July 2, 2005 · Posted in: In the News
“More than impropriety”
THE Jose W. Diokno Foundation, a non-partisan organization that aims to promote the nationalistic and libertarian ideals and values of the late Senator Jose W. "Pepe" Diokno, has issued the following statement. Led by Mrs. Zeneida Quezon Avanceña (president), Mrs. Carmen I. Diokno (treasurer), Dr. Maria Serena I. "Maris" Diokno (executive director), and board members Jose Manuel I. Diokno, Maria Feria, Roel Landingin, Bro. Armin Luistro, Pablito Sanidad, Ly SyCip and Maria Teresa D. Pascual, the foundation is calling on Pres. Arroyo to step down from office.
More than Impropriety
Statement of the Jose W. Diokno FoundationPresident Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s admission she talked to a Comelec official after the May 2004 presidential polls raises a key issue that Filipinos, individually and collectively, must grapple with. It is not one of mere impropriety, as her spokesmen would have us believe. Neither is it of stability or the need for sobriety. The issue is, plainly, one of right and wrong, and what is to be done in the face of wrongdoing.
Mrs. Arroyo apologized for making the calls, insisting she merely desired to protect her votes and did not influence the outcome of the elections. But the President called this official not once but more than a dozen times, at a time when she had not yet been proclaimed as president, about the outcome of the elections. These repeated conversations were not a “lapse in judgment”. They were not merely improper. They were grievously wrong.
Mrs. Arroyo asked us to forgive her. But if the President were to be exonerated by a public apology, what basis would there be to charge the Comelec official she conversed with, and the others with whom this Comelec official collaborated to carry out questionable if not criminal acts?
Some argue that the legitimacy of Mrs. Arroyo’s victory is nonetheless unquestionable, that she would have won anyway. We believe this assertion is now open to debate.
Others say there is no alternative leader. Again this is an open question all citizens should start thinking about.
Still others argue that the instability that would arise from a change of president would be disastrous for the nation. But is the instability caused by the President’s wrongdoing not disastrous enough?
The issue is one of grave wrongdoing by the occupant of the highest office of the land. A president incapable of distinguishing between mere impropriety and grave wrongdoing should not lead. Mrs. Arroyo must step down from office.
By stepping down, the message to all, most especially our youth, is clear: dishonesty is unacceptable. Dishonesty is wrong. No public official who is dishonest should remain in office. Dishonest officials must be accountable for their actions. “Sorry” is not enough.
By remaining in office, the message of Mrs. Arroyo is the opposite: it pays to be dishonest; just apologize and all is forgiven. One can try to cheat, and, successful or not, remain president, an official of the Comelec or indeed of any other government agency, the legislature included.
Worse, there are indications of a cover-up of the President’s wrongdoing at the highest level, before and after Mrs. Arroyo finally owned up before the public. As evidence of the cover-up emerges, Mrs. Arroyo’s position will become increasingly untenable.
Much has been said about the need to respect constitutional processes, in part to infuse sobriety in this period of turmoil. The truth is, far too many Filipinos have lost faith not just in our leaders but in our institutions.
The Comelec has no credibility; the legislature is a close second, and the judiciary has failed to deliver justice especially to the poor and powerless. A church that preaches sobriety but remains silent in the face of patently immoral public acts will lose its reason for being. Businessmen who value profits and market stability over what is a clear case of misgovernance will soon lose both. And civil society leaders who cannot condemn wrongdoing by the country’s highest officials isolate themselves from the majority for whom hunger and basic survival are the daily fare.
Few believe that impeachment is a viable option, given the administration’s majority in the legislature. The people also cannot wait for the outcome of a fact-finding commission, which would take a year or so while Mrs. Arroyo remains in office.
We repeat: Mrs. Arroyo must step down from office. This is the first and necessary step in the peaceful transition to a genuine reexamination and restructuring of our institutions.
Quezon City, 2 July 2005
Zeneida Q. Avancena
PresidentCarmen I. Diokno
Treasurer
28 Responses to “More than impropriety”
ichirosan
July 2nd, 2005 at 4:35 pm
dynamite statement.
we need more people speak up.
as a member of the business community. I especially agree with this line:
Businessmen who value profits and market stability over what is a clear case of misgovernance will soon lose both.
Far too many of our fellow businessmen choose the short-sighted view.
donald dee et al I am talking to you.
benign0
July 2nd, 2005 at 6:18 pm
Those who’ve been in the habit of tolerating corruption and mediocrity cast the first stone on Gloria. Might I remind everyone that we found no problem with installing the president EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONALLY back in 2003. And now tongues are wagging again about the latest political debacle. Tsk tsk. Talk about a nation of hypocrites.
