“We caution the public that the congressional bid of Pres. Gloria Arroyo, her two in-laws and her two sons who are running as district and party-list representatives, the accreditation of various Malacañang-backed party-lists and many of her ex-Cabinet members’ candidacy for district representatives, are all geared toward supporting the perpetuation of Arroyo’s rule after her term as president,” Colmenares said.
For this election the First Gentleman’s brother, Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, seeks to represent the fifth district of Negros Occidental and Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo the first district of Camarines Sur. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo, sister of Mike Arroyo, is seeking to represent the Kasangga party list, an incumbent party list, while Arroyo herself is seeking the congressional seat in the second district of Pampanga.
“Imagine Mrs Arroyo’s son, Mikey Arroyo, being the nominee of a partylist representing security guards, her sister-in-law Lourdes Arroyo allegedly representing the magbabalut (boiled duck egg vendor) and former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, a mouthpiece of big oil companies, eyeing to represent the transport sector in Congress. This is intolerable—a clear measure of an insecure regime desperately clinging to power,” said Joselito Ustarez, KMU vice president, in a press conference.
Ferdinand Gaite, national president of Courage and member of Kontra Daya, promised that they will pore over the list of nominees for the partylist groups. So far they have secured the names of nominees for 112 of the 187 accredited partylist groups. They will investigate further because, according to them, it seems there are family members (such as spouses) of known Arroyo allies among the nominees.
“We should not have to file disqualification cases, one does not need to be intelligent, for instance, to know that Mikey Arroyo cannot be considered ‘marginalized.’ His SALN stated he has P99 million, he is an incumbent congressman, a presidential son, and we have never seen him don the uniform of the security guard, let alone work as one,” said Gaite.
Gabriela reported that some of these dubious partylist groups are actually working with the military, and being trained by them, to conduct vilification campaigns against the progressive party-list groups and candidates. Joms Salvador, secretary-general of Gabriela, cited as example the party-list Babae Ka. In a sortie in Tondo, Gabriela members reported they saw Babae Ka using government vehicles.
“This should bring about a tremendous upsurge of protests to counter Arroyo and her ilk’s schemes to use the law for their self-interest,” said Salvador. The progressive groups vowed to hold a series of protest actions, including a trooping to the Comelec offices and the national headquarters of administration-backed partylist groups.
“We can take no more after nine years of a corrupt and tyrannical rule. The people have had enough. Ensuring that Arroyo’s rule will end in June 30 this year means blocking all her efforts to invade the Lower House. The people must be able to see through these squid tactics and navigate the murky waters to prevent a dark regime from continuing,” Gabriela Rep. Luz Ilagan said. (Bulatlat.com)
