CRISIS OF THE ARROYO REGIME

Arroyo Not Yet Off The Hook
Transition Council to prosecute and try GMA

If the impeachment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is “killed” in the House this week, it won’t mean that the president herself is already off the hook. Her impeachment will likely be pursued – this time by a Transition Council that will be formed after her possible removal by people power.

By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat

If the impeachment of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is “killed” in the House this week, it won’t mean that the president herself is already off the hook. Her impeachment will likely be pursued – this time by a Transition Council that will be formed after her possible removal by people power.

Leaders belonging to the Gloria Step Down Movement (GSM) – a broad network of individuals and groups united by the objective of removing Macapagal-Arroyo through street protests – made sure on Sept. 3 that the president as well as other high public officials involved in constitutional violations and other high crimes would be prosecuted and tried.

GSM leaders, led by Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, president of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan – New Patriotic Alliance), revealed such plan at the national launching of GSM and peoples’ assembly in Quezon City.

The common perception among various leaders and groups that gathered for the assembly was that the arena for the removal of Macapagal-Arroyo had shifted from Congress back to the parliament of the streets leading to a third people power.

The assembly was held the day after former President Corazon Aquino and Susan Roces, widow of presidential aspirant Fernando Poe, Jr. – widely believed to have won the last presidential race – led anti-Arroyo forces in a prayer assembly at the La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City.

The blueprint for the Transition Council together with a people’s agenda were also formally unveiled in the same assembly even as the nation awaited the final stretch of the impeachment process set to take place Sept. 5.

The “Transition Council” – seen to take over the reins of government temporarily upon the president’s removal - is slated to become a major project of various militant people’s organizations.

Last ditch

On the eve of Monday’s House session, pro-impeachment legislators were reportedly in a last-ditch attempt to complete the 79 signatures needed to bring the impeachment of Macapagal-Arroyo to the Senate. Pro-Arroyo lawmakers on the other hand are confident the move would be shot down conclusively even as many of them have been accused of succumbing to alleged bribery by Malacañang (the presidential office) to win their vote.

As explained by a number of speakers in the GSM assembly, the proposed council will take shape from a people power that will remove Macapagal-Arroyo from the presidency - hopefully before the end of this year. The president is facing impeachment charges for culpable violation of the constitution, bribery, graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust.

But the council, described as “extra-constitutional,” is also premised on the scenario of a non-constitutional succession preventing Vice President Noli de Castro, who is widely believed to have also committed electoral fraud and also for being inept, from succeeding Macapagal-Arroyo.

Bayan chair Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo clarified that, unlike in the 1986 Edsa I and 2001 Edsa Dos, the ouster of Macapagal-Arroyo will be followed by a concrete people’s agenda to be initiated by the Transition Council. Edsa I ended the Marcos dictatorship while Edsa Dos led the ouster of President Joseph E. Estrada.

It was learned, however, that various groups from the opposition camp, moderate forces and social democrats who would eventually join a broad alliance that would be forged on the common aim of removing Macapagal-Arroyo have separate blueprints of their own. Previously, their proposals have included constitutional succession, snap elections and a revolutionary council.

Under GSM’s program, the Transition Council will be led by representatives of the various forces that worked for the ouster of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime, especially the representatives of the toiling masses and other democratic forces and including those from women, the Moro, indigenous minorities and Church leaders. It will eventually include representatives of the political opposition as well as retired progressive military officials.

People’s assembly

Araullo explained that even before the removal of the president, GSM groups and allies will hold a national people’s assembly to elect members of the council. Both the council and people’s assembly are foreseen to last for six months up to one year, she also said.

By its formation, the council will investigate and prosecute Macapagal-Arroyo and other high public officials who are party to the betrayal of public trust, bribery, graft and corruption and other high crimes. It will also initiate electoral reforms and pave the way for the holding of credible elections.

Included in the people’s agenda for the transition are: the scrapping of the expanded VAT, debt cancellation and repudiation; junking of the Mining Act, Oil Deregulation Law and EPIRA; and resuming peace talks between government on the one hand and the NDFP and MILF on the other.

Proposals about the council and the people’s agenda have surfaced over the last three months following revelations about Macapagal-Arroyo’s direct hand in the electoral fraud attending the 2004 presidential elections even as Congress was also investigating allegations of jueteng (illegal numbers game) payoffs involving her and family.

If it materializes, the Transition Council would be a historical landmark for guaranteeing the people’s democratic representation in governance.

Leaders at the GSM assembly however are realistic enough to admit that pushing the council would be an uphill battle. Just the same, it was also said, it can be the first step toward the long-term quest for the people’s democratic power. Bulatlat

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