idea of a people’s transition council.
Among them, it is Bayan and Laban ng Masa which have clear program proposals for
the transition council. Bayan’s proposed People’s
Council would be composed of “patriotic and pro-people figures” with a track
record of integrity and competence as political leaders, as well as democratic
and progressive elements from the opposition parties that play significant roles
in the anti-Arroyo campaign. The council would draft a
nationalist-oriented and progressive constitution. After that, it will call for
genuine elections. It would also undertake a
number of urgent tasks, including: investigation of the involvement and
culpability of Macapagal-Arroyo, Garcillano, military officials, and others
involved in poll fraud; implementation of electoral and political reforms;
rendering of justice and indemnification to human rights victims; and ensuring
the protection of and respect for civil liberties; resumption of peace
negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) through the fulfillment of all
existing agreements, solving the fiscal crisis by canceling or repudiating all
odious debts; and protecting the country from the ravages of free-market
globalization and reversing the disastrous structural adjustment programs
imposed by the country’s creditors. The Laban ng Masa, on the
other hand, is pushing for what it calls a “transitional revolutionary
government” or TRG. The TRG would form a constitutional convention with
proportional representation, and will work for the following goals: public
custody of common resources like land and water, repudiation of illegitimate
debts and relief to workers and all other vulnerable sectors of society,
recognition of the Moro people’s right to self-determination, promotion of
gender equality and women’s rights, and ensuring of the people’s access to basic
services as well as the protection of their rights. The Laban ng Masa is
calling for the resignation of the entire Macapagal-Arroyo regime and the
abolition of Congress and the Comelec as a prerequisite for the establishment of
the TRG. Its statements, however, do not say who will compose the TRG. A number of political
figures from UNO, which is associated with deposed President Joseph Estrada, and
the NCCV which supported the presidential bid of the late actor Fernando Poe,
Jr., have expressed openness to the idea of a Transition Council. Among them are
Estrada himself, House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, and Ilocos Norte Rep.
Imee Marcos. Marcos, in particular, pushes for a transition council to be headed
by actress Susan Roces-Poe, wife of Fernando Poe, Jr. Abat Absent from the July 13
rally was the Coalition for National Salvation (CNS), a group led by retired
Gen. Fortunato Abat who currently faces court charges of inciting to sedition.
The Abat group is also batting for a TRG to replace Macapagal-Arroyo. Abat, former chief of the
armed forces, calls for the resignation of the president and the vice president
and the abolition of Congress prior to the establishment of the TRG. The TRG
will work based on a program of self- and social discipline and punish those who
committed offenses against the nation through “revolutionary laws.” It will also
call for a referendum or election to seek the people’s approval for a
constitution that will convert the country into a federal and parliamentary
system. The general, believed by
some quarters as actually part of the camp of former president Fidel V. Ramos,
is reportedly calling for a military junta. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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