This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 18, June 12, 2006
GMA’s Cha-Cha, Repression Hit in Independence Day
Rally
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO Religious leaders,
opposition politicians, and militant groups assailed the charter change
being pushed by the Arroyo administration – as well as what was
described as the climate of repression – during an inter-faith prayer
rally commemorating Independence Day at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila
earlier today. “We won freedom from the
Spaniards, the Americans, and the Japanese,” said Novaliches Bishop Emeritus
Teodcoro Bacani, Jr. “But we have not won freedom from the Arroyo regime.” Jaro Archbishop Angel
Lagdameo, president of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines (CBCP), made a similar observation in a statement he sent, which was
read by Fr. Joe Dizon of Kairos Philippines: “We celebrate today the
Philippine Independence Day with gratitude for everything that has been in our
history. We honor the heroes big and small, known and unknown, who have worked
for our liberation as a nation. Bacani further denounced
what was described as the lack of civil liberties under the Arroyo regime. “They
say we are free, but if we speak and act in protest against this government, we
cannot be sure whether we would remain free the next day,” he said. Former Vice President
Teofisto Guingona, Jr., meanwhile, dismissed the proposed shift in the form of
government from presidential to parliamentary as “not the solution” to the
country’s woes. “The solution lies in virtuous leadership,” he pointed out. Lagdameo also said the CBCP
was not opposed to charter change per se, but was against charter change
by the present Congress convening as a constituent assembly. “From history we learn that
dictators are products of and supported by parliamentary forms of government,”
Lagdameo said. In a statement distributed
during the rally, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance)
chairperson Dr. Carol Araullo said there was nothing to celebrate because the
country has no real independence. “What independence do we
have when the Arroyo regime traitorously wishes to undermine further our
national sovereignty, patrimony and territorial integrity through the proposed
charter change?” Araullo said in her statement. Among the personalities who
graced the occasion were former executive secretary Oscar Orbos, former
Transportation and Communications Secretary Josie Lichauco, Manila Vice Mayor
Danny Lacuna, San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, and Sen. Jamby Madrigal. The prayer rally, which was
attended by thousands of people from Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog and Central
Luzon, was officiated by leaders from Catholic and Protestant churches, as well
as by Muslim and even Hindu leaders. The ralliers, numbering around 10,000,
gathered at assembly points along Taft Avenue in Manila and at the Welcome
Rotunda, the boundary between Manila and Quezon City, and marched towards
Liwasang Bonifacio. Bulatlat © 2006 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Posted 11:15 p.m., June 12, 2006
“But while we succeeded in breaking the yoke and chain of Spanish, Japanese and
American colonizers, are we succeeding in breaking the yoke and chain of fellow
Filipinos?”