This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 40, November 10, 2005
CCTA: ‘Alternative
Venue’ in Search for Truth, Accountability
With the dismissal of the
impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of
Representatives last September, the people have no recourse left but to take
over the search for truth. This is the rationale behind the formation and recent
opening of the Citizens’ Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA), say its
convenors and members, which has proceeded with its business in an orderly
fashion despite threats and disruptions from the Macapagal-Arroyo camp. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO With the dismissal of the
impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the House of
Representatives last September, the people have no recourse left but to take
over the search for truth. This is the rationale behind the formation and recent
opening of the Citizens’ Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA), say its
convenors and members. The CCTA was initiated by
various groups which have called for Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation or removal
from office because of the “brazen killing” of the impeachment process which
“has denied the public the chance to know the truth and demand accountability of
the President for the various crimes and misdemeanors for which she is being
accused,” say the CCTA convenors, who include Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera – 1993
Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication
Arts – and Dr. Maria Serena Diokno, professor of history at the University of
the Philippines (UP). Other convenors are: Sr. Mary John Mananzan, OSB,
prioress, Missionary Benedictine Sisters, St. Scholastica’s College; Bro.
Edmundo Fernandez of the De La Salle Brothers; and Bp. Solito Tuquero of the
United Methodist Church of the Philippines. The concept paper for the
CCTA describes it as “an alternative venue to present, examine and perpetuate
the body of evidence against the President and determine her accountability as
well as that of other public officials.” “This people’s congress
does not render a verdict,” said former Vice President Teofisto Guingona, Jr.,
who chairs the CCTA’s presidium. “It seeks to ferret out in an orderly
proceeding the presentation of facts. It is not unjust. It gives notice and
opportunity to all who may feel aggrieved.” Other members of the
presidium are: Merlin Magallona, former dean of the UP College of Law; UP law
professor Victoria Avena, who is also a former commissioner of the Presidential
Commission on Good Government (PCGG); lawyer Nasser Marohomsalic, a former human
rights commissioner; Supreme Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Iglesia Filipina
Independiente (IFI or Philippine Independent Church); Dr. Sixto Roxas of the
Maximo Kalaw Institute for Sustainable Development; Sharon Rose Joy Ruiz-Duremdes
of the Ecumenical Women’s Forum; and Carmencita Karagdag of the World Council of
Churches. The presidium also has members from the various sectors – urban poor,
women, workers, peasants, and youth sitting alternately. In the CCTA’s second
session, held on Nov. 9 at the College of Social Work and Community Development,
University of the Philippines (UP CSWCD), the public got a glimpse of its
workings. As in a regular trial, there are witnesses testifying under oath who
are questioned by lawyers and there are presentations of documentary evidence.
There is also opportunity
for the Macapagal-Arroyo to present its side of the issues raised against it. A
summons had in fact been brought to Malacañang weeks before the opening of the
CCTA. During the first session of
the CCTA, the office of Environment Secretary Mike Defensor – a staunch
Macapagal-Arroyo ally – sent a representative, lawyer Cybill Uytiepo, to attend
as an observer. The CCTA members have been inviting her to attend the sessions
also as a participant. There are seats reserved for representatives of Macapagal-Arroyo
in the venues. The CCTA will gather and
study the evidences to be presented to it, with assistance from select members
of the House of Representatives impeachment team and private lawyers serving as
lawyer-delegates. The difference between the
CCTA and a regular court, as Guingona stated, is that it will not render a
verdict, but will only formulate recommendations. Its findings will be presented
to the public and, in particular, to religious institutions like the Catholic
Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Association of Major Religious
Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP), National Council of Churches in the
Philippines (NCCP), Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC), the
media, schools, as well as public institutions like Congress, the Office of the
Ombudsman, and appropriate international bodies. Charges Macapagal-Arroyo faced
three impeachment complaints in Congress earlier this year, following the
surfacing of tapes containing conversations between her and an election
official, widely believed to be Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio
Garcillano. The conversations appeared to deal with the rigging of the 2004
presidential election. The first complaint was
filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano on the basis of the taped conversations, now known
by the moniker “Hello Garci” tapes, under the impeachable offense of betraying
the public trust. A second complaint, filed by lawyer Jose Rizaldo Lopez, was
reportedly very similar to the Lozano complaint. Cause-oriented groups and
concerned citizens filed an amended version of the Lozano complaint, expanding
its scope to include bribery, graft and corruption, and culpable violation of
the Constitution, with complicity in human rights violations by state forces
under her watch falling under culpable violation of the Constitution. All three
complaints were dismissed at the House of Representatives last September. The charges being taken up
by the CCTA are:
Under electoral fraud, issues related to the “Hello Garci” tapes, the use of
the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (rich golden harvest) or fertilizer funds, the
