Then explain. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye has asked the Senate to reconsider the Senate blue ribbon committee's decision to cite National Security Adviser Gonzales for contempt. Bunye asked the Senate to recognize Gonzales' obligation not to divulge in public matters of national security.
Since Secretary Gonzales pinned the responsibility on GMA for approving the Venable LLP, she must now speak out if she wants to bail out Gonzales of his predicament.
GMA must now answer the following questions:
1. Why is it necessary to get a 5th lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and spend P50 million?
2. Why was Venable LLP chosen, a law firm Gonzales certainly had no previous dealings with?
3. Who recommended Venable LLP? Who interceded with her for this lobby contract?
4. Whose idea was it to include the push for change of the Constitution to a parliamentary federal system? Was it Gonzales as he claimed, was it Jose de Venecia, Fidel Ramos, the American Chamber of Commerce or GMA herself?
5. Whose idea or recommendation was it to get private donors to pay for the contract?
6. Was the first three months' retainer of $225,000 paid and who paid, government or private persons? Was the Malacañang intelligence fund used?
Secretary Bert Gonzales clearly declared several times before the Senate that he did not know the answer to these questions. Since only he and GMA were the only two officials who know this deal, then GMA must know. These are basic questions a good executive should have asked.
GMA must now speak out. The public has a right to know, Gonzales needs her help now. She must save him.
To the senators and to the public, there is no national security concern here. The position of GMA on Cha-cha, the matter of US assistance for defense and police purpose, the issue of credit ratings and cheaper loans are all long standing matters of public knowledge.
The only national security concern here is if the source of funds and the sponsor of the deal are questionable.
It's time for another “I'm sorry” TV spiel. The family of Bert Gonzales deserves an apology from GMA. Otherwise, more Cabinet members must now resign before they too are made fall guys.
- Pro-impeach majority members to lose post
A MAJOR revamp at the House of Representatives next week will strip congressmen who supported the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo of their committee chairmanship.
House majority leader Prospero Nograles (Lakas, Davao City) said the shakeup will begin Monday with the plenary voting on the nominations already lined up by the majority.
He said the reorganization will not affect "coherence and harmony" in the House with the leadership choosing the casualties’ replacement from their own partymates.
To be removed from their posts are Representatives Benigno Aquino III (LP, Tarlac) as deputy speaker for Luzon and Robert Ace Barbers (Lakas, Surigao del Norte) as chair of the House committee on accounts.
Also to be affected are three of the chairmen of the five committees jointly investigating the "Hello Garci" recordings. They are Representatives Roilo Golez (Ind., Parañaque), committee on national defense; Gilbert Remulla (NP, Cavite); committee on public information; and Teodoro Locsin Jr. (PDP-Laban,) Makati City), committee on suffrage and electoral reforms.
Ganti-gantihan lang yan.
Neal Cruz: Don't let Norberto Gonzalez off the hook this easy
- Bishop: For priests to keep silent not church option
While his fellow bishops prefer to keep a safe distance from the boiling political and moral issues affecting the nation today, former Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, yes-terday maintained that for the church to remain silent in the face of the political and moral turbulence hitting the country is to go against the example shown by Jesus Christ.
This was how Cruz refuted Malacañang and other Arroyo allies' repeated calls for the local Catholic Church to shut up now that President Arroyo is under siege.
“Such silence is not an option,” Cruz stressed, saying the reason this cannot serve as an option is that “it would mean that churchmen are numb to the plight of their oppressed and depressed, poor and hungry, sick and helpless neighbors, basically on account of politics without principles, without morals,” Cruz said.
The Lingayen arcbishop, an outspoken critic of the Arroyo administration and an even more oustpoken critic of gambling, both legal and illegal, however, noted that many churchmen prefer to simply keep quiet, stay still and remain in their churches even when they are witness to the practices of dirty politics.
Cruz pointed out that it was precisely this silence being maintained by some churchmen that encourages bad governance and even dirtier politics.
- Martial Law na ba?
Ipinagbabawal na ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ang paglulunsad ng anumang uri ng protesta o rally sa Kalakhang Maynila dahil sa matinding perwisyong dulot umano nito sa trabaho at negosyo.
Isa pang rason ni Pangulong Arroyo ay ang aniya’y tila paglagpas na sa limitasyon ng mga raliyista kung saan ay nasasagasaan na pati karapatan at interes ng nakararami.
Nagbabalik na ba ang batas-militar? Ang Martial law, para magpalabas ng ganito katinding direktiba ang Pangulo?
Sa ginagawang ito ni Pangulong Arroyo, lalo niyang ginagalit ang taumbayan.
Hindi pa nga nakakalimutan ng sambayanang Pilipino ang kinasasangkutan nitong kontrobersyang ‘Hello Garci’ na nauwi sa pagpatay sa kasong impeachment na isinampa laban sa kanya ay heto na naman siya at nagbibigay ng mabigat na kautusan na alam naman niyang marami ang aaray.
Kaya’t para sa amin, tama lamang na tapatan ng kontra demanda ang sinumang magpapatupad ng ‘rule of calibrated preemptive response’ dahil hindi ito naayon sa ating Saligang Batas.
Nasaan na ang sinasaad sa Saligang Batas na paggalang sa ating karapatang magtipon at magpahayag ng damdamin, pati ba iyon ay binura na rin ng administrasyong Arroyo?
Sana ay huwag maghigpit ang ating gobyerno, lalo na pagdating sa mga pagkilos dahil napakahabang panahon bago natamo ng ating bansa ang pinakamimithing demokrasya.
Kung sa tingin ng mga awtoridad ay umaabuso na ang mga raliyista, maaari naman magbigay ng panuntunan o regulasyon nang sa gayun ay mapayapang maidaos ang anumang pagkilos.
Pero sana panatilihin rin ng mga awtoridad ang pagkamahinahon upang maiwasan ang karahasan na kadalasang nauuwi sa pagdanak ng dugo.
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