By Jelly F. Musico

MANILA, Dec. 3 –- Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Thursday criticized former President Fidel V. Ramos for asking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign after President Arroyo decided to run for congressional seat in Pampanga.

The lady lawmaker said that Ramos had no right to advise President Arroyo to step down because the former president had once tried also to run again by amending the Constitution during his term.

”There is this talkative old man who wants to say that President Arroyo should no longer run. What about him? He tried to run by amending the Constitution no less. I had to go to the Supreme Court–that was the case of Santiago vs. Comelec where the Supreme Court had to put end to his political ambitions,” Santiago said in an ambush media interview.

”Who is he now? What is the morality of a person who is now seeking to prevent others what he tried to do before? What is his moral basis? This is self-serving advice. If has a chance, he will do it also,” Santiago also said.

Santiago said that she discovered in last year’s Senate finance subcommittee budget hearing that Ramos was in the payroll of Malacanang, holding a minor position.

”If that remains to be true – since the Office of the President is no longer under my jurisdiction during this year's budget deliberations, that should be verified – then he has violated the Civil Service Code because he is an employee of the government and should not engage in any partisan political activity. Zip up your mouth,” Santiago said.

Santiago, a lawyer and constitutionalist, said there was no need for the President to resign just because she decided to run for lower position.

”In fact, when they were discussing this in the Constitutional Commission, there was no mention at all of a possible resignation of the president just because that president might be running for another position,” the veteran senator said.

”She is making history. If she fails, she is going to be punished by an entire generation of Filipinos because of their mindset. But if she wins, she would have made history. I have always liked people who make history, that's why I prevented Fidel Ramos from attempting to make history,” Santiago stressed.

On the speculations that President Arroyo wants to be prime minister, Santiago said there was nothing wrong for the President to aspire for the higher position but she vowed that she will oppose the charter change “if the purpose is simply to accommodate certain individuals.”

”I don't want to disturb the entire national legal system just to accommodate the ambitions of certain people. I have always taken that position,” Santiago said. (PNA) V3/RMA/jfm

source

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. today dared President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to suspend Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan and other members of his clan to prove that she can muster the political will to punish perpetrators of the massacre of 57 innocent civilians in their turf regardless of her political or personal ties with them.

Pursuant to the Rule of Law, Pimentel said the President herself should exercise her authority to suspend erring local government officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, instead of delegating such authority to Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno.

He said it is important that the Maguindanao governor and other Ampatuans suspected of involvement in the mass murder should be suspended right away from their local government posts, pending the outcome of the investigation being conducted by law enforces, to prevent them from using their offices to cover up and destroy vital evidence that will unmask the criminal perpetrators.

"I regret that despite the heinousness of the offense, there does not appear to be an adequate and speedy response by the government to the blatant challenge to the Rule of Law in the province of Maguindanao," the senator form Mindanao said.

"What is needed is a decisive action on the part of the President, not a questionable delegation of her executive powers to a Cabinet member. Questionable because of the scope of the delegation - power to supervise and control in her behalf the government operations in the provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays in the ARMM."

Pimentel also urged the government to disarm all members of the Civilian Volunteer Organization in Maguindanao and to transfer the venue of the preliminary investigation either to Cebu or Manila so that the witnesses can speak freely before impartial investigators, prosecutors and judges.

He was alarmed by reports that judges and prosecutors in Maguindanao have gone on a mass leave for fear of being the objects of harassment and physical harm from the political warlords and their henchmen.

Pimentel said the President's directive giving Secretary Puno the authority to exercise administrative supervision over the ARMM is questionable because the Local Government Code specifies the manner in which local government units may be supervised but not controlled by the President.

He pointed out that the Department of Interior and Local Government, led by Puno, was supposed to have been phased out of the areas of local government after the approval and effectivity of the Local Government Code in 1991.

What is needed, the minority leader said, is not a period of national mourning over the carnage in Maguindanao.

