White Ribbons for
Change
In the call for the resignation or removal
of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo white is the color of the day for a
new alliance of anti-Arroyo personalities and groups from the so-called
middle forces. The White Ribbon Movement (WRM), the middle-force alliance
has stood that Arroyo must step down from the presidency by, among others,
the tying of white ribbons in cars, posts, houses and buildings around
Metro Manila.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
In the twilight years
of the Marcos regime, yellow was the color of the day: yellow confetti
rained from buildings as anti-Marcos protesters marched on Ayala Avenue in
Makati
City. The protesters were also singing
“Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Old Oak Tree.”
In the present
campaign for the resignation or removal of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
- who is under fire for alleged cheating in the 2004 elections as well as
large-scale corruption and what cause-oriented groups describe as her
government’s imposition of anti-national and anti-people policies – white
is the color of the day for a new alliance of anti-Arroyo personalities
and groups from the middle forces. Calling itself the White Ribbon
Movement (WRM), the middle-force alliance has stood that Arroyo must step
down from the presidency by, among others, the tying of white ribbons in
cars, posts, houses and buildings around Metro Manila.
Launched July 23 at
the La Salle Greenhills School, the WRM describes itself as a movement of
concerned Filipinos calling for Arroyo’s exit from Malacañang as a
prerequisite for the institutionalization of “meaningful reforms” in the
country.
Point of unity
What is the WRM’s
main point of unity?
“The White Ribbon
Movement is a movement of middle forces launched by several individuals,
some of whom represent groups, who are united by one thing, which is
that…Mrs. Arroyo no longer has the right (to govern), or it is best for
the country that she steps down,” said Dr. Minguita Padilla, one of the
alliance’s members, in an interview with Bulatlat.
“That’s why,” Padilla
continued, “our initial call was resignation. Because we believe that the
(Garci) tapes are authentic, we believe that it is…a matter of public
trust and there’s no longer that – if you’ve lost public trust you could
no longer rule effectively. But unfortunately as we have seen, she has not
stepped down. She keeps saying, ‘Bring it to the proper forum.’ And that
is why we are also supporting the impeachment.”
Other individuals and
groups are also open to the idea of ousting Arroyo and installing as a
replacement a transition council that would preside over the
institutionalization of urgent reforms before calling for a genuine
election.
Progressive groups under the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) have been actively
batting for a people’s transition council to 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 transition council, according to Bayan,
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, former election official Virgilio 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.
Other personalities and groups campaigning
for Arroyo’s ouster, like Laban ng Masa (The Masses’ Fight) and some
groups in the mainstream political opposition, have broadcast their own
versions of a transition council.
Among the WRM members pushing for a
transition council is Mike Pante, editor-in-chief of Matanglawin,
the Ateneo de Manila University’s official national-language student
publication.
But he also recognizes the WRM’s openness
to groups and individuals calling for Arroyo’s resignation or impeachment.
“What is important is for people to rally around a common cause, which is
to effect a change in the presidency and in our political system,” Pante
told Bulatlat in a separate interview.
Do those in the WRM
who support the impeachment process feel confident that the case will
prosper?
“If you’re only
talking about...numbers, then you’d say no,” Padilla says. “But it’s more
than that, there’s a conscience bloc, and we believe the conscience bloc
will vote according to their conscience. Once the evidence is presented,
they cannot possibly play blind.”
Changes
While Padilla and
Pante have different personal views as to how Arroyo must be compelled to
step down from office, they agree that there would have to be reforms
beyond a changing of the guard. As Pante said, “It is a waste of effort if
we only change presidents without enacting political and economic
reforms.”
“We have a
dysfunctional political system,” Padilla said. “And it gets worse and
worse and worse because so many have turned a blind eye for so many years
on the system.”
Padilla said that
major reforms would have to be done in public health and education. She
deplores the yearly decreases in the budgetary allocations for health and
education, which she says are of primary importance to the people.
The doctor also
pushes for a massive anti-corruption campaign as a prerequisite for debt
relief. “If we can show the world that we can clean up our tax collection
system, we can clean up our legislative system, we will have earned the
right to ask the world to give us debt relief,” she explained. “Because
how can you ask for debt relief – we need debt relief, we have too many
debts which we should not be paying for – when you’re not fixing your own
backyard, you’re not fixing corruption?”
Other reforms Padilla
wishes to see are the revamp of the Commission on Election (Comelec), the
abolition of the pork barrel, and a reexamination of the 1987
Constitution.
Pante, meanwhile,
thinks that the most important reforms would be those involving “genuine
agrarian reform, the scrapping of GMA-sponsored laws that are anti-people
such as the EVAT, and more representation for marginalized sectors in the
government.” Bulatlat
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