Uphold the Rule of Law and the People’s Sovereign Will!
The lawyers, law students and paralegals from the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
in Mindanao (UPLM) call on Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to step down from
Malacaang, for having lost the legal, Constitutional and moral ascendancy
to rule the country with the latest ZTE broadband scam and the looming sell
out of our national territory in the Spratly Islands.
The Senate probe on the ZTE deal has not only revealed the truth of
corruption involving the First Family, but also the underhanded means of the
Arroyo government to suppress the truth. There was the abduction of ZTE
witness Rodolfo ‘Jun’ Lozada to prevent him from testifying in the Senate,
and the invoking of Executive Order 464 to prevent former Neda chair Romulo
Neri from appearing in the Senate. Both instances showed the government’s
attempt to violate the Senate power to conduct investigation and violate
Lozada’s life and liberty.
That Arroyo later admitted to having known about the anomaly in the ZTE deal
but still signed the contract makes her culpable of graft an impeachable
offense.
This ZTE deal is only one of the many cases of corruption involving Arroyo
and the First Family. It is disgusting how Arroyo has suppressed the truth,
the same way she has done in in the Hello Garci election fraud in 2004; the
many anomalous projects such as the P 728-million fertilizer scam, the P 200
million Diosdado Macapagal Highway, and the P 503-million North Rail
project; and the current reported sell-out of the Spratly Islands to China
in exchange of the ZTE deal, North Rail and South Rail Projects.
Arroyo has run this government like a Mafioso bent on corruption and
repression, without regard to the rule of law and the people’s sovereign
will. She has run this government like a dictator, imposing Draconian
measures to silence critics and giving tacit approval to the culture of
impunity that is responsible for more than 900 cases of political killings
and disappearances of activists, media and professionals, including lawyers,
judges, and paralegals.
But it is the sovereign will of the people that had put her in the
presidency through people power in 2001. It is this same sovereign will that
now decides to remove her from power.
Impeachment under a rubber-stamp House of Representatives is not an option,
as evidenced with the killing of impeachment complaints in the past three
years.
A probe by a partial Ombudsman would just cover up the Arroyos. We see the
Ombudsman probe as a smokescreen to the ongoing Senate investigation.
Only the ouster of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo remains the choice of the people
to remove the illegitimate, corrupt and evil occupant in Malacaang. Only
the ouster of Arroyo would restore the rule of law and the supremacy of the
people’s sovereign will.
Reference:
Atty. Carlos Isagani Zarate
Secretary General
0917-717-4014
—
IMPORTANT NOTICE: INBOX is an archive of press releases, statements, announcements, letters to the editors, and manifestos sent to Davao Today for publication. Please email your materials to davaotoday @ gmail.com. Davao Today is not responsible for the content of these materials. The opinion expessed in these items does not reflect those of Davao Today and its staff. Please refer to our terms of use/disclaimer.
