Press Release
January 19, 2006
GMAS REFUSAL TO REVOKE EO 464 COMPELS PIMENTEL TO SNUB COUNCIL OF STATE MEETING
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today
said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not expect the
opposition to positively respond to her overtures for cooperation
and unity for as long as she impedes the efforts of Congress to
resolve the controversies hounding her administration.
Explaining why he was not attending the Council of Meeting called by
the President on June 24, Pimentel said he was constrained by
principle not to participate in such activity while the President
continues to prevent Cabinet members and other officials of the
executive branch from appearing before congressional inquiries that
aim to ferret out the wrongdoing of public officials through
Executive Order 464.
In a jocular vain, Pimentel sent a letter to Executive Secretary
Eduardo Ermita explaining his rejection of the invitation to the
Council meeting, Pimentel said: Sorry, Ed, I invoke EO 464 as my
excuse for not attending.
The minority leader said he feels it would be inappropriate on his
part to lend his presence in a meeting meant to boost support for
President Arroyo when she herself refuses to cooperate in the
efforts of Congress to address the issues related to the legitimacy
of her government.
Pimentel bewailed that the President, in her desire to camouflage
the facts behind the alleged massive electoral fraud in 2004 and
other misdeeds of her administration, had to resort to a patently
illegal act of issuing EO 464 which curtails the investigative
powers of Congress in flagrant derogation of the constitutional
principle of separation of powers and checks and balances among the
three independent branches of government.
Pimentel said contrary to the assertion of Malacañang
, he does not
think that it would be a breach of statesmanship if personalities
like him will not show up at the Council of State meeting.
He said they simply do not want to commit the mistake of being used
in a Palace ploy to co-opt the opposition and to allow President
Arroyo to stay in office in the face of incessant public demand for
her resignation.
Pimentel added that the seven-man Senate minority bloc, during a
caucus Monday, unanimously agreed not to send any representative to
the Council of State meeting. |