FORMER members of the Arroyo Cabinet and other ex-government officials said today a recent presidential directive reorganizing the National Peace and Order Council supposedly to battle communist rebels appears linked to a plan of President Arroyo to declare martial law and extend her term.
The officials, who call themselves Former Senior Government Officials or FSGO, said Executive Order 739 signed on Aug. 19 creates a “parallel structure” to the National Security Council and places all security agencies under Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.
“Why all of a sudden do we need this?” former Civil Service Commission Chair Karina Constantino-David told a press conference the FSGO called to unveil its initiative to stop what it said were attempts to enable Arroyo stay in office beyond 2010 and impose martial law.
The FSGO has been gathering signatures for a petition declaring its 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.”
It said the petition has been signed by at least 25 organizations and more than 300 individuals.
In Malacanang, Deputy Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo denied the FSGO’s allegation. “The President intends to vacate her office when her term ends in 2010 and does not know where such fear-mongering is coming from,” she said. “Let’s stay focused and help the President make the best of the remainder of her term.”
At Camp Crame also today, Puno urged Arroyo’s critics to “stop doomsday forecasting” as he denied that EO 739 would lead to a declaration of martial law.
An Inquirer.net report quoted Puno as saying, “Let’s just calm down and, being the responsible public officials that we are, focus on what we are doing.”
At today’s FSGO’s press conference, former Trade and Industry Secretary Vicente Paterno pointed to what he said were “signs of conflagration” or indicators that martial law seems to be in the offing.
He said the Mindanao and communist insurgencies were also cited by Ferdinand Marcos as among the reasons for placing the country under martial law on Sept 21, 1972.
EO 739 cited the need to stop the communist rebels and “their criminal acts once and for all” as reason for reorganizing the National Peace and Order Council now chaired by the interior secretary.
The reorganized council comprises the NSC director general, executive secretary, secretary of foreign affairs, secretary of defense, secretary of justice, press secretary, Dangerous Drugs Board chairman, Presidential Management Staff director general, Philippine Information Agency director general, Presidential Anti-Graft Commission chairperson, Armed Forces chief of staff, Philippine National Police chief, National Bureau of Investigation director and three representatives from the private sector to be appointed by Arroyo.
Sen. Mar Roxas earlier said EO 739 “virtually makes Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno a co-president with Mrs. Arroyo” and warned of what he described as “creeping authoritarianism.”
The FSGO petition, meanwhile, expressed fear that the ongoing conflict in Mindanao could escalate following the cancellation of the peace talks and dissolution of the peace panel, and “could be a ready-made platform to suspend the writ of habeas corpus or, heaven forbid, even the declaration of martial law.”
The former government officials also assailed persistent moves to amend the Constitution—first through a people’s initiative and now through a constituent assembly—in what they described as “a brazen attempt to extend the term of Mrs. Arroyo.”
“Let us be prepared,” Paterno said.
The full text of FSGO’s petition:
Moves For Term Extension Will Not Die: Filipino Citizens Should Prepare For Action
We, the organizations and individuals who have signed this statement, are citizens of this Republic alarmed by current political developments. 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.
Charter change to be initiated in Congress through a constituent assembly has seemingly been stopped in its tracks by the vocal opposition of many members of the Senate, whose two-thirds approval would logically seem necessary to convene a constituent assembly. Yet the House of Representatives, through the Speaker, and the Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, has announced that it will be holding “public consultations” to elicit public opinion on charter change, whether for federalism, shift to a parliamentary system or such other excuse/justification as may later dawn on the proponents. Some legislators have been vocal in pushing their interpretation that “the Constitution requires only a two thirds vote of its members to propose amendments to the Constitution,” an interpretation that would make the Senators’ votes almost irrelevant in the process.
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.
We declare our commitment to a just and sustainable peace in Mindanao. We will initiate and support all possible actions that will bring about an inclusive process to begin with ceasefire and return to the peace table.
We declare our united opposition (1) to any moves that exploit the Mindanao situation to extend Mrs. Arroyo’s stay in power, (2) to any attempt to amend the Constitution before 2010, (3) to any attempt to change the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly, and (4) to any step towards declaring Martial Law.
We call on all Filipinos to be vigilant, to inform themselves, to organize with like-minded fellow citizens, and to prepare to show our leaders and officials the true power of our democracy.