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By James Konstantin Galvez and
Angelo S. Samonte, Reporters
A group critical of the
government of President Gloria Arroyo on Tuesday gave her one week
to answer allegations of corruption in an aborted telecommunications
project, or else they will join calls for her resignation.
Shrugging off the ultimatum made
through a so-called demand list of five steps that President Arroyo
must take, Malacañang said the group of former senior government
officials were trying to “weaken the government.”
The 61 ex-officials, though,
admitted that they are “not one” in joining the calls for the
President to step down over the charges that the $330-million
national broadband network was graft-tainted. They had worked with
the administrations of four former Presidents—Ferdinand Marcos,
Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada—and that of Mrs.
Arroyo.
“The call for resignation is
most likely our next step if there will be no meaningful and
satisfactory response from her,” said former Education Secretary
and “Hyatt 10” member Florencio Abad. Hyatt 10 is a group of 10
mostly members of the Arroyo Cabinet who quit their posts in 2005
over the alleged rigging of the 2004 presidential elections, which
Mrs. Arroyo won. Hyatt refers to the upscale hotel in Metro Manila
where they announced their resignation.
“Once there is a [common] call
for [the President’s] resignation, things will move faster,”
Abad added. He said the people are more united now in seeking the
truth and making public officials accountable for wrongdoing.
According to Abad, Filipinos are heeding a call for “communal
action” made by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines last week.
Abad said the President should
not belittle their demand list since, he added, their group
represents a wide constituency. Also, Abad said, this was the first
time that a big group of former senior government officials made
known their stand against Mrs. Arroyo.
The demand list that was
presented during a press conference at Club Filipino in San Juan
City asked the President to order former socio-economic Secretary
Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before Senate probers of the
broadband deal without any restrictions, the National Economic and
Development Authority to release to the Senate all documents on the
project, and the Justice and Environment departments and the Bureau
of Internal Revenue to stop harassing Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and other
witnesses testifying on corruption charges in congressional
investigations.
The list also sought the
suspension of Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant
Secretary Lorenzo Formoso, the department being the lead agency for
the broadband project; and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza,
Philippine National Police chief Avelino Razon Jr., Deputy Executive
Secretary Manuel Gaite, deputy international-airport chief Angel
Atutubo, Senior Supt. Paul Mascarinas, and all those involved in the
alleged abduction of Lozada.
Supposedly a key witness to
alleged brokering for kickbacks from the project, Lozada said he was
grabbed by government men upon arrival in Manila from Hong Kong last
month. He has since spoken in public gatherings on the alleged
bribery in the broadband project. According to him, Mrs. Arroyo’s
husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and former poll chief Benjamin Abalos
Sr. had a hand in the bribery. Both denied the allegation.
In a statement, the 61 former
officials said, “The President must demonstrate her commitment to
the truth through these actions [as stated in the demand list]
within one week as more and more of our people make their judgment.
She must do these or be condemned as complicit with, and in fact, as
being at the center of, the lies surrounding the [broadband] deal.
The President must do these or the people will make their judgment
and act on the basis of their conviction.”
Among the signatories were former
Cabinet Secretaries Senen Bacani (Agriculture); Emilia Boncodin and
Benjamin Diokno (Budget); Edilberto de Jesus (Education); Victor
Ramos (Environment); Franklin Drilon (Executive Secretary); Jesus
Estanislao, Ernest Leung, Cesar Purisima, and Ramon del Rosario
(Finance); Leticia Ramos-Shahani (Foreign Affairs); Jaime Galvez-Tan
(Health); Cesar Sarino (Local Government); Jose Antonio Gonzalez and
Narzalina Lim (Tourism); Rod Reyes (Press); Lina Laigo and Corazon
Soliman (Social Welfare); Cielito Habito (Socioeconomic Planning);
Juan Santos (Trade); Josefina Lichauco, Pete Pardo, and Vicente
Paterno (Transportation); and Victoria Garchitorena (Presidental
Management Staff); Amina Rasul-Bernardo (National Youth Commission);
Karina Constantino-David (Civil Service Commission); Ambassador
Albert del Rosario (United States); Ambassador Narcisa Escaler
(United Nations); Vitaliano Nanagas (Development Bank of the
Philippines); and Jose Cuisia Jr. (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas).
Unlike the 61 former senior
government officials alleging corruption in the government, two
cardinals are refusing to join the “political” resignation
calls.
Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and
Ricardo Vidal also on Tuesday said they will never interfere in the
brewing political crisis being faced by Mrs. Arroyo, whom they
described as a devout Catholic.
The resignation calls, they
added, are the aims of politicians.
“What I want is righteousness
in politics … I don’t meddle [in politics],” Rosales, the
Archbishop of Manila, told reporters during a chance interview.
According to Vidal, the
Archbishop of Cebu, calling for the resignation of the President is
not the stand of the Catholic bishops.
“I don’t know why they are
always asking us to do that because we are bishops,” Vidal said in
a statement posted on the website of the bishops’ group.
--With Anthony Vargas
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