DON'T TWIST CBCP LETTER, LACSON DARES GMA

Instead of trying to twist their latest statement in her favor, President Arroyo should concede that Catholic Church leaders are aware of her cheating in the 2004 elections, as well as her attempts to fix her way out of impeachment in 2005.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Mrs. Arroyo should read between the priestly lines of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' pastoral letter, which he said was the CBCP's way of telling her right to her face that they knew of her lying, cheating and stealing.

"If there is a shred of self-respect left in GMA, she should concede that the CBCP is trying to tell her right in her face that they knew all along that she fixed her way out of impeachment," Lacson said.

He said the only reason why the CBCP was not too harsh in its letter was that the bishops are just trying to be priestly in their statement.

The CBCP, after a three-day plenary council last weekend, issued a letter calling for a relentless search for the truth over the controversies involving the Hello Garci tapes and efforts by Mrs. Arroyo to have the Constitution amended.

It said truth had become a victim of political partisanship as well as of transactional politics, even as it slammed what it called Malacañang 's acts of evasion and obstructions of the truth.

Last year, Lacson said an armor-plated skin, and not so-called moral armor, saved Mrs. Arroyo from impeachment over the charges of lying, cheating and stealing following the Hello Garci scandal.

He said this was evident when she tried to grab credit for the achievements of other Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose remittances strengthened the peso last December, in a bid to ensure her political survival.

"For as long as there is no real and believable closure to the issues of lying, cheating and stealing perpetrated by the Arroyo government, stability will elude our country and the people will continue to suffer," Lacson said.