This is just another excuse to distract the nation from the more worthwhile task of nation-building. For every crisis of governance — a setback of at least a year of development opportunity (and another 2+% growth in population — another 1.5 million unproductive mouths to feed).
So what if Gloria steps down? We can’t even seem to put previous criminal presidents, their family-accomplices, and their cronies behind bars. This society is the biggest sucker for political intrigue. It’s no wonder. Our government merely reflects its constituents. We not only deserve each other, we deserve the Philippine government.
Worse, is there any guarantee that the next president will be any better?
A country of 80 million people can’t even produce [i]one good leader[/i]. That fact says quite a lot.
More views like this? Visit:
http://www.getrealphilippines.com
nerie
July 2nd, 2005 at 6:24 pm
This is a lose-lose situation– if the president resigns, business declines, international support weakens, and foreign investors would leave; if she stays in power. there still looms a civil crisis– divided a nation as we are. To exonerate or to chastisise– it is a desicion that has to be immediately made. A toss-up between moral values and a sense of justice riles the consiences of this dear country. And with this, we have to choose the lesser evil. Whatever desicion that we make let us always remember that whatever we decide right now will not only affect the future of our children, but as well as the fate of what we call our motherland.
May God bless our country.
rich___ong
July 2nd, 2005 at 7:01 pm
Dear Benigno,
Don’t sucker me into believing that Gloria is our savior. I say I need not cast the stone to GLoria. Why does she cling so much to the presidency? It seems its not the service to the people she wants. In other countries goverment officials resign when their honor and trust is lost. Nerie on the other hand when Gloria and his cronies are out then crucial reforms can be implemented and people will accept and swallow the bitter pill for the good of the nation. I don’t BUY your DOOM’S DAY SCENARIO TO ACCEPT GMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gangster_roger
July 2nd, 2005 at 7:40 pm
These are doomsday scenarios:
Put Erap back in power and abolish congress and the supreme court.
Put Lacson in power.
Put the Leftists in power and drive all the “elitists” away so the new enlightened socialist elite can take over.
Put a civil military junta in power.
Put Susan Roces in power.
Now who got a better scenario?
gangster_roger
July 2nd, 2005 at 8:03 pm
Come on she needs to show she can sontrol the situation. She was able to right? Next week the opposition is going to start covering their asses. Lagot kayo andyan na si madame!
Now the bigger question is: who are calling the shots? Its not you and me.
That has to change. I would accept anybody who can take over and be more transparent than Gloria. Someone with a complete platform that they can explain to us. So we set up a set of benchmarks thats easy to verify and makes progress quantifiable. And the President easily replaceable. Otherwise its the same old story.
jay cynikho
July 2nd, 2005 at 8:15 pm
dear gangster__roger
click governance, scroll to the end, click comments on Global Forum on Governance or
click Perception Survey on Corruption
THERE YOU WILL SEE A BETTER SCENARIO.
IMPROVE ON IT IF YOU WANT.
ric1
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:05 pm
GMA, no less than Erap, is creature of our culture. We all are guilty of corruption in one form or another. But as we did with Erap, so must we bring GMA to account for her misdeeds, if we are to move forward in changing our culture. The end result being clear, i.e. GMA must step down, it behooves us to find a way to do it that results in the least pain to our society and the least disruption to the economy. Impeachment will be costly and lengthy besides being uncertain as to outcome. The best option for everybody is for GMA to resign, which is also constitutional.
rich___ong
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:15 pm
Gangster_roger,
Please add
DOOM’s day plus ARMAGEDDON —-GMA Stays
jay cynikho
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:16 pm
hey ric1
YOU SAID
it behooves us to find a way to do it that results in the least pain to our society and the least disruption to the economy
AND I SUGGEST, YOU LOOK AND COMMENT ON
IGCRP, search for it by clicking Governance.
thanks.
benign0
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:17 pm
rich_ong, I’m not saying that GMA stay either. What I’m saying is that GMA is not the issue behind the chronic political paralysis that the Philippines suffers from.
The issue is the people and the society that we have created — a society that embodies a perversion of democracy and the institutions of Government. Like I said, GMA was an illegitimate administration IN THE FIRST PLACE — a fact we chose to overlook.
And now all of a sudden we are fixated on this sordid affair — as if we a people who once upon a short time ago voted a philanderer and drunkard into the presidency — have the moral ascendancy to judge a person who now sits in the very same office we once defiled with our pathetic taste for showbiz.
