Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Vol. V, No. 32      September 18 - 24, 2005      Quezon City, Philippines

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People’s Tribunal to Hear Arroyo Impeach Case
‘Hyatt 10’, other new witnesses set to tell all about the president

The administration-dominated House of Representatives may have aborted the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo two weeks ago but the president will still be summoned to defend herself in a different court. On Oct. 4, Macapagal-Arroyo, who had faced impeachable offenses for electoral fraud, illegal numbers game, human rights violations and other charges, will face the People’s Tribunal organized by leading groups and persons involved in the impeachment of the president.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Bulatlat

IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST: Bayan-USA activists demonstrate against U.S.-Arroyo
regime in New York, Sept. 15 
                                            Photo courtesy of Bayan-USA

The administration-dominated House of Representatives may have aborted the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo two weeks ago but the president will still be summoned to defend herself in a different court. On Oct. 4, Macapagal-Arroyo, who had faced impeachable offenses for electoral fraud, illegal numbers game, human rights violations and other charges, will face the People’s Tribunal being organized by leading groups and persons involved in the impeachment of the president.

The tribunal will last from Oct. 4 – 16 and will likely be held in Quezon City, organizers told Bulatlat over the weekend.

Organized by the Bukluran para sa Katotohanan (Coalition for Truth) which counts almost 50 major organizations as affiliates, the 12-day tribunal will involve the House opposition members who steered the impeachment until it was shot down by the same chamber. Reps. Ronnie Zamora (lone district, San Juan), Francis “Chiz” Escudero (first district, Sorsogon), and Clavel Martinez (fourth district, Cebu City) will lead the prosecution team against Macapagal-Arroyo.

Former and present senators, retired justices and other prominent personalities will act as the 5-day tribunal’s presiding judges. No names have been revealed by Bukluran, however.

The House prosecutors will be backed by the Roque and Butuyan Law Offices (lawyers Harry Roque Jr., Joel Ruiz Butuyan and Romel Regalado Bagares); Prof. Pacifico Agabin, Dean of the Lyceum College of Law; Ibarra M. Gutierrez, Napoleon Poblador; Eugenio Villareal, Reynaldo Bustos Robles, Remedios Balbin and Neri Colmenares of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL).

The College of Jurors will be composed of members of people’s organizations and “civil society” groups.  The jurors will be limited to representatives of the youth.

The prosecution team in the tribunal is also expected to field in new witnesses who would testify on the allegations of electoral fraud while former Palace officials collectively known as the “Hyatt 10” will tell everything they know about the charges before the public, organizers said.

The indoor tribunal is expected to be witnessed by thousands of people led by organizations, groups, schools and institutions who have publicly declared their call for the president’s resignation.

Accused to be summoned

CODAL’S Colmenares, who was also part of the opposition’s private prosecutors in the House impeachment, said the tribunal will notify the president about the charges and that she in turn will be given all the opportunity to defend herself. In short, the Bayan Muna legal counsel also said, the tribunal will follow the due process of law.

If the president refuses to appear before the Tribunal, he told Bulatlat, she will still be given a credible and an honest-to-goodness defense on her behalf.

Macapagal-Arroyo had earlier been indicted by the International People’s Tribunal that convened in Quezon City last Aug. 19. She was found guilty by the jurors composed of delegates from foreign countries.

She will also be the second president to be indicted before a people’s tribunal. The late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos was tried by the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) Session on the Philippines in October 1980 in Antwerp, Belgium.

In its judgment, the PPT declared that the Marcos dictatorship did not anymore represent the Filipino people, and recognized the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) as the true representatives of the Filipino and Moro peoples.

The new tribunal’s organizer, Bukluran, includes two most popular widows who have called for Macapagal-Arroyo’s removal from office - former President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino and actress Susan Roces, wife of May 2004 presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. Poe is widely believed to have won the presidential race with Macapagal-Arroyo now accused of committing electoral fraud in order to win.

Bukluran’s spokesperson is La Salle president Bro. Armin Luistro. 

Colmenares also said that the tribunal would serve as a forum wherein the cases lodged against the president will be presented as a whole.

He recalled that the evidences against Macapagal-Arroyo have been presented in different venues with the jueteng pay-off scandal, the Jose Pidal issue and Tabayoyong case are being heard by different committees in the Senate.

Five joint committees in Congress are meanwhile hearing the controversial wiretapped conversations between the president and an election official, widely known as the “Garci Tapes.” A separate House committee is also investigating the president’s alleged abuse of public funds for electioneering.

The issue on political assassinations, meanwhile, has yet to be discussed in a proper venue.