transfer of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) trust fund to
the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and the use of the
road users’ tax fund all for “electioneering purposes, and other instances of
fraud in the 2004 election;
Under political killings and other human rights violations, the summary
executions or extrajudicial killings as well as abductions and involuntary
disappearances of activists and others critical of the policies of the
Macapagal-Arroyo administration, as well as violent dispersals of protest
actions under the calibrated preemptive response policy; and The CCTA took up election
fraud on its second session, held Nov. 9 at the UP College of Social Work and
Community Development (CSWCD). In the Nov. 9 session,
Segundo Tabayoyong, former chief of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)’s
questioned documents division testified that Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice President
Noli de Castro engaged in what he called “second-generation electoral fraud,”
which he said involves the tampering of election returns. “First-generation
electoral fraud,” he said, involves “ballot-switching, ballot box-snatching,
fake ballots and dagdag-bawas (vote-padding and vote-shaving).” During the counting period
after the 2004 presidential election, the church-based election monitoring group
Patriots acquired copies of discrepant election returns and certificates of
canvass from several provinces. Abdullah Dalidig, chair of the National Citizens
Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) in Lanao del Sur, a province in southern
Philippines, corroborated Tabayoyong’s testimony by presenting election
documents from the said province. He said, “This is the dirtiest election in
Lanao del Sur”. Meanwhile, former
Solicitor-General Frank Chavez and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP or
Philippine Peasant Movement) chair Danilo Ramos testified on the use of the
fertilizer funds for electioneering purposes. Chavez presented documents from
the Department of Budget and management (DBM) on the release of P728 million and
P1.1 billion in fertilizer funds immediately before and during the campaign
period. The money, Chavez said,
never reached farmers but was diverted to fund Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign.
Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza corroborated Chavez’s testimony, saying his
district did not receive any money from the fertilizer funds even as his name
had appeared in the list of recipients. Ramos, meanwhile, said the
supposed release of the fertilizer funds during harvest time, when farmers do
not use fertilizers, was questionable. Threats The CCTA has been able to
proceed so far with its business in an orderly fashion, even as its members have
been facing daily threats of sedition cases and the proceedings have been met
with disruption attempts from Malacañang allies. “The organizers of the
People’s Court may be held liable for Inciting to Sedition
under Article 142 of the Revised Penal Code,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita
stated in a Nov. 9 memorandum. Guingona had pointed out
the day before that the CCTA “does not usurp” any public office or function. “It
only exercises acts in accordance with the Constitution, specifically Article
XI, Section 15 of the same,” Guingona said. Article XI, Section 15 of the Constitution provides that: “The
State shall respect the role of independent people's organizations to enable the
people to pursue and protect, within the democratic framework, their legitimate
and collective interests and aspirations through peaceful and lawful means.
“People’s
organizations are bona fide associations of citizens with demonstrated
capacity to promote the public interest and with identifiable leadership,
membership, and structure.” A day before, members of
the party-list group Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD), known to be
supportive of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, had interrupted the
proceedings by standing up and shouting derogatory remarks against the CCTA
organizers. After ignoring instructions that they take the seats intended for
representatives of President Arroyo, they were led out of the venue of the first
session, the UP Theater, and were beaten by outraged delegates. On Nov. 9, ANAD members
staged a picket outside the UP CSWCD just as the proceedings were about to
begin. One of the group’s leaders, Jun Alamo, who claimed to be a former member
of both the legal organization Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) and
the clandestine New People’s Army (NPA), branded the CCTA as a “communist
congress” in an interview with reporters. Asked whether all the
members of the CCTA were communists, Alamo said: “Not all. There are some who
are ignorant and are being deceived by the communists.” When asked who among the
CCTA members were communists, he identified Bayan Muna (People First) Reps.
Teddy Casiño and Satur Ocampo, as well as others whom he described merely as
“incumbent congressmen.” When asked if that included Reps. Francis Escudero and
Alan Peter Cayetano, Alamo did not answer. Asked again who among the CCTA
members were communists, Alamo told a reporter: “You are putting me in a very
difficult position.” The ANAD is a group of
Macapagal-Arroyo allies based in Cebu province, central Philippines. It has run
twice for the party-list elections but lost in both instances. It is led by
Pastor Jun Alcover, who claims to be a former member of the underground
Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).
The second session at the
UP CSWCD ended without incident. The CCTA will resume its sessions on November
15 and 16 at the University of Makati. According to UN Judge ad litem
Atty. Romeo Capulong that people have been calling the CCTA secretariat asking
to be allowed to present testimony and evidence against the President. “The
proceedings have encouraged other potential witnesses to come out,” he said.
Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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