Press Release
January 7, 2006
COUNCIL OF STATE MEETING ANOTHER PLOY TO ALLOW GMA TO CLING TO POWER
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today
viewed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyos move to convene the
Council of State as another ploy to counteract the incessant clamor
for her resignation and to lend a semblance of legitimacy to her
administration.
Pimentel said he has no intention of attending the meeting of the
Council of State scheduled on Jan. 26. As Senate minority leader,
Pimentel is an ex-officio member of the council.
I will not fall for an administration ploy to co-opt the opposition
and enable Mrs. Arroyo to buy more time to prevent her ouster, he
said.
The minority leader maintained that the country will remain
politically and economically unstable as long as President Arroyo is
in office because of unresolved doubts over her election to a second
term and because of her misuse of the powers of her office.
He said the nations prevailing sentiment for Mrs. Arroyos removal
from office is clearly reflected in the Oct. 15-27 Pulse Asia survey
showing that six out of every 10 Filipinos wanted her to resign and
the last survey of the Social Weather Stations which gave her a
negative 30 disapproval rating.
Reacting to reports that even former President Joseph Estrada has
been invited by Malacañang
to the Council of State meeting, Pimentel
cautioned the jailed leader against being hoodwinked by another
Palace gimmicks.
He said if Mrs. Arroyo is really sincere in her appeal for national
unity and for healing of political wounds, she should have directed
government prosecutors to stop objecting to Estradas motion to be
granted bail or to be put under house arrest with the Sandiganbayan
while the plunder case against him is under trial.
I think the administration is resorting to these moves to pacify
the peoples wrath over their disenchantment with the Arroyo
leadership and their deteriorating economic condition, he said.
Pimentel also dismissed as wishful thinking the suggestion of
certain opposition quarters for an alliance among three former
presidents Estrada, Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino in seeking
the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo and in forming a transition council that
will govern the country.
Despite Ramos frequent criticisms of Mrs. Arroyos misdeeds,
including her endorsement of the scrapping of the 2007 elections,
Pimentel said Mr. Ramos could not be expected to abandon the
President because their political fortunes are intertwined with each
other.
He suspected that Mr. Ramos, as in previous instances of his tiff
with Mrs. Arroyo, may be using their disagreement over the
no-election plan, to exact certain concessions or favors from the
President.
According to Pimentel, Mr. Ramos recent much-publicized meeting
with two prominent Arroyo critics Senate President Franklin Drilon
and Sen. Vicente Sotto III was part of Ramos political
theaterics to promote his own political agenda.
Instead of creating a transition governing council, Pimentel urged
all anti-Arroyo forces to keep up the pressures for the resignation
of President Arroyo and the calling of a snap presidential election.
Based on this proposal, Senate President Franklin Drilon will assume
the presidency of the republic in case of the resignation of the
President, along with Vice President Noli de Castro.
As acting president, Drilon will call a snap election within a
period of 45 days after the vacancies in the presidency and vice
presidency occurred.
Pimentel, meanwhile, lauded the stand of Mr. Drilon that he is
amenable to the call of the Black and White Movement to take over
the presidency in case of the resignations of Arroyo and De Castro. |