"What is needed is effective and efficient action on the part of the government to uphold the Rule of Law and neutralize the warlords even as they pretend they are helping in the enforcement of the law," Pimentel said. As a senator from Mindanao, he said he must express outrage at the massacre that could only be associated with barbarians. As a lawmaker of the land, he said he must denounce the murders for savagely snuffing out the lives of their victims without provocation.

"As the representative of ASEAN + 3 and the Asia Pacific Group of Nations in the Committee of the Human Rights of Parliamentarians in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, I cannot help but demand that justice be done - not tomorrow but - today against those who did the bastardly deed," Pimentel said.

"And specially against those who plotted, organized and ordered the massacre probably out of a misplaced belief that they enjoy immunity under the Protection of some highly-placed officials of the Republic."

source

MANILA - Administration senators on Thursday defended President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo against criticisms and calls for her to resign in the wake of her decision to run for Congress in next year's elections.

Senator Joker Arroyo allayed fears the president's congressional bid was the first step to eventually becoming prime minister.

Sen. Arroyo said this would be difficult even if she were to become House Speaker, an equally uncertain bid.

"The road is long. One thing we can be sure of is this: PGMA as president made many attempts to amend the constitution which she failed as president. The lesser position as Speaker, assuming she is going to be, she cannot amend it, no way," the senator said.

The senator added there's no assurance Mrs. Arroyo would become House Speaker as well.

Sen. Arroyo said she cannot do that because the Speaker of the next House of Representatives will be the choice of whoever the president is--Cory Aquino had Ramon Mitra, Fidel Ramos had Jose de Venecia, Joseph Estrada had Manny Villar, while President Arroyo had Jose de Venecia and later, Prospero Nograles.

"They are choices of the president. So, the Speaker will be choice of the president, let us forget these speculations. Chances are there will be no president that will support that [Speaker Gloria Arroyo]. Noynoy won't; Villar, Erap, won't, even Teodoro," Sen. Arroyo said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago defended the president from former President Ramos' criticisms.

"What about him [Ramos]? He tried to run by amending the Constitution no less. I had to go to the Supreme Court, the case of Defensor-Santiago vs. COMELEC where the SC put an end to his political ambitions. Who is he now? Where is the morality of the person - ano moral basis?" Santiago said of Ramos, her nemesis to whom she lost the presidency in 1992.

Santiago also said that as chairman of a finance sub-committee, she found out the former president had a minor position in government and was on Malacañang's payroll, and, therefore, should refrain from criticizing the president.

No law violated

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita disagreed with President Fidel V. Ramos' call for Mrs. Arroyo to resign from the presidency following her decision to run for Congress.

"We recognize the right of people to freely express their sentiments. But I must disagree with this call for the President to resign, in view of the constitutional mandate President Arroyo must fulfill. And because President Arroyo's continued tenure violates no law," Ermita said.

He said Mrs. Arroyo's term ends on June 30, 2010, and if she relinquishes the presidency earlier, it would be a "virtual abandonment of the Office of the President and an actual repudiation of the oath."

Ermita said that from all indications President Arroyo "commands the overwhelming support and affection of the residents of her district."

"For now, let me note the overwhelming expressions of support from Pampanga for the president to represent them, notably from farmers, entrepreneurs, political leaders and prelates," he said. "Theirs is a sampling of sentiments of individuals and groups who hold a contrary view to the critics. Let us also listen to them."

Not bothered

Meanwhile, Arroyo's election lawyer and political spokesman Romulo Macalintal, said Mrs. Arroyo is not bothered by the statements of her critics that she had no delicadeza for not resigning.

He noted that even before she filed her COC, she had been the subject of the same criticisms and attacks aired by her political detractors.

Macalintal said they respect the rights of people in airing their views, but added that Mrs. Arroyo will be able to prove to them that what she did was all intended not for personal interest but because of her sincere desire to continue her commitment to public service.

He said Mrs. Arroyo's constituents in Pampanga should not be deprived of the services and projects they justly deserved just because of some politically-motivated criticisms.

