Arroyo Scored for �Buying� Signatures in Cha-Cha Drive; DILG, Comelec Wash Hands

Arroyo administration accused of “again committing massive fraud and deception on a nationwide scale�

By Germelina A. Lacorte
davaotoday.com

DAVAO CITY � Days after the synchronized barangay (village) assemblies that launched the so-called nationwide �people�s initiative� aimed at changing the Constitution, critics and progressive groups lambasted the government Monday for allegedly using money and other inducements to railroad the process even as officials denied that the assemblies had anything to do with the government�s campaign to amend the charter.

�Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seems to be running out of schemes to cling to power so that she buys the �people�s initiative� with rice and a few hundred bucks,� Ariel Casilao, acting secretary-general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Southern Mindanao said in a statement on Monday.

Casilao was referring to reports that money and rice were given in exchange for signatures supporting constitutional amendments that would, among others, lead to shift to a parliamentary form of government.

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