“Gloria Resign” Calls Intensifying: Edsa 4?

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(Continued from “Gloria Resign?”)

Gloria not resigning. Recent history continues to repeat itself in the Philippines: an embattled president dogged by scandal and corruption now faces — and refuses — intensifying calls to resign, with various opposition factions now massing in the streets to protest her defiance. She now faces impeachment, which, like the last impeachment, will prove to be more of a political than a factual exercise.

The way it’s going, however, it looks like the mob organizers aren’t even going to give Gloria the time that Edsa II gave Erap: they want her out now. The problem is, if you’re indignant with Gloria for her presidential indiscretions (as I am), and if you really want her out now, look at the people you’ll have to march alongside at Edsa-Timog and Ayala Avenue: Jinggoy and JV, Imee Marcos, far-left socialist groups like Akbayan, Ronald Lumbao. It’s no less distasteful associating with them than it is with the current incumbency.

From other Filipino news sources and weblogs:

Is it to be EDSA 4, then? The way this is going, they should probably institutionalize EDSA rallies as the established Constitutional mode of presidential transition. That way, they can have biennial marches in the streets to force the incumbent president to resign, then install the vice president, or whomever the revolutionaries are clamoring for at any given moment. Advantages: it’s perfectly in keeping with the Filipino “fiesta” spirit, and you won’t even need a COMELEC anymore, just a cleanup crew to pick up the mess on EDSA the next day. Someone pass a bill, and make that the aim of the next Con-Con!

Update: “The meter stopped running.” Heh heh.

Comments

  1. Gio (former Taym Matsing) says:
    2005-07-09 at 02:16

    Pau, you’re right about your statement regarding if I want GMA to resign now, I have to join in the fray and rally along with the likes of Erap’s supporters, the Marcos clan and so forth yesterday (but lucky me, I was not present in the office).

    It’s a double edged sword out there in Politics. Could we have better options? I don’t think we’ll have them in the near future…

  2. Bobber says:
    2005-07-09 at 07:38

    I have always wondered why the US (and other countries) do not invest more in the Philippines for industry. It would seem so much easier to do business there instead of Taiwan or China. After all it is 80% english speaking country. But I suppose the political aspect gives reservations to industry.

  3. Vanessa says:
    2005-07-09 at 10:15

    There are indeed talks that another EDSA is in the offing, though right now I doubt its success should it happen. The numbers in the rallies are not big enough to make a difference, and majority of the people are on a wait-and-see attitude. Those who are calling for GMA’s resignation are divided about her successor, and the events that should take place once she steps down. None of their options are really better off than having her stay in power. Unless they offer a solution that would convince the middle class to “take it to the streets,” we won’t see the government overthrown by another People Power. Besides, I think the nation has matured beyond EDSA, and we have to realize it is already part of the past that we cannot — and should not — relive again and again.

  4. Noelle says:
    2005-07-10 at 21:48

    I’m all for the rule of law, and for due process to occur. These people who keep calling for resignation don’t even have the patience to impeach Gloria; it makes me think they obviously want to install their own people in power.

    It looks like there are a few noisy groups calling for the resignation. But the large groups (usually civic or religious in nature) that backed the first and second People Powers haven’t called upon their members to support the rally attempts. Also, as long as the military back Gloria I doubt she’ll have the motive to resign.

  5. Tomo Magdadalos says:
    2005-07-12 at 03:47

    Philippines will never achieve genuine economic recovery if we dont have political stability, this will come when the majority of the Pilipino be politicaly mature and responsible. We must never fell hopeless for this is just a part of the process, a process that I hope will allow the next generation of Pilipino to benifit from this experience.

    I hope that Gloria will step up and resign! an example to the next generation to follow. If she dont I hope that Gloria knows the evil shes about to do. Her irrational self is stronger then her love for the country.

    Myth is more potent then history.

  6. Marfe Prado says:
    2005-07-12 at 07:22

    Resignation of Gloria should be demanded to convey the lesson that crime does not pay. This is an issue of right and wrong, not an issue of who is to replace her (as they are all cheats. At least for her successor, we can give the benefit of doubt. As Salonga has said “in a democracy, you cannot guarantee good leaders, what is guaranteed only is that you can remove a bad one.”

