Press Release
June 14, 2009

Press statement of Senator Loren Legarda

ON CON-ASS

The confirmation by allies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, including a cabinet secretary, that she is running for a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections adds credence to the fears that her ultimate aim is to be prime minister of a parliamentary government.

Nobody denies that President Arroyo has every right to run for Congress after her term as president of the Philippines expires. But why is there a need to amend the Constitution because she is running for Congress? That is the question that is worrying many of our people, as confirmed by an SWS survey last February 20-23. The survey showed that 43 percent of voting-age Filipinos do not believe that GMA would step down in 2010, compared to only 31 percent believing that she would do so.

The way the House rammed through Resolution 1109 which called for a constituent assembly without a separate participation by the Senate also strengthens this suspicion. Why should we wreck this country just to satisfy the ambitions of one individual? I appeal to the members of the House to put love of country above personal ambitions and concentrate on the more urgent needs of our people at the present time.

ON ANOTHER MEDIA KILLING

I strongly denounce the killing of another media man in Masbate province right on the day our country was celebrating Freedom Day. According to media reports, the victim, Antonio Castillo, 45, was the 66th journalist killed since the Arroyo administration came to power in 2006.

Undoubtedly, the number of journalists killed as well as those who were ambushed and merely wounded under the present administration is unprecedented. It also is consistent with the record of some 800 extrajudicial killings since 2001.

This unremitting killing of journalists, social activists, lawyers and judges indicates that our civil liberties and human rights are likewise in danger. The failure of government to stop these killings and bring their perpetrators to justice likewise signifies the breakdown of law enforcement insofar as practitioners of civil liberties and human rights are concerned. We must put things to order.

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