Truly a pathetic and, worse, hyocrticial society we are.
http://www.getrealphilippines.com
jay cynikho
July 2nd, 2005 at 9:36 pm
dear benigno
i know about benigno aquino
i know about teddy benigno
two illustrious names
it is nice of you to have that name too.
but please distinguish nation-building
from nation-destructing.
sef
July 3rd, 2005 at 7:22 am
The Diokno foundation, as with many other people, seem to perfectly know what the President must do – resign.
However, as with many more other Filipinos, they do not have or give a hint on what they (the foundation) should do! Do they think that by asking Arroyo to resign, they are doing the country a favor?
It is really very easy to find fault in others and demand them to correct themselves. Yes, really easy. Especially when you are trying to silently perpetuate a secret agenda.
jay cynikho
July 3rd, 2005 at 8:48 am
dear SEF
in their own small way people of the foundation have done the country some good, with publications and information dessimination. even if the foundation has done nothing, they still have done the country some good because the foundation have not stealing the wealth of the country in unparalleled large scale.
it is not fault finding to ask officials who broke the law to resign. the foundation should have ASK for charges to be filed immediately. THE FOUNDATION KNOWS WHAT IT MUST only DO AND DID: ASKED THE PRESIDENT TO RESIGN. IN YOUR RIGHT MIND JUST LIKE MAJORITY OF COMENTATORS/BLOGGERS; YOU SHOULD HAVE CASTIGATED THE FOUNDATION WHY SPEAK ONLY NOW? ARE THEY SLEEPING LIKE SOME OF THE BISHOPS. WHETHER YOU ARE A BENEFICIARY OR A DEFENDER OR NOT OF THE ARROYOS, WE RESPECT YOUR VIEWS.
jay cynikho
July 3rd, 2005 at 9:37 am
dear benigno
you said……. the issue behind the chronic political paralysis is not GMA but the people and the culture we have created. sometimes in arguments we cannot avoid finger pointing until we come to a point of just splitting hair or the matter of which comes first the hen or the egg?
my thoughts on the matter between people, its culture and GMA is that leaders come from the people, leaders like the people are citizens, and even ordinary citizens become leaders. I DON’T LIKE SAYING IT TO MY OWN PEOPLE, BUT I GOT TO:
GOOD PEOPLE SELECT GOOD LEADERS. BAD PEOPLE CHOSE THEIR KIND WHO ARE BAD LEADERS. THEREFORE LEADERS CAN ONLY BE AS BAD OR AS GOOD AS THE PEOPLE.
CAN BAD PEOPLE SELECT GOOD LEADERS? NOT LIKELY. WILL GOOD PEOPLE SELECT BAD LEADERS? NOT LIKELY. DEMOCRACY AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE OVERCOMES THAT. WITH THE DYNAMICS OF UNPREDICTABILITY. FULLY PAID FOR MANIPULATED SURVEYS MAKE A MOCKERY OF DEMOCRACY.
SO I SAY THE LEADERS CAN ONLY BE AS BAD AS THEIR PEOPLE. AND VICE VERSA. BAD OR GOOD, THE PEOPLE DESERVED THE GOVERNMENT THEY GET. ONLY IF THEY ARE THE ONES WHO CHOSE THEIR LEADERS.
SUPPOSE IT IS THE LEADER WHO ELECTED HIMSELF BY CHEATING AND THE PEOPLE CLAIM THEIR LEADER IS BAD, ARE THEY BAD ALSO WHEN THEY DID NOT CHOOSE THEIR LEADER.
THIS IS A CASE OF THE PEOPLE DO NOT DESERVE THE GOVERNMENT THEY GET BECAUSE THE LEADER IS NOT THEIR CHOICE.
ALSO BAD PEOPLE WILL COMPLAIN IF THEIR BAD LEADER IS NOT THEIR CHOICE AND PEOPLE THINK THE LEADER IS WORSE THAN THEM.
IS THE FILIPINO WORTH DYING FOR? WHAT NINOY PROBABLY MEANT IS THAT THE FREEDOM OF THE FILIPINO IS WORTH DYING FOR. ALTHOUGH HE MAY NOT HAVE SAI98D IT THAT WAY.
juan_dela_cruz
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:06 am
“The issue is one of grave wrongdoing by the occupant of the highest office of the land. A president incapable of distinguishing between mere impropriety and grave wrongdoing should not lead. Mrs. Arroyo must step down from office.
