Kulog at Kidlat mula sa Lipa - Ang talumpati ni Archbishop Ramon C. Arguelles

The Lipa declaration: An urgent call for national transformation

http://www.manilatimes.net/lipa-declaration-urgent-call-national-transformation/122184/

August 27, 2014 11:47 pm

Adopted on August 27, 2014 by groups demanding the resignation of President Benigno Aquino 3rd.

We are Filipino citizens of different personal, professional social and economic backgrounds and political persuasions and religious beliefs. We have gathered here in Lipa City on this 27th day of August A.D. 2014/ 2nd day of DHU AL-QA’DA A.H. 1435, under the auspices of the National Transformation Council, to reaffirm our deeply held convictions and beliefs about the common good and our highest national interests, in the face of the most pressing challenges.

We invite all our compatriots everywhere to reaffirm with us the same convictions and beliefs.

We believe that:

A crisis of unprecedented proportions has befallen our nation. The life of the nation is in grave peril from the very political forces that are primarily ordained to protect, promote and advance its well-being, but which are aggressively undermining its moral, religious, social, cultural, constitutional and legal foundations;

Unbridled and unpunished corruption and widespread misuse of political and economic power in all layers of society have not only destroyed our common conception of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, legal and illegal, but also put our people, especially the poor, at the mercy of those who have the power to dictate the course and conduct of our development for their own selfish ends;

Far from preserving and defending the constitution, as he swore to do when he assumed office, the incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino has subverted and violated it by corrupting Congress, intimidating the judiciary, taking over the treasury, manipulating the automated voting system, and perverting the constitutional impeachment process; President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd has also damaged the moral fabric of Philippine Society by bribing members of Congress not only to impeach and remove a sitting Supreme Court Chief Justice but also to enact a law which disrespects the right to life of human being at the earliest and most vulnerable stages of their lives, in defiance not only of the constitution but above all of the moral law, the customs, culture, and consciences of Filipinos.

Therefore, faithful to the objective moral law and to the universally honored constitutional principle that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them, we declare that President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd has lost the moral right to lead the nation, and had become a danger to the Philippine Democratic and Republican state and to the peace, freedom, security and moral and spiritual well-being of the Filipino people.

We further declare that we have lost all trust and confidence in President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd, and we call upon him to immediately relinquish his position.

And we call upon the National Transformation Council, (Hereafter the council), to assume the urgent and necessary task of restoring our damaged political institutions to their original status and form before we begin to consider electing a new government under normal political conditions.

The role of the council will not be to succeed President Aquino, but solely to prevent the total destruction of our political system, and to rebuild and nourish its institutions back to health so that all those interested could join the political competition later, without the dice being loaded in anyone’s favor.

Like a crew whose task is to put everything in order before a commercial carrier, which had earlier developed some problems in midair, is cleared again for takeoff, the council’s duty will be only to repair the battered tripartite system and to make sure that the people are once again able to freely and intelligently elect their own leaders.

In this connection, we welcome the council’s proposal to open broad public consultations on the need to modify and strengthen the presidential system or to shift from the Unitary / Presidential system to a federal / Parliamentary System, endowing such structure with:

A totally independent judicial department, free from any kind of intimidation or bullying by either the Executive or the Legislative Department, and with the sufficient wherewithal to clear the backlog of the courts and fast-track all cases;

A merit-driven, professional civil and military service;

Totally transparent government budgeting, procurement, disbursement, accounting and auditing systems and procedures; and

An irreproachably independent and completely dependable electoral system, free from the virus that has corrupted the Automated Voting System Since 2010.

Whatever the final form of government the citizenry decide to adopt, absolutely indispensable are the integrity and independence of the courts, and the existence of an incorrupt electoral system by means of which we, the people, are able to freely and intelligently choose our own leaders in free and honest elections. Without these, we cannot speak of a normally functioning democratic and thus we fully support the council’s position that until we have such a fraud-free electoral system, we should refrain from holding any farcical election. But once we have it, we should encourage the best qualified men and women in the country to participate in the open electoral process so that together, we could put an end to the stranglehold exercised by the corrupt and incompetent political dynasties upon our elections.

Finally, we support the council’s proposal that with political reform there must go hand in hand comprehensive economic reform. With one strong voice, we must now say a vigorous “NO,” as Pope Francis has suggested, to an economics of exclusion and inequality, coming from a misguided vision of the human being and of society harmfully acted upon through myopic laws, policies and programs.

As the council prepares to embark upon the necessary reforms, we call upon the Armed Forces of the Philippines, as the constitutional “protector of the people and the state,” to extend its protective shield to the council, and not to allow any armed group to sow violence, disorder or discord into its peaceful ranks.

Adopted in Lipa City, this 27th day of August A.D. 2014 / 2nd day of DHU AL-QA’DA A.H. 1435.

Bishops urge Aquino 'Step down now'

http://www.manilatimes.net/step-now/122188/

BISHOPS URGE AQUINO

‘Step down now’

August 27, 2014 11:51 pm

by TINA GANZON CORRESPONDENT AND REINA TOLENTINO AND JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA REPORTERS

LIPA CITY, Batangas: Hundreds of people from various walks of life, varying political persuasions and different religious beliefs rallied here on Wednesday and demanded that President Benigno Aquino 3rd step down because of his failure to deliver on his promises of clean government with two years left in his term.

In their Lipa Declaration, they stated, “[We] have lost all trust and confidence in President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd, and we call upon him to immediately relinquish his position.”

“Far from preserving and defending the Constitution, as he swore to do when he assumed office, the incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino has subverted and violated it by corrupting Congress, intimidating the judiciary, taking over the treasury, manipulating the automated voting system, and perverting the constitutional impeachment process,” they said in a statement.

“President Benigno Simeon Aquino 3rd has also damaged the moral fabric of Philippine Society by bribing members of Congress not only to impeach and remove a sitting Supreme Court Chief Justice but also to enact a law which disrespects the right to life of human being at the earliest and most vulnerable stages of their lives, in defiance not only of the constitution but above all of the moral law, the customs, culture, and consciences of Filipinos,” they added.

The gathering gave birth to a National Transformation Council (NTC) that the rallyists said will stand up against the most pressing challenges facing the country and fight for the common good.

It started with a national situationer given by former senator Francisco Tatad, who also explained the role of the NTC under whose auspices the Lipa Declaration was drafted.

A program that followed included a discussion on the role in the transformation efforts of the Catholic Church given by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the role of the Muslim community given by Dr. Kamil Unda and the participation of the Protestant movement given by Rev. Arthur Corpuz.

Archbishop Fernando Capalla, a former chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the PhilippineS, also discussed the role of the Catholic Church in the transformation efforts, particularly the EDSA 2 experience, which saw the ouster of then-President Joseph Estrada in 2001.

The final call to action was given by Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who appealed to Filipinos to act now on the country’s economic and social ills and not wait until it is too late.

“We should not let the time go [to waste], otherwise we will be blamed in the future for failing to do something. It has always been in our history. We reform what needs to be reformed,” Arguelles said.

“Something has to be changed [and] that is why we are here today. Let us do something now,” he added.

Arguelles said it is not enough to change leaders as it is the system that needs to be changed.

The Lipa Declaration signed by those present at the rally welcomed the NTC’s proposal to open broad public consultations on the need to modify and strengthen the presidential system or to shift to a federal/parliamentary system to achieve a totally independent judicial department; a merit-driven, professional civil and military service; a totally transparent government budgeting and accounting system; and an irreproachably independent and dependable electoral system... (redacted)

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.