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Amid snowballing calls from civil society groups
President Gloria Arroyo to resign, Malacañang on Wednesday insisted
People Power 3 is unlikely, that the Cabinet remains intact, and
that no impending government shake-up looms.
The Armed Forces chief, Gen.
Hermogenes Esperon Jr., said the military will not intervene, nor
will it support any group working for the ouster of the Commander in
Chief, Mrs. Arroyo.
“We have not discussed that
[People Power 3],” Esperon told a press briefing at Navy
headquarters late Wednesday afternoon. “We have not heard of it.
We opt to remain as a professional organization.”
“Nobody can create or dictate a
people power … it comes spontaneously from the people,” he
added.
Esperon had been going around
military camps these past days, and insisted the military will
continue to remain loyal to the Constitution and the chain of
command.
“What would you prefer?” he
asked. “An AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] that intervenes
or an AFP that is focused on its job? Our preference is [for] a
professional security force, a protector of the people.”
Esperon conceded that the aborted
$330-million national broadband deal is being discussed by officers
and men, but only for “enlightening” purposes.
No People Power 3
The Palace belittled a call made
by Jaro Archbishop and Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines President Angel Lagdameo for a new people power revolt,
arguing that he was speaking only for himself.
“We have 97 members of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, 81 bishops, 14
archbishops and the highest among them are the two cardinals—Vidal
and Rosales,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said.
“The one talking now is
Archbishop Lagdameo, and what he said was supported by two other
bishops, who are not admirers of the President,” he added. “It
doesn’t necessarily mean that they carry the real position of the
church hierarchy.”
Teves will keep job
Ermita also belied reports that
said Finance Secretary Margarito Teves will be replaced by former
Sen. Ralph Recto.
“The Cabinet is intact and in
order to prevent misunderstanding, the President gave out
instructions to make a statement that the news is not true. [There
is] no Cabinet shake-up, and Secretary Teves remains; and the
Cabinet of President Arroyo remains unified,” he said.
Good economic team
The country’s economic
performance is “attributable to the performance and qualification
of [the Arroyo] economic team,” the Executive Secretary said.
“It’s possible that there’s
an effort to try to destabilize the administration of President
Arroyo [for it] to lose resolve and there are many things they
[government critics] are doing. It is highly probable, and they
start with the economic team,” Ermita added. He said if one
Cabinet member succumbs to resignation calls, the President’s
opponents might succeed.
Snap polls not realistic
Among the calls being made by
various sectors is the holding of snap elections. Senate President
Manuel Villar Jr., however, said it is “just a waste of time [and]
I am certain that the House will not approve of it.”
There could only be snap
elections if a law calls for them, he explained.
Bishops’ meeting
The Catholic bishops are likely
to discuss the national broadband project during a scheduled meeting
on March 5 of the Permanent Council, said Marbel Bishop Dinualdo
Gutierrez, vice-chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Social
Action.
The Permanent Council, the
group’s administrative body and headed by its president, is
convened every two months when the plenary assembly is not in
session.
--Angelo S. Samonte, Anthony Vargas, William B. Depasupil,
Efren L. Danao And
Ira Karen V. Apanay
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