By stepping down, the message to all, most especially our youth, is clear: dishonesty is unacceptable. Dishonesty is wrong. No public official who is dishonest should remain in office. Dishonest officials must be accountable for their actions. “Sorry” is not enough.”
Amen.
By remaining in office, the message of Mrs. Arroyo is the opposite: it pays to be dishonest; just apologize and all is forgiven. One can try to cheat, and, successful or not, remain president, an official of the Comelec or indeed of any other government agency, the legislature included.
juan_dela_cruz
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:40 am
hirap mag post ngayun a.
“By remaining in office, the message of Mrs. Arroyo is the opposite: it pays to be dishonest; just apologize and all is forgiven. One can try to cheat, and, successful or not, remain president, an official of the Comelec or indeed of any other government agency, the legislature included.”
Amen again.
jun31
July 3rd, 2005 at 11:52 am
The statement given might truly speak of what the “silent” majority” would like to say.
Let me comment on this line, which by the way i totally agree:
“Others say there is no alternative leader. Again this is an open question all citizens should start thinking about.”
We are a nation of 80 million plus people. If we can not find someone that can honestly lead us from this number, then we are really headed for disaster.
Another comment, on this line:
“By stepping down, the message to all, most especially our youth, is clear: dishonesty is unacceptable. Dishonesty is wrong.”
I truly agree with this. Looking at it the other way, if we let the President stay on, this will clearly pave the way for our youth to say, dishonesty is acceptable. If we allow this, we will be breeding a new generation of cheats.
benign0
July 3rd, 2005 at 3:12 pm
Jay, you said:
“SUPPOSE IT IS THE LEADER WHO ELECTED HIMSELF BY CHEATING AND THE PEOPLE CLAIM THEIR LEADER IS BAD, ARE THEY BAD ALSO WHEN THEY DID NOT CHOOSE THEIR LEADER.
THIS IS A CASE OF THE PEOPLE DO NOT DESERVE THE GOVERNMENT THEY GET BECAUSE THE LEADER IS NOT THEIR CHOICE”
Considering that Erap was our LAST LEGALLY-ELECTED PRESIDENT, I must say that what you said above says a lot about Filipinos. 😀
And besides, we may argue to death that GMA was not our choice because she cheated in 2004. But what about her EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONALLY ascent to power in 2003? Didn’t she EVEN MORE BLATANTLY cheat her way into office then?
That’s the problem with trying to excuse ourselves from the dysfunction that is today’s Philippines. As the saying goes, when you point a finger at someone there are four others pointing back.
Visit my site for more truly insightful views like these:
http://www.getrealphilippines.com
tiago
July 3rd, 2005 at 6:19 pm
Guys;
Scenarios, scenarios, scenarios;
We blow our heads to smithereens trying to create scenarios perfectly adaptable or even closely affirming to today’s Philippine politics. we’re all missing the point. Here’s a president that is no longer morally capable of leading the country, wheter she is elected by the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have come to terms with a president that we said spends his hands time in the cookie jar, why not now. If we said we are morally renewed with the ‘job well done’ during erap’s time, what’s wrong with doing it again. Have we ourselves lost the zeal in lieu of complacency and boredom, i’m not.
tiago
July 3rd, 2005 at 6:23 pm
Guys;
Scenarios,
We blow our heads to smithereens trying to create scenarios perfectly adaptable or even closely affirming to today’s Philippine politics. we’re all missing the point. Here’s a president that is no longer morally capable of leading the country, wheter she is elected by the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have come to terms with a president that we said spends his hands time in the cookie jar, why not now. If we said we are morally renewed with the ‘job well done’ during erap’s time, what’s wrong with doing it again. Have we ourselves lost the zeal in lieu of complacency and boredom, i’m not.
matamlay
July 3rd, 2005 at 7:33 pm
shame to ms arroyo. she is degrading the image of our country and us filipinos.
ano na lang mangayayari sa bansa natin? ano kaya mangyayari sa susunod na generation?
with 80 million plus filipinos what a damn nation we have if ms arroyo is the only option.
jay cynikho
July 3rd, 2005 at 8:06 pm
dear benigno
I already visited the get real philippines site
and am impressed of its content and will
not lack comments on treatises about
national development.
also i regret say that i do not find excuses for
anyone, nor have the inclination to accept any.
not from our politicians, not from thieves
and corrupt people, not from beneficiaries
of the government. when i point my finger
to anything or anyone, i know that four are
pointing back at me. I belong to no party or
any vested interest organization. My belief
in our leaders stopped at Carlos Polistico
Garcia.
