EO 739 part of moves to extend GMA’s term
By Jason Faustino
09/23/2008
Former top government officials and civic groups started yesterday a signature campaign to frustrate attempts of President Arroyo’s allies to extend her term beyond 2010 when her presidency questionably won in the 2004 election expires.
The groups said the new Executive Order (EO) 739 issued last August was the latest attempt to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s term.
The Black and White Movement and the Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO) led the campaign as they called on the public to stay vigilant against what they said were the administration’s moves to keep Arroyo in power beyond her constitutional term.
“We declare our united opposition to any moves that exploit the Mindanao situation to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in power; to any attempt to amend the Constitution before 2010; to any attempt to change the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly, and to any step towards declaring martial law,” a statement of the group said.
“We note that in spite of various protestations by political leaders from the administration and the opposition, the talk of a brazen attempt to extend the term of Mrs. Arroyo simply will not die,” the statement read.
Malacañang quickly issued a response, saying Mrs. Arroyo will step down from her post when her term ends in 2010.
Deputy Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo called the campaign against Mrs. Arroyo’s term extension “fear-mongering.”
Let’s stay focused and help the President make the best of the remainder of her term, said Fajardo.
Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde added there are no plans to extend the term of Mrs. Arroyo.
Former Civil Service Commission (CSC) chief Karina David cited what she called as “dangerous moves” being undertaken by the administration such as Executive Order 739 signed last August which reorganized the peace and order councils.
“The EO puts all security agencies under the office of the Secretary of Interior and Local Government. This is organized from national to regional to provincial and municipal,” David said.
Makati Mayor and United Opposition (UNO) president Jejomar Binay said the Arroyo administration is using the communist bogey to justify the signing of EO 739 that effectively neutralizes local executives and strengthens the hand of internal security forces at the local level.
Binay said EO 739 emasculates local officials in the months leading to the 2010 elections, with its threat of sanctions for those supposedly sympathizing with communist rebels, and the creation of Internal Security Converge Office in each region.
The office was supposed to coordinate the work of internal security agencies in each locality.
“In the short term, the EO sends a chilling effect to local officials, especially those who are perceived as political enemies of Mrs. Arroyo and those who may switch party loyalties in 2010,” he said.
“If you are a local executive and you have the internal security office breathing down your neck, what options will you have?,” he added.
The EO appears to be part of the wide menu of options for extending Mrs. Arroyo’s hold on power beyond 2010, he added.
David said Filipinos, especially media, should keep a watchful eye on the moves of the administration as seen in their latest escapade to exploit the Mindanao conflict to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in power.
She said that a clear attempt to amend the Constitution before 2010 was seen and as there are traces that could lead to the declaration of martial law.
“This is a people’s initiative to warn the public and to avert what seems to be an undying attempt to prolong this administration’s stay in power…Today we are seeing disturbing signs that 2010 may not be the end of this administration and may be a repeat of our history of 36 years ago,” David told reporters at the historic Club Filipino in Greenhills.
The groups noted that the House of Representatives, through the Speaker, and the chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, has already announced that it will be holding “public consultations” to elicit public opinion on Charter Change.
A statement signed by the groups said the current administration “has swung violently on the matter of the conflict in Mindanao from rushing to sign the MOA on Ancestral Domain with the MILF to the abrupt cancellation of the peace talks, the dissolution of the peace panel and the attempt of Mrs. Arroyo to disown knowledge of the agreement; and now a relentless armed confrontation that is seemingly designed to goad the MILF and other groups into a combative reaction or a series of violent actions.”
“The inevitable armed confrontations and deaths that will follow could be a ready-made platform to suspend the writ of habeas corpus or, heaven forbid, even the declaration of Martial Law. The Constitution requires only a vote of a majority of the members of Congress, voting jointly, to approve and extend Martial Law,” the statement said.
The groups said they support all possible actions that will bring lasting peace to Mindanao, starting with a cease-fire and a return to the peace table.
Groups that have signed the statement are: Angelo King Foundation, Association of Foundations: Bantay-Katarungan, Be Not Afraid Movement, Black and White Movement, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC), Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), Consortium for Advancing People’s Participation through Sustainable Integrated Area Development CAPP-SIAD, Former Senior Government Officials (FSGO), Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute (GZO-PI), International Center for Innovation, Transformation and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov), Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KAAKBAY), Kilosbayan, Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (MASP Secretariat), One True Hope, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), Philippine Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in the Rural Areas (PhilDHRRA), Student Councils’ Association of the Philippines (SCAP), Young Public Servant (YPS).
David questioned the stealthy manner in which EO 739 entitled Reorganizing Peace and Order Council was issued.
The EO was hidden to the media and was signed last August, David said.
Under the EO, the creation of the said council is a duplication of existing National Security Council but has the same organization.
In the new set up the NSA will be under this office where the Secretary of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will be its chief.
According to David, informant will cover from national to regional, provincial to municipality level.
“We have the allies in the House of Representatives making a final bid for Charter Change, the renewed hostilities in the South triggered by government’s evident bad faith in dealing with the MILF and an executive order that resurrects the communist threat that the administration had earlier declared as on the verge of collapse,” Binay said.
“The convergence of options bolsters the belief that Mrs. Arroyo has no intention of giving up power in 2010, and is plotting to extend her rule indefinitely,” he said.
Binay said administration officials and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) had earlier claimed that the communist rebellion has been contained, and is now limited to certain areas.
“If such is the case, then why go to the extent of reorganizing the National Pace and Order Council into a super body that is almost the exact replica of the National Security Council? Why put on the national agenda a rebellion that is confined in only a few regions?” he said.
Binay, a human rights lawyer during martial law and a former political detainee, said former president Ferdinand Marcos used the communist insurgency as an issue to justify the declaration of martial law in September 1972. At that time, the communist movement was confined mainly in Central Luzon , he added.
“It is indeed ironic, or a cruel joke, that as we commemorate the imposition of martial law, the administration is resorting to the same tactics used by the dictator. And the goal is to extend the stay in power of someone who was not democratically elected,” he said.
The opposition leader also took issue with one of the premises of the EO, that cited the communist said insurgency as a stumbling block to the country’s aim of moving to first world status.
“It is not only misleading but a mistatement of facts. What prevents us from making gains in our economy and society is the culture of corruption, mismanagement and political repression under the Arroyo administration,” Binay said.