  7. Ruby Orosa says:
    2005-07-12 at 10:57

    We should all be calm. Lets wait for the impeachment and see if she is guilty or not. Joining the street rally will do more harm than good. Also, we are in a situation where we all get to see the real intentions of our sanamagan politicians. Ex. Do you think Binay is honest? Dont you know Binay has a young girlfriend (daughter of a pastor), and that girlfriend is a friend of mine.

  8. Romano Gutierrez says:
    2005-07-12 at 14:14

    It’s really an ultimatum choice for Mrs.Arroyo to step down…. with her political allies bolting one by one…. a lose-lose situation would be in an offing if the impeachment would push thru… Goodness, that impeachment done no good…. it really causes divisiveness and restlessness…. So, Mrs. Arroyo, consider the supreme sacrifice, for the good of the Filipino people, not for Mr, Ramos……

  9. enteng (bicol) says:
    2005-07-14 at 04:55

    well i guess its only on GMA wether she will step down, it depends on her conscience if he want to still be the president even if the people want her to resign…she should think all the things that could happen in our country, she should and must do what is right…but those people who want her to resign, they must do it in accordance with the law and not violating the constitution…

  10. janina says:
    2005-07-19 at 16:49

    Gloria should resign NOW. she doesn’t care for the poor. she’s matapobre. look at how many times the fuel prices and public utility vehicle fares went up during her term. if she doesn’t resign, our economy will suffer from non-stop rallies. cmon gloria, stop being macapal. ayaw na sa u ng mga tao. i’ve talked to my classmates and friends. they didn’t join the rally but they hate gloria. they might join the final rally to oust gloria if nothing happens to the impeachment. and wtf, sya ang bubuo ng truth commission eh sya rin ang iimbestigahan. ano to lokohan? her appointees are also questionable. one of the dotc officials, the undersecretary was a well-known carnapper during the time of tabako. another dotc official, ex-general reynaldo berroya, was convicted for the kidnapping of taiwanese businessman jack chou. he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the maximum security prison. when erap ran for presidency, tabako let him out. during the time of gloria macapal-arroyo, he was reinstated to police service, and from a mere superintendent, he became a general. eh bakit sina kit mateo et al eh nakakulong pa rin? wtf?! mas gusto namin si ping lacson ang maging susunod na president.. hindi si noli, hindi si susan, at hindi si abat.

  11. danny says:
    2005-07-24 at 03:32

    imposing additional taxes on all commodities is also additional expenses for every filipino,yet the salary is not increasing they should scrap this evat,toghether with arroyo. She wants a legal inquiry regarding the allegation of cheating that is good,but if she really wants to clear herself she should ask her to go on wiht the impeachment proceeding so that the people may know if she really an innocent person.. Malakas ang loob niya dahil alam nya na mas marami syang mga aso sa kamara,na kayang pigilan ang impeachment,ang labanan yata ngaun ay paramihan,kaya walang pag-asa na lumabas ang katotohanan. kaya dyan sa mga maka administrasyon na miyembro ng kamara wag naman masyado ang pagkapit sa pundilyo ng lola (GMA) nyo,may hanngganan lahat yan o baka naman kulang pa ang mga pondo nyo kaya ganun na lang ang pagsipsip nyo. maawa kayo sa taong bayan kami ang nagpapakahirap para lang mapalamon kayo sampu ng pamilya nyo. kyalangan na talgang bumaba sa pwesto ang lola (GMA) nyo……..

  12. Francisco D. Valmoria, Jr. says:
    2005-07-24 at 12:22

    The signs of the times had been forthcoming, and certainly, the changing of the guards at this point seemed inevitable. All it needs is time!

    We had been known as the inventor & propagator of bloodless people power revolt, a revolutionary model emulated by other emerging democratic bastions in the world. But the sad part of it is the realization that despite the two significant people power exercises, the people might have learned & responded, but the direct beneficiary of such a phenomenon, president Gloria Arroyo clearly did not learn the lessons of the past.

    Now, the same reasons we had used to oust Erap devoured & haunted Gloria Arroyo like vampires & ghosts on a rampaging spree. This 180 degree turn of events brought about by Gloria Arroyo’s so called lapse of judgment in calling Garci, a comelec official under the guise of protecting her votes yet reeks of her grotesque ambition to stay in office & the countless & endless incidents & cases linking her husband, son & brother-in-law as beneficiaries of jueteng & reasons for its proliferation in the country had truly devastated not only her moral ability & credibility to govern the country, but our beloved Philippines as well.