All the Presidents after him
are to me bad presidents and mirrored
the kind of people we are.
BECAUSE LEADERS COME FROM THE PEOPLE,
LEADERS CAN ONLY BE AS GOOD AS THE
PEOPLE.
DEVOID OF GOBBLEDYGOOKS FROM
INTELLECTUALS, SEE THE FORMULA
ABOUT ESTABLISHING THE IGCRP
(Interim Government Council of the
Republic of the Philippines). That
will attempt to prove that the
FILIPINOS CAN CHOOSE THEIR
LEADER THAT CAN REFLECT THE
KIND OF PEOPLE WE ARE: GOOD
PEOPLE HAVING GOOD LEADERS.
IN IGCRP, NO GOBBLEDYGOOK
ABOUT MAKING CHANGES IN THE
GOVT STRUCTURE, IN THE CONSTITUTION,
IN THE NEED FOR AN IDEOLOGY OF
DEVELOPMENT, ETC.ETC.
the IGCRP membership aims to be truly
representative of the people TAINTED NOT WITH
CORRUPTION, NOR HEAVILY BURDENED
WITH VESTED INTEREST FROM POLITICIANS,
BUSINESSMEN, LABOR, ETC. IT IS NOT
PERFECT.
ORGANIZE THE COUNCIL FIRST AND
LET THE FUNDAMENTALS FALL
INTO PLACE.
BENIGNO PLEASE EXAMINE THE PROPOSED
MEMBERSHIP, ONLY A PERSON WITH
ONLY ONE INDEX FINGER CAN PROPOSE THAT.
IT WILL NOT WORK? UN DID IT IN EAST TIMOR.
TIMORESE PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY ESTABLISHED
THE FUNDAMENTALS AND WORKING HARD AT
THEM NOW.
NEVERMIND THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY,
GIVE OUR COUNTRY A CHANCE.
.
pingkian
July 3rd, 2005 at 10:17 pm
benignO and sef,
A people who sold his/her vote deserves a corrupt leader.
A people who are intimidated deserves a dictator.
But defintely, the people do not deserve a leader who cheats and stole their vote.
Various polical groups have its own platform of governance. You just need to actively search for them and choose the one that closely resembles yours. You’re open to join any of them or if you wish, organize one. But basic in all of these group is honesty and accountability.
nerie
July 5th, 2005 at 10:07 am
rich…
I’m just stating what could happen, and it can either happen or not.
It’s just a theory, and theories mean nothing unless proven otherwise.
We all have our own theories in our minds, and we each have the right to make them; and, if your theory happens and had made sense of everything, at least someone knows what to do when the time comes.
I may be wrong, or I may be right.
Or you may be wrong, or you may be right.
Nothing we say can be absolute truths.
Not even the best political analyst can say what exactly will happen with 100% accuracy.
We can only speculate.
almondreign22
July 5th, 2005 at 11:05 am
This political crisis really started during Edsa I, Kundi dahil sa Edsa I na yan di magkakaron ng guts ang mga tao na i-oust ang nasa position sa tuwing ayaw nila dito. Isn’t it Cory Aquino the one who first broke the constitution? He grabbed power from the Marcoses, then there is Gloria another woman who grabbed power from Erap. Isn’t it a shame that it is always the girl who grabs power, can’t they wait for their turn?
nerie
July 5th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
rich,
What I’ve said was just a theory, and any theory does not mean anything unless proven otherwise. And any theory, yours and mine for that matter, are all speculations that are intelligently guessed or are hypotheses. Also, theories are also opinions– opinions with a basis, and all persons with opinions have the right to be aird, no matter what if right or wrong.
So we are all on equal ground here, whether with good-sounding theories or with preposterous ones.
CGBacani
July 5th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Let us not blame the means by which our leaders were installed or elected in Office. It is not the people’s fault to march against their discontent against Marcos or Estrada. It is not also their fault if their elect Ramos, Erap or Gloria.
The issue here is betrayal of Public Trust. In this case Gloria did not only betrayed the publc once but many times since she was catapulted to power.
She betrayed the aspirations of the people for a country to become jueteng-free and corrupt fee. She betrayed the people by her economic policies. She betrayed the people by giving favors to their relatives and business partners.
She has all the qualifications of an outstanding leader — education, experience and Christian beliefs.– Matalino, Makabayan, Makatao at MakaDiyos. But despite these she is not only a leader who is incapable of leading our country but a leader who is a cheater.
She betrayed the people by cheating in the 2004 elections.
Langya, kelan kaya aangat ang buhay Pinoy!!!