NR0712:GMA's cha-cha cure-all is poison

Mula sa Tanggapan ni Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
News Release July 12, 2005
House of Representatives, South Wing Rm 602
931-6615 Ina Alleco R. Silverio, Chief of Staff
Email: paggawa@edsamail.com.ph,
anakpawis2003@yahoo.com
Cellphone number 09213907362
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PGMA, De Venecia’s cure-all of Cha-cha not the
solution to political crisis; Filipinos demand change
in leadership, not recycling

Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran today said
that reports that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is
seriously considering suggestions that Congress
convene into a constituent assembly to fast-track
constitutional reforms and supposedly defuse the
political crisis.

“Nothing else will satisfy the Filipino people but the
resignation of Pres. Arroyo. There is no remedy to
this kind of political crisis but the removal of the
corrupt and illegitimate president; after all, the
president herself is the main reason why the country
is in an uproar and the economy is sliding faster and
faster downhill,” he said.

“Pres. Arroyo and her remaining allies as well as her
Rasputin of an adviser Fidel Ramos are direly mistaken
if they think that Charter Change is what will solve
the country’s problems. The alternative PGMA and her
allies are proposing is no alternative at all, but a
rehashed, recycled proposal that has already been
rejected time and again. The merger or unity of the
ruling parties is of no essential use to the Filipino
and they care nothing for it. The strong demand is for
a change in leadership, an end to the corrupt and
illegitimate Macapagal-Arroyo presidency. We don’t
want Arroyo resurrected into a prime minister or as
any kind of executive. We want her out of Malacanang,
and that’s that,” he said.

The veteran labor leader turned legislator said that
that Congress will not be able to convene into a
Constituent assembly any time soon, despite efforts of
Speaker Jose de Venecia and other die-hard
pro-administration solons.

“Charter Change seems to be the cure-all
Macapagal-Arroyo and Speaker de Venecia are offering
the people. But it’s poison and not medicine, and
Filipinos will reject it outright.”

“This solution is definitely a whopping non-sequitur
answer to the current political crisis. Filipinos will
not be buying much less supporting whatever economic
reforms Congress and Malacanang are planning to push
via Cha-cha. The brand of reforms and economic
programs Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies are pushing
have already been tried, and the impact has been
disastrous. Their brand of economics continue to wreak
unprecedented havoc in the lives and livelihood of
millions of Filipinos. Pres. Arroyo has been inutile
and useless in stopping electricity rates and oil
prices from going up. The one million jobs she
promised have gone up in smoke, and the quality of
life of the poor continues to deteriorate.”

“We don’t want recycled leaders, bureaucrats and
so-called economic experts to continue at the helm of
this country’s government. Filipinos have had enough
of their disgustingly rotten leadership and twisted
economic programs that serve to enrich the already
wealthy and drive the poor to even more miserable
levels of poverty and degradation.

“The only way the country can begin to heal is if
Filipinos are rid of corrupt, power-greedy officials
like Macapagal-Arroyo. The longer she remains in
power, the worse the political and economic situation
will be,” he said. #