More on the disgraceful stand taken by the Ateneo Law School on GLORIAGATE

PCIJ Blog has a good report on it, including the Arroyo family's connections with the school. The comments after the post are worth reading too. Keep scrolling down.

Ateneo Law School Dean Cesar L. Villanueva statement:

We do not demand that the President resign, but we do ask of her, as the duly proclaimed Chief Executive of our Republic, to determine what is best for the country, and that her decision be made with the best interest of the nation in mind. As our President, we must rely on Mrs. Arroyo to make the proper decision, and once having made it, to then follow what would be in accordance with the terms provided for in our Constitution.

If the President would so decide in the best interest of the country to resign, then our people and our political leaders should rally behind the succession of our proclaimed Vice-President to the highest office of the land.

If the President believes that she should not resign, we must continue to accord to her the respect that her office demands, and allow the current impeachment proceedings to follow their constitutional course to the end, and abide by the ruling of the impeachment body.

What a cowardly position taken by the Ateneo Law School. Can't tell right from wrong anymore, Ateneo?

And let her decide "what's best for us"? Are you nuts?

What if GMA thinks that it is in "our best interest" that she cheat so that we don't have to have FPJ or Lacson for president anymore?

What if she decides that it is in "our best interest" that she stay in power because she is the "lesser evil" and there are "no alternatives left", kahit na alam nating nandaya siya?

What if she and Jose Pidal think that there is nothing wrong with using gov't money to enrich themselves and divert those funds to her presidential campaign?

What if she thinks that silencing (or "rescuing" if you want to be Orwellian) a witness or whistleblower is in her best interes... este in "our national interest"?

Again I ask, you want her to decide what's best for our country? Are you people crazy? That's like letting a child molester in charge of the nursery. Can't you guys distinguish what is legal and illegal anymore?

My position on this naman is that I don't find this fake president trustworthy or credible to make these decisions for us.

And I cannot "respect" any decision of hers to stay in office.

The only honorable move she has left is resignation.

More commentary on the Ateneo decision here:

True, she still has the Ateneo Jesuits, who have suddenly become so unsuccessful in discerning what is moral and immoral, even the legal and illegal — a far cry from their stand in 2001, when they jumped into politics and ousted a clearly legitimate President through extra-legal and unconstitutional means — and merely on the strength of unsubstantiated allegations. But they didn't like Estrada and that was enough justification for them to oust him.

Today, the Ateneo Law School even says it will leave the decision to resign or stay to Mrs. Arroyo, for her to do what is right for the nation. And if she chooses to stay, she must be accorded due respect. So pray tell, how can a nation even be expected to accord respect to a bogus official who stole the people's sovereign will?

But then again, this may well be the reason Ateneo law graduates have become few and far between on the list of Bar topnotchers, apart from the fact that thus far, some of the more notorious government officials are said to be Ateneo alumni, or professors, the most notorious of whom is of course Gloria, a former Ateneo teacher, with the Jesuit-run Georgetown strain of one semester — and not to forget her spouse, a Blue Eagle.

Still, more and more of the middle-class, including the students and faculty of several universities have made their stand clear: Gloria must resign, as she has lost all moral and legal authority, a stand that has also been taken by several bishops.

Read the rest here.