"PGMA will not be bothered nor disturbed because all this criticisms could be assuaged with the balm of a clear conscience. She is ready to sacrifice from all these baseless attacks, if that is the price she has to pay for her honest desire to serve her kabalens," Macalintal said. -- reports from Lynda Jumilla, Ron Gagalac, ABS-CBN News

source

The following paragraphs are from my column of Sept. 22, 2009 titled Festung Gloria:

There is no truth to the rumor that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo tells me in advance what she is going to do.

But I have a pretty good batting average when it comes to predicting what she will do.

After she promised on December 30, 2002, practically on the grave of Jose Rizal, that she would not run in the 2004 presidential elections, I wrote in my column of May 22, 2003 titled She Will Run, that she would. And she did.

Long before anyone thought of the possibility that President Gloria would use Charter Change to remain in power through a shift to the parliamentary system, I wrote in my column of May 17, 2005 titled Prime Minister Gloria? that she would. And she did.

In mid 2006, her then loyal ally, House Speaker Jose de Venecia launched two simultaneous operations to shift to parliamentary. One was a People’s Initiative, led by De Venecia factotum Raul Lambino and his Sigaw ng Bangaw to gather six million signatures endorsing a shift to parliamentary.

The other was a shameless attempt, led by JdV himself, to convene the Lower House into a constituent assembly, without the participation of the oppositionist Senate, to railroad a shift to parliamentary. Both attempts were shot down by the Supreme Court.

But how does President Gloria segue from president to prime minister? In my column of October 03, 2007, titled Dominatrix (referring to Gloria’s hold on the timid and mousy Romulo Neri), I wrote:

“A model (for GMA) may soon emerge in, of all places, Russia.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin was first elected in May 2000 from a field of ten candidates, with the support of the outgoing president, the late Boris Yeltsin. In March 2004, Putin was re-elected president with an astounding 71% of the votes. His presidential term ends in March 2008 and he is barred by the Russian Constitution from running for a third term.

“But – surprise! surprise! – he announced last Monday, Oct. 01, that he will run for a seat in the Russian parliament in the coming parliamentary elections on December 2, and that, as head of the ruling United Russia party, he had a `realistic’ chance of becoming prime minister……”

So as early as October 2007, I predicted that President Arroyo will follow the Putin Formula and run for a seat in Congress in May 2010 while she is still the sitting President.”

End of excerpts from my article Festung Gloria.

Now that President Arroyo has filed her certificate of candidacy for congresswoman of the second district of Pampanga, my predictions about her moves have come to pass with alarming – even to myself – accuracy.

Yes, there will be presidential elections in May 2010. No, she will not have her presidential term extended. But yes, she will run for – and win – a seat in Congress while she is the sitting president, like Vladimir Putin in Russia. But in practical terms how does she transit from president to prime minister?

There are two possible scenarios.

Scenario One. The elections in May 2010 will be the first ever computerized elections nationwide and there are just too many things that can go wrong. The more than 150,000 schoolteachers who will operate the system are totally unfamiliar with it. Many of them have never seen or operated a computer in their lives. Is there enough time to familiarize them with it? The system needs 80,000 technicians, one for each cluster of precincts. Do we have 80,000 computer technicians? The machines will not be ready until January 2010, at the earliest. Would there be enough time to train the 80,000 computer technicians in time for the May elections?

Many towns (and their voting precincts) do not have electricity or telephone connections. Even if the computerized counting machines were equipped with back-up batteries that will last supposedly for 18 hours, that may not be sufficient for remote communities that take hours to reach by foot, banca and/or carabao.

Keep in mind that there will be about 300 candidates’ names on the ballot. How long will it take each voter to go through such a long ballot? Is there enough time for 200 voters per precinct to go through 300 names, before the batteries go dead? This will not be like India where voters vote by party, and the parties’ easily recognizable symbols are what voters mark. Here voters choose individuals who most likely do not belong to the same party. Our electoral laws allow even our presidential and vice-presidential choices to come from different parties.