    Gloria’s admission that she indeed was the lady’s voice on the tape talking to commissioner Garci for protection of her votes had eroded the people’s trust on her to govern the country, and on a landslide at that. For who among us in his or her sane mind would trust someone to manage or budget our finances to secure our future in the long term if that same person could not be trusted in the first place? How on earth could we count on somebody to govern for us & ask for our personal sacrifices when she herself says one thing & does otherwise? How could she lead by example if what she had allowed us to perceive or see of her is that of someone who would ask her followers to do what is right while she is at liberty to do its opposite?

    Everyone talks about forgiveness, especially those who had vouched & benefited from her. After all, so they say, that if God can forgive, why can’t we. But of course, to err is human & to forgive is divine. But lest we forget, this is not just about running a mere organization or a family, this is running the Philippine government where as a constituent, we believe or are conditioned to believe that the president, if he or she cannot measure up close to being a saint, must at least be the least evil amongst the contenders to the position or among anyone of us in the spirit of leadership by example & moral ascendancy. Sad to say, such qualities & traits had deserted Gloria Arroyo & that there is no doubt she will end up immune & bankrupt from these all along.

    Hence, even if the president, along with her men, followers & beneficiaries will summon all the strength that she could muster to get her out from the current crisis, all efforts will be doomed & will just take her away from the frying pan to end up in the fire. This is because one could cheat anyone including oneself thru self-denial & pretense but could Gloria fool around with the truth & God for long?

    The indicators are now pouring in. Resignations among Gloria’s own trusted men & women, the deepened divisions of the society, the day-to-day strikes elsewhere founded on all sorts of grievances, & most especially, the further devaluation of the peso which comes on the heels of the latest downgrading we received from international credit institutions such as Moody’s following that of the Philippines’ outlook this week by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, who also cited the crisis facing President Arroyo over allegations of electoral fraud and graft involving her family members. Such would tantamount to an interest of several billions of pesos for credits & transactions entered into by the Arroyo government by now which could have translated as additional schools, classrooms, electricity-operated areas, bridges, roads, irrigation systems befitting all the Filipinos.

    Hence, the succession of calls asking Gloria to make the supreme sacrifice by resigning her office to arrest the country’s further devastation & decline. But Gloria, true to her character, balks at the suggestion, which even helped me arrive at a conclusion to sever allegiance from her governance having trusted & voted for her in the first place owing to her credentials, apart from being Cory’s bet. After all, if she truly cares for the country & not just her own vested interests, she would have resigned in the face of the crisis & would have done our country a big favor & her memory would still be one to linger upon as that of someone who had chosen to save the country in the end from eventual collapse out of her own initiation.

    Now more than ever, we need people like Cory Aquino, Franklin Drilon Noynoy Aquino & LP party, the Hyatt Ten led by Cesar Purisima, Florencio Abad, Dinky Soliman, Emilia Boncodin, Ms. Teresita Deles, San Juan, Guillermo Parayno, Nicolas & others, who are willing to take the beating by the government’s damage control team ever willing to spurn hot lava & molten magma to whoever goes against the president to the point of calling them traitors, instead of patriots, turncoats instead of men & women of wisdom & conscience. Well, what else is new with Philippine politics after all? Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

    I don’t know about how the president, including her staunch supporters like Mike Defensor et al could label women & men of Goodwill, statesmen at that like Cory, Drilon & the Hyatt ten as traitors when at the outset, all you could see is that these men & women stand to lose more counting the government’s finances at embarking on a bloody smear campaign, exhausting all that they could muster & mount against any personalities debunking Gloria’s presidency or advocating for her resignation. These men & women could have chosen to keep quiet & live a quiet, happy, blessed, less-controversial & less-chaotic life. But if they will not talk, who will? If they will not initiate, who else could we trust better? I may not be a lawyer, but experience & logic tells me that the best & most credible witness to a crime is the one who is present & who has actually witnessed or had unintentionally been a part or parcel to its commission. Add to this stance Cory, Drilon & the Hyatt Ten’s friendship to GMA, apart from these men & women’s affiliation with the president personally & professionally and who could not agree with their judgment, perception & advocacy for GMA to resign any better?

