Daily GLORIAGATE news for July 19, 2005

- 2 more senior aides abandon Gloria ship
INVESTMENT ADVISER SAYS GOV’T RESOURCES USED FOR POLITICAL SURVIVAL

Two more senior aides to President Arroyo resigned Monday as the embattled President struggled to keep her govern-ment intact amid serious allegations of electoral fraud.

Senior key aide Corazon Guidote left her post as special adviser on investments while Victoria Garchitorena resigned as special consultant on good governance and as board director of the state lottery office, Palace officials said.

On Sunday, the chief of the Palace's communications office, Silvestre Afable, stepped down, but is reportedly staying on as chief peace negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas.

“We thank Miss Corazon Guidote for her service as the presidential consultant on investor relations. We wish her well,” presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said, denying that her resignation was politically motivated.

But, Guidote in TV interviews yesterday, distinctly said she felt she had to leave, knowing that government resources were being poured for the political survival of Mrs. Arroyo and that the economic problems no longer received attention, charges which are similar to those aired by the first set of Cabinet secretaries and heads of key agencies in a press conference as they called for Mrs. Arroyo to resign, sparking a serious crisis as more allies of Mrs. Arroyo, including former President Corazon Arroyo, and the Liberal Party led by the Senate President, called for her resignation.

- Time-CNN poll: Pinoy majority want GMA out

Malacañang has dismissed results from local survey firms that all point to the majority of Filipinos, whether in Metro Manila or nationwide, saying they want her out of the presidential office. But this time around, a Time magazine-CNN poll taken on a nationwide basis, also showed the same results, with 57.5 percent of Filipinos saying she should not complete her term.

This was the clear mes-sage by the majority of the Filipino people in a nationwide survey recently conducted by Time-CNN.

The survey conducted from July 2 to 5 showed only 37.7 percent of the Filipinos being in favor of the Chief Executive finishing her term until 2010, while 4.8 percent of those surveyed were undecided.

The survey was conducted at a time when the serious crisis that befell Malacañang last July 8 when 10 members of her economic team, led by Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, along with Trade Secretary Juan Santos and Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin, resigned en masse, followed by their calls for Mrs. Arroyo to make the “supreme sacrifice” by resigning and making way for the constitutional successor to take over the reins of government.

It was also on the same day that former President Corazon Aquino as well as the Liberal Party led by Senate President Franklin Drilon called for the President's resignation on grounds of her inability to govern, having lost her moral authority and her continued focus on her political survival.

The Time-CNN survey found that of the respondents aged 18 to 44, 62 percent expressed the belief that she should leave the presidency while 35 percent said she should stay.

From ages 45 and above, 50 percent were of the view that Mrs. Arroyo should go, while 42 percent said she should remain in office.

Time-CNN's survey mainly covered Mrs. Arroyo's admission that hers was the female voice in the controversial tape speaking with Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the May 2004 presidential elections and congressional canvassing.

- GLORIA GINAGATASAN NG KAALYADO

Nababahala ang isang administration congressman na mauubos ang pondo ng bayan bago pa man maisipan ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo na bumaba sa puwesto dahil ginagawa na itong ‘gatasan’ ng kanyang mga supporters.

- Palace liaison to business joins calls on Gloria to quit

AN Arroyo adviser who was perceived to be Malacañang’s liaison to Big Business yesterday called on President Arroyo to resign.

Vicky Garchitorena issued the call a week after resigning as senior presidential consultant on good governance and poverty alleviation and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office director.

Garchitorena, a long-time manager of the Ayala Group’s social responsibility programs, said she had been prepared to give Arroyo the benefit of the doubt on the "Hello Garci" tapes but found the President’s promised reforms slow in coming.

- "THE COMMIES ARE COMING, THE COMMIES ARE COMING!!!" warns military

- And finally, Lito Banayo on the crowd size at the pro-Arroyo rally in Luneta last Saturday. Read this too.