Press Release
January 20, 2008

PIMENTEL HITS SINISTER MOTIVE OF PEDDLERS OF COUP TALKS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the pretentious claim of Malacañang and the military about a new destabilization and coup plot against Arroyo government is belied by their own subsequent statements that downplay such security threats.

Pimentel noted that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself has dismissed the alleged power grab attempt as nothing more than "self-indulgent political theatrics." In fact, the President is going ahead with her trip to Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates this week.

On the other hand, he said military and police authorities admit the current security situation does not even a warrant a red alert warning as they rule out the possibility of a putsch backed by people power.

Pimentel said it is clear that the alleged coup try is just a ploy to suit the self-serving agenda of some generals bent on keeping the President beholden to them.

"Under the circumstances, the loud and furious moves of the Armed Forces to demonstrate its power merely show that the President is no longer in control. It is she who is under the control of some generals," he said.

"She is apparently being allowed to hang on to the office to give a civilian face to the insidious and sinister fact that the country is being run by a clique of generals without the mandate of the people."

Pimentel questioned the announced plan of AFP and PNP to deploy about 10,000 troops supposedly to secure Metro Manila while farmers from the provinces gather to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the massacre of protesting peasants of Mendiola bridge near Malacañang.

Obviously, he said this is intended to intimidate the ordinary citizens who would courageously assail the injustice and abuses being committed by the present administration through their exercise of their right to peacefully assemble.

"This is one reason why the downgrade of our country's commitment to democratic principles by a US think tank may have some basis," Pimentel said.

"It is obvious that the President and her generals are playing the game of the generals at the expense of democracy and the fundamental rights of our people."

The minority leader added that the recent presidential pardon of former President Joseph Estrada cannot by any stretch of the imagination be deemed as a legitimate consideration for downgrading our democratic standing. He said US President Richard Nixon was pardoned by President Gerald Ford under worse circumstances than Gloria's pardon of Estrada. There was no downgrading of US democracy because of that, he pointed out.

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