    Traitors? But on whose account? Against the government or GMA’s selfish interest & leech-like grip to power? Against Michael Defensor’s self-serving & twisted logic? Traitor for having breached the president’s friendship? And especially at a time she needed them the most? But what about the country’s interest, Mr. Mike Defensor? What about the public servant’s moral obligation over their one & only country over which many blood had been shed & lives had been spent for its preservation? If you could see that the country’s welfare & advancement has been held hostage by the same person tasked to advance it on account of her eroded credibility & morality to govern & on the basis of an endless & countless accusations hurled against her husband, son, brother-in-law & party mates concerning jueteng scandals, yet clings to the post teeth, claws & brawl no matter at what cost, or even at the country’s misery, wouldn’t you as a friend care to advise the president to forge decisive & drastic measures to salvage the obvious or cut & cut clean? And certainly, if such advises, solicited or not fell on deaf ears for a while, prolonging the agony of the Filipino people by deviating from the government basic priorities or agenda in exchange of the president’s political survival brought about by her & her party’s insistence, would you impose on those of us & those who do not trust the president to adopt your logic that those who abandon the president in her hour of need are outright traitors who are hated by the Filipinos? You have not only carved your own political downfall by covering lies after lies in your defense of the president & your pursuit of power & political survival but had twisted & given us a new vocabulary to embezzle about. But sad to say, we refuse to sink & dig into your kind of reasoning or we will forever bear the guilt & tirades of our children & our patriotic fellowmen & would allow history to judge us unfairly.

    After all, in my own little view, patriotism is best exemplified by anyone who is able to rise up beyond partisan & patronage politics, sever ties against a staunch friend or ally when one senses that the interest or welfare of the country is imperiled by one’s political survival. Most of all, the true mark of a leader who is a cut above the rest is when he or she goes against partisan or patronage politics even to the hatred & dismay of a friend or political ally just to save one’s country at the behest of one’s pure & pristine intentions. After all, patriotism entails a lot from someone towards country than towards friends!

    We need more people like Cory Aquino, Franklin Drilon, Dinky Soliman, Cesar Purisima, Emilia, Boncodin, Florencio or Butch Abad, etc., people we call as patriots, no pun intended. These men & women deserve to be known in our history as PATRIOTS, whereas those who tolerate the evil being proliferated against their country, men such as Mike Defensor, Raul Gonzales, Puno, Fidel Ramos, Jose De Venecia et al deserve to be known as SYCOPHANTS & TRAITORS !

    Francisco D. Valmoria, Jr.

    Hawally, Kuwait

    Tel #: (+965) (2623698)

  13. YOUNG OFFICER says:
    2005-07-26 at 04:35

    I think the president must resign for the good of our country and economy. tama lang ang sinabi ng dating pangulo cory. MADAM PLEASE RESIGN MAAWA KA SA MGA FILIPINO.. TAMA NA ANG PAG NANAKAW NA GINA GAWA NG MGA RELATIVE MO.

  14. YOUNG OFFICER says:
    2005-07-26 at 04:37

    A MASS RESIGNATION OF THE YOUNG OFFICER IN THE AFP WILL SOON START..

  15. OO1 says:
    2005-07-26 at 04:38

    IGGY ARROYO MAGNANAKAW AT DRUG LORD

  16. Pinoy says:
    2005-08-04 at 15:41

    Fellow Pinoys, The term democracy is used to describe a form of government in which decisions are made with the direction of the majority of its citizenry. Ibig sabhin marami pa rin naniniwala sa abilidad ni GMA pero nananatiling tahimik lamang. My message to Young Officers is to proceed with your plan to resign and work in a call center instead (mas malaki pa sweldo nyo) A soldier who cannot even follow simple order from their superior to remain neutral has no right to be a defender of the people. You will only create chaos and violence to the country. Sa ngayon ang pinaka magandang gawin ay ang magdasal at sana kung ano man decision gawin ni GMA ay sa ikabubuti ng bansa natin. Maraming Salamat po.

    Gregorio Matias

    Masang Pilipino – member