Press Release
November 23, 2006

LACSON TO GMA: STEP DOWN, SAVE FACE IN 2007

If she wants to make administration senatorial bets win in the May 2007 elections, President Arroyo must either step down or risk going down as the most hated president in Philippine history.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Thursday this piece of unsolicited advice could even make history kinder to Mrs. Arroyo, whom he said has felt the one-two punch of low trust ratings and low approval ratings for administration bets in recent surveys.

I have one unsolicited advice to Mrs. Arroyo that could possibly make her candidates win in the coming midterm elections. It may even make history more forgiving and kinder to her: STEP DOWN. Otherwise, her candidates will certainly face a debacle at the polls and she will go down in history as the most hated president this country ever had, he said.

Lacson also said that Mrs. Arroyo, instead of engaging in finger-pointing against media for her low trust ratings, should try some self-reflection instead. He said she has herself to blame because she has refused to face issues against her and even tried to suppress the truth.

Such moves to suppress the truth have alienated her and her fair-haired boys from the people, he added. In the minds of the people, no amount of excuses can diffuse the wrongdoings they have been linked to, he said.

He said Mrs. Arroyos problems stemmed from cheating in the 2004 presidential elections, when she tried to keep the truth involving the Hello Garci scandal from coming out.

Worse, he said Malacañang tried to suppress the truth by coming out with measures like calibrated preemptive response (CPR) and EO 464, barring officials from testifying in congressional investigations without presidential clearance.

There are so many anomalies. But they will then blame the media. They should try to look at themselves, he said.

Lacson said that if Mrs. Arroyo will not change her attitude, she will go down in history as the most disliked president ever. That will be her destiny unless she faces the truth about the issues of cheating in the election. She should face them squarely instead of resorting to squid tactics and fooling the people, he said.

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