Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume III, Special Issue January 4 - 10, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
FLASH REPORTOnly
U.S. Can Make Gloria Win – Ka Roger
By
Alexander Martin Remollino
In
previous statements Rosal had said that because of the Macapagal-Arroyo
government’s human rights record, corruption, and subservience to U.S.
interests, it had come to be detested by the people. “Nothing
can make GMA win except U.S. support,” Rosal said in the press conference. Rosal
also said that most Philippine presidents were able to ascend to Malacañang
through U.S. maneuvers. “No one became president without being maneuvered into
power by the U.S.,” Rosal said. Rosal
laughed off attacks by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration against showbiz
personalities planning to run for public office. “You will notice that they
are attacking celebrity politicians,” he said, “but the jingle the GMA camp
wants to use is an adaptation of the ‘Otso-otso’ and ‘Bongga Ka ‘Day.
They are also acting like celebrities. “In
fact the main plan of Lakas is to include in its senatorial slate Bong Revilla,
Lito Lapid, and Joey Marquez.”
Rosal
said that the only remaining option of the Macapagal-Arroyo camp is to cheat in
the coming elections. “Why
does the Comelec insist on computerizing the counting system in spite of
warnings by experts that doing so would be risky, in spite of the joint
resolution by the Senate and the Lower House making the automation of the
counting system selective? “We
see massive cheating in the coming elections. The elections will be high-tech,
the cheating will also be high-tech,” Rosal said. GMA’s
ouster The
CPP spokesperson also reiterated the Party’s call for the ouster of the
incumbent president, similar to calls it made against Ferdinand Marcos in 1986
and Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 2001. Both were ousted by people-power revolts. He
said that the NPA will step up armed offensives this year as its contribution
for the ouster of Macapagal-Arroyo. Rosal
said that Macapagal-Arroyo’s record of human rights violations against
civilians is even worse than that of Marcos. In 1972 Marcos declared martial
law, which he supposedly lifted in 1981 but was practically in effect until his
ouster in 1986. “Many
were killed in during martial law—but they were members of the Party, they
were cadres,” he said. “In Gloria’s time many have been killed likewise
—but they were civilians. And it is a policy of the government—not just of
individual commanders. “In
Marcos’ time there were not too many massacres in, for instance, Southern
Tagalog. Many were arrested and there were those who were killed—we have many
comrades who are missing to this day without any trace. But in terms of the
number of civilians killed—deliberately attacked in military operations or
forcibly taken from their kaingins to be killed and declared as members of the
New People’s Army—Gloria is worse, even worse than Marcos. Definitely she is
worse than Erap, although it was Erap who started that.” On
the issue of corruption, Rosal said of the Macapagal-Arroyo government: “There
is the President Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard which is the most expensive
boulevard in the whole world. And it is only now that we have come to be named
as the second most corrupt country.” Bulatlat.com We want to know what you think of this article.
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