Tanggulang Demokrasya calls for a People's Truth Commission

CALL FOR A PEOPLE'S TRUTH COMMISSION

Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem), a broad coalition of civil society organizations, calls on the concerned citizens of the country to establish a People's Truth Commission to discover and reveal the accountability and any consequent liability of the administration of President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, arising from its massive juggling of public funds through the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) that has been ruled unconstitutional by unanimous vote of the Supreme Court¹.

TanDem asserts that the DAP abuse not only wreaked havoc on the budget and operations of the entire government. It also rendered nugatory the constitutional system of checks and balances. Thus, TanDem seeks justice against the perpetrators of DAP. Otherwise, the largest plunder of public funds since the EDSA Revolution that awakened the nation's collective conscience and outrage, will be marked with impunity.

To ensure a forceful yet fair search for the truth, TanDem asks that the People's Truth Commission be comprised of civil society leaders who may legitimately represent the country's three major regions (i.e. Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao), as well as society's major sectors, including the religious communities (i.e. Catholics, Protestants, Muslims), the security forces (i.e. retired military, retired police), civil society (i.e. workers, farmers, fishermen, professionals, business, youth, women), the southern sultanates and the indigenous peoples.

TanDem cites the need for the people to take a direct action in holding the Aquino administration to account for the unconstitutional and illegal DAP, because the present state of government affairs has become dysfunctional.

Firstly, the ruling Liberal Party has pre-empted the aggrieved citizens with its brazen declaration that no impeachment complaint against President Aquino will prosper because they have the numbers. In other words, the unconstitutionality and illegality of the DAP do not matter at all. What matters only is their stranglehold on a majority of the Congresspersons and Senators.

Secondly, the traditional political opposition under the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) chimed in with the ruling party by its own unbelievable declaration that it will not support any impeachment complaint against President Aquino. Either UNA is deceitfully negotiating a modus vivendi with President Aquino to share political power, or it has been cowed into submission by a vindictive President who has shown the propensity to persecute political opponents, like former President Gloria Arroyo, former Chief Justice Renato Corona, and retired Major General Jovito Palparan.

Thirdly, the party-list groups affiliated with the National Democratic Front (NDF), the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), have monopolized the endorsement of impeachment complaints against President Aquino. The clever maneuver leaves the democratic majority without any remedy to redress their grievances. The CPP now partakes of the “pork barrel” allotments from Congress, while it continues with its armed struggle against democracy.

Thus, TanDem advocates the urgent establishment of a People's Truth Commission because the government institutions tasked to hold President Aquino accountable have been compromised. The people need to face and address NOW the harsh reality that government has fallen under the control of the “oligarchs” and the influence of the “communists.”

1Araullo v. Aquino, G.R. No. 209287, 01 July 2014. The case is pending motion for reconsideration as of 27 August 2014.