Speaking four days after President Arroyo’s apology, the church leader says forgiveness “should not block the search for truth.” He ends with a reminder for people to remain calm, and not to give in to despair.

The Unity We Need

“The power of God brought it about that the people were of one mind to carry out the command … in accordance with the word of the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 30:12)

Once again, we, Filipinos, find ourselves going through very hard times. Many are poor, hungry, searching for a better life for themselves and their families. If only we would just focus our minds and hearts, and work together to find solutions to the poverty that has not ceased to plague us, we might find ourselves moving forward as a nation. Instead, our national attention and energies are taken up by division and altercations. Serious charges have been made against our leaders and officials. Despite expressions of regret, many remain angry, confused, hurt. In this situation, as your shepherd and pastor, I wish to call to mind fundamental principles that should govern our search for solutions to our present crisis.

First, let us remember that the offended cannot simply be consoled by expressions of regret. Forgiveness does not eliminate the need for justice, nor should it block the search for truth. Genuine forgiveness demands more than an apology, and those who seek forgiveness should be ready to be called to accountability.

Second, the pursuit of truth regarding the grave charges against leaders and officials should be conducted within the provisions of our Constitution and should respect the laws of the land. Any proposition that disregards our constitutional and legal systems weakens our institutions and paves the way for a graver instability that can cause more profound suffering to our people.

Third, any proposed solution to our present situation that relies on or leads to violence is unacceptable. Violence harms the innocent and inflicts wounds so deep that will take generations to heal.

Fourth, we ask our leaders to give our people hope, by giving immediate attention to authentic reform. Political systems that are prone to corruption must be swiftly and decisively reformed, and institutions built that can effectively respond to the aspirations of our people for a better life.

Finally, in these confusing times when people are easily swayed by emotions and led astray by quick-fix solutions, may cooler heads prevail. Let true lovers of the Filipino people come together to discern carefully before God, what is truly for the immediate and long-run good of our country. Let us not fall easy prey to those self-seeking politicians from all the different political parties, who have held the country’s future hostage to their own ambitions, and have brought us to where we sadly find ourselves today.

Let us not also give in to despair, seeing only what is wrong in our country, when there is, in truth, so much that is good done daily by Filipinos from all walks of life to build up the nation. Our recurring problems of political instability may cause us to lose hope, but if we humbly accept that we are all sinners in need of conversion, it will be easier for us to unite.

I ask then that, in these times of uncertainty, we join in fervent prayer and prayerful reflection, that the Lord show us the way forward, as He has done in the past, and that He may give us yet another chance to be one. Let us place our trust in His continued love and care for our people, especially those who are poor. May our Blessed Mother find joy in the Filipino people, for she loves to see us listen to her Son.

Gaudencio B. Rosales, D.D., Archbishop of Manila (signed)
and the Bishops of the Metropolitan Province of Manila
1 July 2005

In a letter to Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos, Drilon expressed alarm over reports that the suspension of ARMM Regional director Renato Magbutay (wrongly named as Mabugay in the letter), allegedly implicated in the wiretapped phone conversations, has never taken effect. Drilon quotes Magbutay himself as having said that the order was issued “for media purposes” only. Magbutay was identified by sources of the PCIJ as the “Boy” in the phone conversations with Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Sources also described him as a “Garcillano protégé” who took over the ARMM Comelec office four days before the May 10 elections.

Drilon issued the call in light of the scheduled ARMM elections on August 8. He urged the Comelec to overhaul the ARMM office in the region to ensure a “credible, orderly, peaceful and honest” elections. Drilon also sought for the immediate relief of military and police commanders in the ARMM perceived to be in favor of certain candidates.

The full text of Sen. Drilon’s June 29 letter:

Dear Chairman Abalos:

This is to express my alarm over reports indicating that your recent order to suspend ARMM Comelec officials who were implicated in the controversial wiretapped phone conversations never took effect and was allegedly made “for media’s consumption only.”

Reports have it that no less than ARMM Comelec Regional Director Renato Mabugay, who is supposed to be suspended per your order, recently called a meeting of Comelec personnel and announced that the pronouncement you made was for media purposes only.

Mabugay was quoted as saying that it was “business as usual for him and his operators,” an announcement pregnant with insinuations that the August 8 ARMM polls will be rigged in favor of moneyed candidates.

These reports, if true, a re certainly disturbing, given the recent political development resulting from the wiretapped phone conversation controversy allegedly involving a Comelec commissioner and the President herself.

Certainly, these reports do not sit well with the President’s promise to institute reforms in governance, specifically in the need to show the people that the Comelec can preside over elections with outmost impartiality and fairness.

It is imperative that Comelec immediately purge its ranks in the ARMM of officials and personnel tainted with charges of poll fraud and corruption. Your performance in the ARMM elections will serve as a litmus test on whether the Comelec can stand up to the required standards of strict impartiality and fairness required by our people.