There are just too many things that can go wrong, or be made to go wrong, and likely will. That is Murphy’s Law, and it is in the Philippines, more than in any other country outside Black Africa and Haiti, where everything that can go wrong invariably does.

There is a strong possibility, therefore, that even if we do hold computerized elections in May 2010 and even if we assume good intentions on the part of the Comelec factotums and the schoolteachers, we would likely have chaos, real and/or manufactured, on May 10 that will result in a failure of elections.

This is especially true for the national offices at stake – president, vice-president, senator – because of the sheer volume of voters expected, 40+ million.. Even a ten percent failure rate would render the exercise a total failure that cannot be resolved by a back-up manual count because of the sheer number of voters and the geographical spread involved.

The situation is not so dire in the local offices at stake – congressman, governor, vice-governor, mayor, vice-mayor etc – in which a ten percent failure rate can be swiftly resolved by a back-up manual count, confined as it would be to small areas and their small local populations.

If because of even only a ten percent failure rate, there is no proclamation of a new president, a new vice-president, and 12 new senators by June 30, 2010, we will have no new government in place and we will have a constitutional crisis.

Section 7, Article VII of the Constitution says “Where no President and Vice-President shall have been chosen or shall have qualified, or where both shall have died or become permanently disabled, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall act as President until a President or a Vice-President shall have been chosen and qualified.”.

In a failure of election scenario sketched above, there is no President or Vice-President proclaimed on June 30. There will also be no Senate President. The incumbent Senate President, Juan Ponce Enrile, is in office only up to June 30. He is running for re-election on May 10, but if there is failure of elections for national offices, no new Senate President will be chosen either because there will be no new Senate.

That leaves the Speaker of the House of Representatives as next in the line of succession, and I give you one guess as to who that Speaker is going to be. .

Scenario Two. If there is civil unrest and/or an insurrectionary situation before, during or immediately after the May 10 exercise, because of expectations of or the reality of failure of elections, then this would be a perfect justification for National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales’ transition revolutionary government to kick in.

On at least two public occasions, Gonzales floated this scenario in which a revolutionary government, with the approval and participation of key sectors of society – the Churches, the military, civil society, the business community etc – would take over the reins of government, with the active presence and participation of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and with the likely help of PMA Class of 1978, of which she is an honorary member.

Many Palace insiders, including Executive Secretary Eduardo Ertmita, feigned ignorance of and disdain for the Gonzales scenario. But the fact that President Arroyo appointed Gonzales acting defense secretary when Gilbert Teodoro resigned the post to run for the presidency, shows that Gloria implicitly approves of it. And why not?

Whether via Scenario One (constitutional) or Scenario Two (extra-constitutional), Gloria would remain in power beyond June 30, 2010. One of the first acts that House Speaker or Revolutionary President Gloria will predictably push will be to convene a constituent assembly (ConAss) – remember there will be no Senate in both scenarios – to shift to parliamentary so that she becomes Prime Minister, who holds that office as long as her party retains majority of seats in parliament.

In the Philippine context, that means she would likely be Prime Minister for Life. Gloria Forever!!! *****

source

Despite a barrage of criticisms hurled against her, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday formalized her intent to seek a congressional seat for the second district of Pampanga, her home province.

Mrs. Arroyo filed her certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in San Fernando City. She was accompanied by her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.


Earlier, she heard Mass at the St. Augustine Parish Church in Lubao town. She also delivered a speech before her constituents, who applauded and cheered her.

Her frequent visits to the province – she went to Pampanga at least 50 times this year – had fueled assumptions that she will run for congresswoman of Pampanga’s second district after her term expires in 2010. But Malacañang had repeatedly parried questions on whether Mrs. Arroyo was gunning for a House seat.

On Tuesday, the President ended months of speculation and said she could not completely step down from “public service."

No legal impediment

A report by GMA News' Michael Fajatin quoted constitutional expert Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, as saying there is nothing in the law barring Mrs. Arroyo from pursuing a congressional seat.

