 |
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Oust GMA campaign mounting
In the Philippines, thousands are taking to the streets, calling for the removal of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) from the presidential office, following accusations that her family benefitted from jueteng(an illegal numbers game). She is also on the hot seat following revelations in taped conversations between her and Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the elections, itself illegal, hinting at cheating during the elections. In that sense, she usurped the presidential position and is therefore a non-president sitting in Malacaņang. The problem with this is that it's old news. Accusations of cheating were numerous after the elections and cases were already filed to the Comelec. The taped conversations serve as catalyst to the ongoing movement to remove GMA from office (resignation is not even an appropriate call, since she suffers legitimacy issues).
One can appreciate this as a sign of the increasing democratic sensibilities of the Filipino people. Remember that Filipinos launched the EDSA uprising (named after the main metro highway where people converged) to protest the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. Marcos imposed Martial Law, a dark era in Philippine history, where the Marcos regime denied practices of human rights violations - now surpassed by the present regime.
Almost fifteen years later, another president (popularly voted), Joseph Estrada, was ousted after accusations of corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
This time a tsunano(dwarf tsunami) has stolen democracy from the Filipino people. This regime has also overseen the record killings of community leaders, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and priests in a spiralling decrepit 'culture of impunity,' if not direct culpability. The country has even been called the most dangerous and murderous country in the world for journalists by international organizations of journalists. The economy has gravely suffered from neoliberal policies and a corrupt system of governance, prejudicial to the local elite and most especially to giant foreign corporations that lavishly sapped the brain capital of the country, its manual strength, as well as rapaciously extracted from its lands and waters. More people consider themselves as living below the poverty level, in a country where a family of six has to live on about P600 a day and an unemployed five million Filipinos. Such burdens were made heavier by more taxes, without the benefit of returned social services. For all these reasons and more, more and more Filipinos have demanded for GMA to answer. GMA suffers the lowest approval rating since Marcos.
Even overseas Filipino groups have joined in solidarity with people in the homeland, by calling for a temporary hold on sending remittances - subject to emergency limitations - to the Philippines, whose economy is being propped up by the billions of dollars in remittances by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
***
Some people say Filipinos are already suffering from People Power fatigue, as if the last one was just made a month ago. But I think they're more concerned on what's coming after. People are so conscious of the fact that nothing has actually changed in the system after the two EDSAs, so some are actually cynical that only political faces will change, not the whole system. Thus it is crucial for progressives to have intensive dissemination of the idea of a transition council that can represent the broadest sectors of society. Though they shouldn't just stop there. It is not a matter of waiting for the 'ripe conditions' all the time. Objective conditions have always been there, and if substantial change as people may want it does not seem to happen, progressives must show insistence and clarity on the genuine alternative. Progressives must take every opportunity to plod forward, as I'm sure they're doing at the moment. The Filipino masses have been waiting and are now demanding for it. The present moves to oust GMA are in the right direction, but a new country must be given birth to. The lessons of the previous EDSAs must be clarified. One of them is that the political solution of constitutional succession must be reassessed. Another is the review of the kind of leadership that has been offered by the political elite so far. This leads to the conclusion that a new system of governance must be put in place. Action and persistence are needed now more than ever.
Filipinos are tired of hunger, state violence and a sense of hopelessness continually engendered by successive regimes. They are tired of poverty, inequality and social injustice. The Filipino people are not tired to fight for freedom, democracy, economic progress, social upliftment and social justice - in short, for a better future.
Posted at 02:22 am by starsi
|
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
