Press Release
January 12, 2007

Angara calls for principles not popularity in May 2007

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today called for the signing of a January Covenant by the major political parties to ensure clean elections in May 2007, which he added, may be the last window of opportunity left for democracys survival.

Candidates seeking public office and parties vying for electoral primacy are key elements of the electoral process. But over and above these is the need to make sure that the May 2007 elections are clean, fraud-free and untainted, said Angara, a staunch advocate of political and economic reforms.

Angara warned that any taint on the May 2007 election results may reopen the old doubts about the sanctity of the electoral process and the conduct of previous electoral exercises.

A widespread public impression that the results of the May 2007 elections were less than honest and beyond question would have grievous consequences and I doubt if our fragile democratic experiment would be able to withstand the tremors, said Angara.

Angara said that the political community should realize that there may not be another election after the May 2007 elections if massive fraud and taint are associated with its results.

Democracy will not survive another fraudulent elections, said Angara.

Angara said that the multi-party covenant he is proposing can be named HOPE Covenant with the four letters in the acronym representing the heart of the covenant.

H will stand for honesty, O will stand for openness and transparency, P will stand for prudent spending so as not to bankrupt the economy. E will stand for the electronic reforms to assist in the counting and the canvass of votes, said Angara.

Angara said that his party, the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), can draft the proposed covenant in consultation with other major political parties.

Before we even talk about the campaign and the contending personalities, the political community should start with the basic and this is the multi-party consensus for a clean and honest elections, said Angara.

News Latest News Feed