Likewise, I bring to your attention the call of Datu Ibrahim “Toto” Paglas III, the Liberal Party gubernatorial candidate for ARMM and his running mate Hatta Dimaporo, for you to overhaul your office in the ARMM and relieve Comelec personnel who are relatives of politicians or candidates in the elections.

Aside from discredited Comelec personnel, I also strongly recommend the immediate relief of military and police commanders in the ARMM who have shown partiality towards certain candidates.

These officers are Army Brig. Gen. Agustin Dimaala, Commanding General of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, Col. Jerry Jalandoni, Commanding officer of the Army’s 603rd Brigade, and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Maguindanao provincial director, Senior Superintendent Mediro Mambatao, and Lanao del Sur PNP provincial director Senior Superintendent Hamerodin Hamdag.

I ask that they be replaced by fresh and impartial officers who can ensure that the Aug. 8 elections will be credible, orderly, peaceful, and honest.

ARMM residents are, in fact, clamoring for the deployment of the Philippine Marines in critical areas. In areas where security problems persist, I propose that the canvassing of votes should be done inside military camps where ballot protection by all candidates and their supporters can be guaranteed.

Needless to say, it is expected that the ARMM will be placed under Comelec control during the election process.

As I have told President Arroyo last Monday, her administration must implement concrete reforms, particularly in the Comelec, if government must win back the confidence of the people.

I am confident that you will take immediate action on these matters.

Very truly yours,

Franklin M. Drilon

Senate President

A Call for Sobriety and Non-Violence in the Face of the Present Political Turmoil

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has made public admission of her voice on the taped conversation with a Comelec official, has apologized and has asked forgiveness from the Filipino people for a “lapse of judgment.” “ … let him (her) who to no sin, cast the first stone,” (Jn 8:7)

We admire her courage and humility for owning to a fault, taking full responsibility for it and promising to make up for it by seriously taking on the gargantuan task of implementing needed government reforms to turn around the increasingly burdensome toll on the life of Juan de la Cruz in today’s Philippines.

Our economy is in very bad shape. The peso continues to nosedive and investments are on a standstill. Costs of living, transportation, consumer goods, and energy are on the rise.
Politics in our country is no big deal! Our politicians continue to plunder our moral sensitivities, disregard our higher values of statesmanship, love for country, due process and Constitutional law. They do not cease to abuse our patience and our democratic space.

From media, we are daily barraged by the empty noise of spin-masters/doctors and public relations consultants. There is a widespread epidemic of unsolicited advice and opinion overload, not to mention text messages which run from wholesome jokes to sickening brouhahas.

We appeal for sobriety, for prayer, for moments of reflection and discernment. In this the year dedicated to the Holy Eucharist and Mother Mary, let us take time out to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament and pray the Prayer for the Eucharistic and Marian Year. Let us call on all our Basic Ecclesiastical Communities to organize prayer brigades around the Eucharist and our Blessed Mother in their barangay chapels during these times.

We also appeal for specific actions:

First, we would like the authenticity of the “tapes” to be established beyond doubt. Who did the wiretapping? How, when and where was it done? How authentic are its contents? Only when the authenticity of the tape contents is established can we entertain analysis and judgment on the substance of the conversation that supposedly took place.

Does the substance of the exchange merit any violation or infraction of the law? Only then should due process of the law be invoked and applied to whoever party is found guilty.

Meanwhile, we strongly call for national solidarity and respect for our Constitution and governance system. Let us allow the Executive to govern. Let us trust Congress to play its part in putting in place the needed legislative reforms. And let us give the Judiciary its rightful role in the interpretation of the law.

Specifically, we call on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to make good her promise to make amends. Let her institute the much needed and long delayed programs for poverty alleviation, good governance and peacebuilding. Corruption in government and illegal gambling should be finally fiscalized. Microfinance, land reform, increased subsidy, and creation of market opportunities for our small farmers, housing and employment for our urban poor, respect for the rights and ancestral domains of our Indigenous Peoples. Continue to pursue the peace process and negotiations. Challenge the business community to optimize benefits for the poor sectors in the name of corporate social responsibility. Forge critical collaboration with civil society groups to effect meaningful partnership at the service of the poor.

Finally, let us not allow ourselves to be used as instruments of destabilization. Violence breeds more violence. Peace is our only way forward.

For the CBCP Social Action Network,

Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, DD (signed)
Chair, CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and Peace

People power has succeeded only if it is for others. It was so in 1986, when those who led the revolution led from the front; it was so in 2001. But People Power for oneself will never succeed.

I, too, have been pressured to speak up. Excuse me but I had a good reason to keep my peace until I was ready. I was praying. Praying for light, for myself and our country.
Last night, I paid a call on Susan Sonora Poe. I congratulated her on the passion of her speech, and the sincerity of her convictions. But I made it clear that I will always stand by the Constitution.

I believe that the Constitution contains all the ways by which one may safely effect even the most difficult political changes. There is no need to step outside it. To step outside the Constitution will only expose us to greater danger than the injustice we want to correct.

I don’t know how many people still believe in the power of prayer but I do.

I really believe in prayer and prayer has always guided me rightly, both in what I should say and when I should say it.

When I opted for participation in the 1984 election under Marcos, I was criticized as being naive.

The victories of the opposition, notwithstanding a rigged election, gave the friends of freedom the true measure of their strength and the unwavering confidence to go on the snap election and the Edsa People Power Revolution.

Prayer and the strength and courage that prayer gives, gave us back our freedom and protected it.

Prayer and prayerful reflection have never failed me or failed our country. It will not do so now.

I repeat, without any embarrassment, my call for prayer and prayerful reflection so that, in the days and weeks ahead, the steps we take will be the right ones toward truth, justice, and peace.

"Last night, I had a heart-to-heart talk with the President and I explained that under the current circumstances, I will be ineffective as a secretary….This is a personal decision between the President and myself, ” Yap said.

Could there be more to Yap’s resignation than just the tax evasion charges?

Yap happens to be very close to Gloria and Mike Arroyo. He was her student in economics at the Ateneo, and is said to be one of Mike’s close friends. Yap is reportedly part of the First Gentleman’s circle of amigos that include:

• former DA Undersecretary and now Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) director Jocelyn Bolante
• Pagcor chair Ephraim Genuino
• former NAIA General Manager and now Laguna Lake Development Authority Administrator (LLDA) Edgar Manda

That he announced his decision to leave the day after the First Gentleman’s own exit was made public could be mere coincidence. But his resignation will leave many questions hanging.

Anomalies and Irregularities

Before Yap’s appointment at the DA, he was first chief executive officer of Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), an agency described as the trading arm of the government, during the term of President Joseph Estrada. It assisted in imports and exports, and was then under the Department of Trade and Industry. There were reports of rampant rice smuggling at that time.

When Arroyo became President in 2001, she chose not only to retain Yap, but move him to the National Food Authority, the agency under the DA that in charge of securing the country’s rice supply.

In February 2003, Rep. Carlos Padilla sought Yap’s resignation after the NFA procured some 600,000 tons of rice worth P9.5 billion from India that was allegedly “unfit for human consumption.” Yap had then denied the charges but admitted that a portion of the shipment was found to be of poor quality and that the NFA was to be reimbursed for that.

Conflict of Interest

Despite these reports, President Arroyo promoted Yap first to Undersecretary for Luzon and then eventually to Secretary of Agriculture in 2004. More questions were raised, among these the issue of conflict of interest. Yap is married to Carol Gaw, whose family owns the Uniwide chain. As Secretary of Agriculture, Yap held power over a vast network of food-related agencies that dealt with the country’s supermarket chains, among them the Uniwide stores.

Cases before the Ombudsman

Yap is also currently facing graft and corruption charges stemming from the P432-million deal to procure fertilizers through a negotiated bidding. The contract was signed by Yap as then NFA Adminsitrator in 2003, reportedly on the urging of former Secretary Luis Lorenzo. At the time, employees of the DA sought an investigation into the issue, reportedly because the government was placed at a disadvantage, when the NFA bought fertilizers at the cost of P500/bag when the going rate was only P400. The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas has accused the Arroyo government of using the funds from that deal for the 2004 elections.

The case of graft and corruption against Yap and company before the Ombudsman was filed by the Marlene Garcia-Esperat, former action officer of the DA-Ombudsman, who was murdered in her home last March.

• that she had a conversation with then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano;
• that the conversation was taped and/or wiretapped; and
• that she either authorized or did not authorize the recording/wiretapping.

To better appreciate and hopefully address the legal issues revolving around the "Gloria-Garci" tapes, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) has released a 15-page document containing Frequently Asked Questions on the Anti-Wiretapping Law and related issues.

In 11 national SWS surveys from January 2001 to March 2005,  Mr. Arroyo had an average of only 22 percent saying they had much trust in him.

Since an average of 46 percent said they had little trust in him, Mr. Arroyo’s resulting average net trust rating was 24 in this period, according to the research organization.

The March 2005 survey finding of 16 percent  with much trust and 60 percent  with little trust in the First Gentleman, or net 44, was the lowest degree of trust recorded during the period. 

Mr. Arroyo’s net trust rating was positive only in January 2001.

Statistical analysis has consistently shown a direct correlation between public satisfaction with a president’s performance and public trust in the president’s spouse, SWS said.

SWS has regularly polled public trust in presidential spouses ever since the administration of President Fidel Ramos, and reported these to its subscribers. 

The SWS’s full report can be accessed at its website.

The legal study done by CODAL, an organization of lawyers campaigning against attacks on lawyers and other threats against the legal profession and civil liberties, concludes that Arroyo may have committed crimes and offenses in violation of the Revised Penal Code, the Omnibus Election Code, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the 1987 Constitution for the following acts:

1. Despite knowing that she was the person in the tape, Pres. Arroyo (or at least, allowed) Sec. Bunye to declare that the said ‘tape’ is a concoction of the opposition to destabilize the government—a very serious charge against members of the opposition. The use of one’s public office (the Office of the President and the Press Secretary) for personal ends or interest (in this case to cover up her actions) and spread misinformation, is unlawful.
2. Pres. Arroyo allowed, if not ordered, Sec. Bunye to present the ‘genuine’ CD containing her supposed conversation with Mr. Edgar Ruado in a Malacanang press conference on June 6, despite her knowledge that the said ‘genuine’ CD is completely false.  Pres. Arroyo is aware that she had the conversation with a COMELEC official and not with Edgar Ruado.  The use of the resources of a government office (such as the Office of the Press Secretary) to disseminate false information for the purpose  of defending  and covering up her personal (and illegal) acts is a criminal offense. This is violative of Section 1 (f) and (i) of PD 1829 on Obstruction of Apprehension and Prosecution of Criminal Offenders.
3. Her order or ‘request’ for Comm. Garcillano to ‘delay’ the canvassing of Senatorial elections is in violation of various provisions of the Omnibus Election Code prohibiting the delay or disruption of election processes.
4. Her implied ‘request’ for Comm. Garcillano to deny any petition filed by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon to open the election documents in Tawi-Tawi is an unlawful interference in the quasi-judicial function of a member of an independent constitutional body.
5. Even if Pres. Arroyo will not admit to being privy to Comm. Garcillano’s fraudulent acts, she still violated  Art. 208 of the Revised Penal Code, among others, for her failure to file the necessary legal action for the impeachment and prosecution of  Comm. Garcillano.
6. Talking with her appointee, Comm. Garcillano, is a betrayal of public trust and violates the the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for Undue Influence on a public official.  Reappointing Comm. Garcillano to the COMELEC despite her knowledge of said electoral fraud can be used as proof of conspiracy to commit fraud.  If Pres. Arroyo intended to officially communicate with the COMELEC, she should have corresponded with Chairman Abalos rather than her appointee. This also puts into question her persistence in appointing Comm. Garcillano to his post despite widespread opposition.

The complete study can be downloaded here.

• Bunye "Original" — 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
• Bunye "Spliced" — 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
• Lacson Version — 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Just minutes later, even before Filipinos could digest the full import of that announcement, the rug was swept from under the President’s feet. At Club Filipino, Susan Roces, speaking mostly in Tagalog, said in no uncertain terms: the President stole our vote. She must resign. (Download excerpts of Mrs. Poe’s statement in PDF or audio files 1, 2 and 3.  *The sound quality is not the best)

The contrast could not have been more dramatic. Mrs. Arroyo was speaking in English from a prepared text, in her typical business-as-usual, admit-no-evil, “I-have-a-Phd-in-economics” manner to businessmen who wanted to be assured that the current political controversy would not unduly destabilize the economy. She offered her husband as the sacrificial lamb, with the hope that the offering would appease the business community and the middle class.

Mrs. Poe, on the other hand, was speaking extemporaneously and looking every inch the leading lady. She spoke to her husband’s constituency in Tagalog taken straight out of a 1960s movie script:

“Tuwing araw lamang ng halalan na tunay na lahat tayo ay pantay-pantay, mayaman man o mahirip, tig-isa lamang tayo ng boto kaya yun ay sagrado. Nakalulungkot at nakagagalit ang kasalukyang pangyayari. Noon ang  sumusupil sa ating karapatan at nanlalamang sa atin ay ang mga dayuhan na sumakop sa ating bayan. Ngunit sa kasalukuyan, ang nanlalamang at kumikital sa ating karapatan ay sarili nating kalahi at kadugo (Only on election day are all of us truly equal. Rich or poor, each of us has only one vote, that is why it is so sacred. I am saddened and angered by what has happened. In the past, those who exploited and trampled on our rights were foreigners who invaded our land. Now, it is our own countrymen, those of our own blood, who are guilty of such odious crimes).”

The President was making an appeal of expediency: the economy is on the right track, any upheaval now would only derail growth and prosperity.

Mrs. Poe, on the other hand, took the moral high ground: the president erred and she should go, regardless of the consequences.

Expediency or morality? Stability or upheaval? The battle for the hearts of Filipinos is certain to heat up in the coming days.