All evidences

“The impeachment proceedings could have been the venue where the public will be given a chance to hear and see the evidences against the president but we were never given a chance to do so,” Colmenares said.

The cases that would be taken up by the tribunal, Colmenares said, will be confined to the amended impeachment complaint filed by opposition congressmen, people’s organizations and private individuals at the House on July 25.

In the amended impeachment complaint, the president is accused of violating her oath and is also charged with culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, bribery and graft and corruption.

The president is charged with committing electoral fraud as evidenced by the “Garci Tapes” and gross human rights violations when she acquiesced in and provided impunity to the killings of political dissenters. She is also charged with approving contracts like the North rail and the Piatco NAIA Terminal II, which allegedly proved grossly disadvantageous to the government.  She is likewise accused of accepting illegal gambling payola and using public funds for electioneering.

Overseeing the preparations for the tribunal is a 10-member steering committee composed of lawyer Louie Sison of Bangon Pilipinas, chairman; Colmenares, vice chair; Reps. Francis Escudero and Ronnie Zamora representing the House impeachment team; Liddy Nakpil of Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC); Linggoy Alcuaz of the National Coalition of Concerned Volunteers (NCCV); Nathanael Santiago, Bayan Muna secretary general representing the Solidarity Movement; Manuel Quezon of Bukluran; Gerry Bulatao of the Black and White Movement; and lawyer Nasser Marohomsalic.

A survey by the Social Weather Station (SWS) covering Aug. 26-Sept. 5 shows that 79 percent of the population wants the president impeached, 64 percent favored her resignation while 51 percent said she should be removed through People Power if the House of Representatives would fail to impeach her.

Bulatlat

Members of the Bukluran para sa Katotohanan include AKBAYAN Citizen’s Action Party, Ateneo Concerned Faculty and Youth, Bangon, Pilipinas, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), Be Not Afraid, Black & White Movement, Citizens for TRUTH (Transparency, Responsibility,Unity, Trust, Hope), Citizens for Truth, Resignation, Impeachment, or Ouster (C4T), Coalition for National SolidarityCounsels for the Defense of Civil Liberties (CODAL), De La Salle, FPJP Movement, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), Interfaith Movement for Truth, Justice and Genuine Change (IFM)Kilusan ng Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME), Laban ng Masa, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), Peoples Assembly for Genuine Alternatives to Social Apathy (PAG-ASA), Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Reporma, Union of Muslims for Morality and Truth (UMMAT), United Opposition (UNO), Unity for Truth and Justice, UP AWARE, UP Diliman Student Council (UPD USC), White Ribbon Movement, Women March, Youth DARE, Action for Economic Reforms, Alert and Concerned Employees for Better SSS (ACCESS), Anti-Crime Civilian Task Force (ACCT FORCE), Alyansa ng Lapiang Security Guards sa Pilipinas (ALAS), Alyansa ng mga Malayang Obrero (AMO), Bureau of Broadcast Services Employees Association (BBSEA), Coalition for Reform and Empowerment (CARE), Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines Monthlies Employees Union (CCBPMEU), Construction Workers Solidarity (CWS), Electric Cooperatives Officers of the Philippines (ECOP), Grand Order of the Unified Guardians (GOUNIG), Guardians International Brotherhood Federal (GIBF), Hasik ng Lahi, Isulong ang Maralitang Pilipino (ISMARPIL), Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan All Filipino Democratic Movement (KAAKBAY), Katipunan ng mga Barangay Tanod ng Pilipinas (KABATA), Kilusan Tungo sa Repormang Agraryo (Kilos AR), Malayang Kabataang Pilipino (MKP), Mamamayan Kaagapay ng Bayan (MAKABAYAN), Martsa ng Bayan, Miascor Workers Union (MWU), Muslim Organization for Solidarity, Liberty and Equality for the Masses (MOSLEM), National Labor Union (NLU), National Wages and Productivity Commission Employees Association (NWPCEA), NEA BANDIDO, Pambansang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators ng Pilipinas (PASATROPA), Panay Negros Brotherhood Organization (PNB Org), People's Alliance for Democracy and Reform (PADER), Philippine Airlines Association (PALEA), Philippine Congress of Employees (PCE), Philippine National Unions Council (PNUC), PI Mnufacturing Employees Associatio (PIMEA), Solidarity, Sto. Nino Employees Association (SNEA), Sulong Masang Pilipino (SUMAPI), Triskelion Relief Operations and Public Assistance (TROPA), Unified Land Transport Registered Association of the Philippines (ULTRA), Union of Filipino Service Workers (UFSW) and United Muslim Association of the Philippines (UMAP).

 

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