University of the Philippines (UP) law professor Harry Roque agreed with Bernas, saying "Ang sabi ng probisyon ng ating Saligang Batas ang ipinagbabawal ay reelection kung ikaw ay presidente. Ang ordinary meaning niyan, reelection sa posisyong presidente muli kapag ikaw ay nakaupo (Under the provision in our Constitution, only a sitting president is barred from seeking the same position again)."

"So sa tingin ko, gaya ng walang pagbabawal kay Erap (former president Joseph Estrada) para tumakbo muli bilang isang presidente, wala ring pagbabawal para kay Mrs. Arroyo na tumakbo pagka kongresista ng Pampanga (I think, there is nothing barring Mrs. Arroyo from running for congresswoman of Pampanga in the same way that Erap is not barred from running again for president)," Roque said, adding that Estrada's case is expected to go all the way to the Supreme Court.



Critics of Mrs. Arroyo acknowledge that while she is legally eligible to run for a lower office, her decision to run for Congress was motivated by "political survival." [See: Arroyo bid for House seat slammed]

Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño called Mrs. Arroyo a "megalomaniac, a person who is obsessed with [her] own power, a person who has delusions about [her] own power and importance."

"This latest political stunt by Ms Arroyo is absolutely linked to her desperate attempt to attain immunity and the prolongation of the culture of impunity and violence in the country," said Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano in a statement.

Three weeks ago, Mrs. Arroyo's half-sister former Pampanga vice governor Cielo Macapagal-Salgado appealed to her to give other candidates a chance to run for the same post. [See: Half-sis asks Arroyo to give way in 2010]

"Nakasiyam na taon na siya, di ba? You have reached the highest post na binigay sa iyo ng mamamayan. Binigyan ka na ng pagkakataon, bigyan mo naman ng pagkakataon 'yung iba (She has been there for nine years, right? You have reached the highest post given to you by the people. You have been given the chance, now you must give chance to others)," Salgado said in an interview with GMA News.

Macapagal-Salgado said she has been eyeing Pampanga's 2nd district congressional post for some time but had to give way to her younger brother Arturo, who in turn had to give way to Mrs. Arroyo's Mikey who is the incumbent representative of the district.

Salgado and her brother Arturo are children of former president Diosdado Macapagal by his first wife Purita de la Rosa, who died during World War II. She was the sister of Macapagal's close friend, the movie star Rogelio de la Rosa.

No impact on Lakas campaign

In Manila, former Defense chief and ruling party Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard bearer Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. said that the candidacy of President Arroyo won't affect his national campaign.

Teodoro made the statement after filing his certificate of candidacy (COC) for president early Tuesday at the Comelec national headquarters in Intramuros.

“Siya ay kandidato para sa kongreso, kami focused sa national campaign, hindi ito makakaapekto sa campaign sa buong bansa (She is a candidate for congress, we are focused on the national campaign, this will not affect our campaign nationwide)," Teodoro said.

Teodoro filed his COC with his vice presidential bet actor-turned-politician Edu Manzano, and his senatorial bets broadcaster Rey Langit and Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico.

Also running under the administration ticket are Senators Ramon “Bong" Revilla, Jr. and Manuel “Lito" Lapid.

Manzano echoed the former secretary’s statement in saying that Arroyo’s candidacy for a House seat will just be focused in Pampanga and should not have any implications on their nationwide campaign.

“I think she has her own campaign to worry about and we have our own campaign to worry of. We don't want to micromanage our campaign, we want to look at the big picture," he told reporters.

But Teodoro said he expects Mrs. Arroyo to help the party in their campaign in the province.

“Kung siya ang administration candidate, natural lamang iyon, makakatulong din ang Pangulo sa aking kampanya sa Pampanga (If she is an administration candidate, that is just natural, the President will be able to help our campaign in Pampanga)," he said. - Sophia Dedace with Kimberly Jane Tan and Johanna Camille Sisante/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV