Comelec asks Atienza, et al.
to answer Drilon, et al.

Secretuta Defensor have just showed that he is a traitor kung makikinabang siya. If he is willing to go through an election process in the LP so resolve the issue of who is the real leader of LP, why don’t they call a snap election to resolve the legitimacy of GMA. I am sure na hindi sila papayag dahil dehado sila. I won’t be surprised if GMA made another phone call to rig the issue. Baka ma-garci si Drillon.

The Liberal Party has its own constitution and party rules governing changes and electing officials within the party.

Atienza violated the basic party rules by doing a snap election and thereafter appointed themselves to key position in the party. What is this? A ‘cout d etat’ or ‘people power’ revolution within the party?

Worse is the appearance of GMA after that revolt. Is it another conspiracy to topple another duly constituted party president for her own interest? Your answer is as good as mine.

PARA LANG ALAM NYO NANGYAYARI SA PARTIDO AT DI KAYO DAKDAK NG DAKDAK NG WALANG KAPARARAKAN>>>

The truth about Cats & Dogs— The fall of Sen. Drilon from the LP Presidency

The act of declaring all positions in the Party vacant – especially the stripping of the Presidency of the Party from Sen. Franklin Drilon – was done within the context of three very important circumstances:

a. That Mr. Drilon led a cabal of Party members hostile to Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to declare last July 8, 2005 that the LP is calling for her resignation, and that if she will not resign the Party would support moves for her impeachment. Mr. Drilon claimed that this was the LP stand, but he has Party President did not convene the National Executive Council (NECO) on that day for the specific purpose of resolving the “Garci Tapes” issue. Rather, the July 8 meeting was simply the second of a series of consultations with Party leaders on the issue. The fact that 22 of 33 LP congressmen did not support the impeachment of Pres. Macapagal-Arrroyo, and that on July 8 itself the grand majority (if not all) LP local chief executives were expressing their support to PGMA, already proves him wrong on the issue of majority support

b. That, despite several calls from members of the NECO itself as well as the Allied Sectoral Organizations – the “civil society” component of the LP – for Mr. Drilon to convene the NECO in order to resolve the issue with finality, he continues to refuse the convening of the NECO. The NECO has not been convened by Mr. Drilon since the last session in Nov. 2004. There is even proof that Mr. Drilon has begun to nominate people to the NECO who are his close confederates – like his Chief of Staff, Antonio Gallardo, and Commission on Appointments secretary Art Tiu – in order to tip the balance of his supporters in the NECO to his favor.

c. That despite full knowledge if the majority’s questioning of the “stand” issue by Mr. Drilon and his cabal, he continued to issue statements and conduct actions in pursuit of this stand, utilizing all the while Party resources for their quest to unseat Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo. These can be readily found by checking the Party website, http://www.liberalparty.ph, where all of the statements regarding the Garci Tapes are anti-Arroyo. LP resources were also used to advance their call for Pres. Arroyo to resign and in the petition filed at the Supreme Court by anti-Arroyo supporters questioning the results of the impeachment.

Because of Mr. Drilon’s inaction on the grievances of the majority of members and leaders of the LP – especially in his refusal to convene the NECO – the majority of the LP was forced to the drastic measure of calling on its local leaders to a National Assembly last March 2.

Atty. Chito Gascon argued with the Party’s local leaders of the legality of the event. But aside from his conveniently forgetting that Mr. Drilon himself has been trampling on the LP Constitution since July 8 (Yan ang hirap kay Chito Gascon, nagdadramang Legalista kung pabor lang sa kanya), the mere fact that so many of the Party’s leaders on the local level, those most intimately connected to the people we serve, expressed their bitterness at the treatment of their (former) Party President of their opinions and acted on it by unseating Mr. Drilon, should at least make the Drilon cabal sit up and listen.

Instead, they have replied with haughtiness and arrogance to the calls and voices of the Party’s rank and file. Atty. Gascon and Mr. Drilon himself in their interviews that day continuously sneered at the ability of local officials, barangay captains and Party rank and file to unseat the head of a major political party. We think this way of talking clearly shows the way of thinking in the Drilon cabal: that they consider themselves not only above any law – as shown by their deliberate and careless disregard for the LP’s processes and Constitution since July 8 – but that they care nothing for the voice of “ordinary” Party members. In fact, Mr. Drilon said that his legitimacy is based on the support of the LP Senators, Congressmen, Governors and City Mayors. To him, these are the only voices that matter, although if he truly subscribed to this he would be wrong, too, as the majority of LP Congressmen, and all Governors and City Mayors have questioned Mr. Drilon’s continued trumpeting of an LP “stand” not ratified by the Party’s NECO.

Last November 2005, the sectoral organizations gathered at Ateneo de Manila to try and find a way to unify the Party. Yet the Drilon cabal moved to try and stop it, even sneering at the Party’s sectoral leaders for daring to act without their “authorization.” The Drilon cabal seemed to have believed there was no disunity in the LP, and would not tolerate any challenge to this belief. When the LP’s sectoral leaders – its youth and women, the staff of the Liberal senators and congressmen, the local legislators, and the Party’s professionals – insisted anyway, seeing nothing wrong in their desire to help solve the problems of the Party they loved, the Drilon cabal sent Atty. Gascon to keep the sectoral organizations in line, telling them in so many words to not interfere with processes among the higher-ups of the Party that were supposedly being done to bridge the divide between Atienza and Drilon. All the sectoral organizations wanted to do was to ask the Party President for the umpteenth time to convene the NECO, the one body that can decide with finality the issue of July 8, so everything in the LP will be ok again.

There is a PR principle that if you tell a lie long enough, people will think it is the truth. Since July 8, the Drilon cabal has continuously stated that the LP is for PGMA’s resignation. The majority of Liberals who do not subscribe to this opinion have rarely challenged this impropriety in public because we hoped that Mr. Drilon would do the right thing – after all, he wishes to project himself as somebody who does the right thing, a statesman, if you will – and call on the NECO to resolve this. Yet 14 months have passed since the last convening of the NECO, which Section 30 of the LP constitution says should be convened at least once a year. He and his cabal have instead insisted on the lie they foisted on the people and the Republic since July 8, covering this lie with a veneer of civil society action and progressive rhetoric. And because the majority of the LP cannot stomach their lies any longer, the majority decided to act last March 2.

Atty. Gascon was fond of reminding his fellow Liberals last March 2 about the traditions of the Party. We would like to ask Mr. Drilon’s attack dog to do the same reflection. Mr. Drilon, and the rest of their cabal have been setting aside the LP’s traditions, time-honored processes, and laws since July 8; even worse, they have been using these when convenient to enforce their own beliefs to the rest of the Party, even to persecuting those who would not subscribe to it, for the last six months.

The Liberal Party has always tolerated differences in opinion; the right to not only hold an opinion of your own and to voice it is one of the cornerstones of the liberal democratic ideology. Yet the minute someone tries to enforce their views over those of others – the way Mr. Drilon and his cabal have been doing since July 8 – then there is nothing liberal about it. In fact, it is downright authoritarian and illiberal.

It is amusing when you think about it that Mr. Drilon and his cabal go out in public demanding from Pres. Macapagal-Arroyo that she respect basic freedoms and the constitutional processes of a democratic republic, or step down if she won’t. Yet when the same is asked of Mr. Drilon, he not only refuses to do so, but he and his cabal moves in a ruthless, uncompromising and even insulting – as shown in the words Atty. Gascon gave last March 3 outside Centennial Hall – manner to suppress dissent. Even worse, knowing full well that they have done wrong and continues to justify that wrong for so long, Mr. Drilon so easily clings to power and position after the majority of his people – and, if he truly is Party President then he should value even the least of the LP’s members as he would the highest, as these are his people too, yes? – moved to strip him of the position they gave him and that he abused.

Let the truth come out. Enough of the lies. It has gone long enough.

The march 2 National Assembly is not just and assembly of City Hall employees and Barangay Captains. There are about a hunndred Barangay Captains present but all are card bearing members of the Party. More than a thousand attended the event and the registration would show that at least 51 members of the NECO are present, 150 Municipal Mayors, A number of Vice Mayors and Muncipal/City Councilors and members of the allied organization.

True. The event was also a conference on Decentralization and Local Autonomy. But there was no deception on the part of Party President Mayor Lito Atienza. If you’d read the invitation letter sent by Mayor Atienza and the program itself, you will find that Mayor Atienza categorically say that there will be an assembly of Party Leaders in the afternoon, that is why NECO members were only invited at 3pm. So where now is the deception. It was a legitimate conference, that is why the DILG allowed the conference participant to charge their expenses to the local fund. Dr. Alex Brilliantes, Mayor Sarmiento, Sec. Nachura and Mayor Atienza and Cong. Danny Suarez spoke about the conference topic that clearly will help them in their governance work in their locality. What now is the problem, Mr. Drilon? Hirap kay Sen. Drilon, kahit pinangkape sa meeting e charge to the Party.

They accussed Mayor Atienza of Being a dictator and Hijacking the Party. Pero sino ba ang kahit minsan e di nagpatawag ng pagpupulong ng Liderato ng Partido (NECO), di ba ikaw yon, Sen. Drilon? Bakit, dahil takot kang matanggal sa pwesto, na mabago ang “posisyon” ng Partido nung July 8 meeting, na nangyari na nga. Sino ngayon ang diktador at Hijacker. At least sa National Assembly sa Manila Hotel ay walang pinigilang magasalita, even your spokesperson.

The General membership of the Party have spoken, the end of your dictatorship had come Mr. Drilon.

For the sake of the Party you purportedly respect and love, as well as the Republic you say you serve, Mr. Drilon, please end this madness by acknowledging your mistakes. More than anyone or anything, even Ferdinand Marcos himself or Martial Law, you have done such grievous harm to the Party that we fear for its recovery.

Practice what you preach, Mr. Drilon and recognize the will of the majority and accept its decision. Unless being a statesman is simply propaganda on your part.

unicosanjose,

Those who chose not to call for PGMA’s resignation, who eventually unseated Drilon may be more in numbers. So, Drilon did not listen to the majority of the party members.

But just because they are the majority doesnt mean they are right. When eleven senators outnumbered the opposition during Erap’s impeachment trial, we did not accept them to be right.

The Atienza faction outnumbers that of Drilon, but that doesn’t mean they represent the principles of the Liberal Party.

The party subscribes to the ideas of fairness, truth, justice, and righteousness. These are the same ideas being questioned about the legitimacy of PGMA’s presidency ever since evidences of electoral frauds surfaced. Yet Atienza’s faction does not seem to be interested. They have blind-sided the entire issue in favor of PGMA. They may be the majority but they are doing the wrong thing.

Atienza is for PGMA, regardless of right or wrong. Drilon is for what is right, regardless of the president.

It’s not a question of who’s the majority, but who’s exercising the very ideas that the party stands for. Whoever does has the right to lead the Liberal Party.

Atienza and his men may be majority, but they are destroying the basic foundations on which the party stands.

Shame on them.

by unico san jose
The General membership of the Party have spoken, the end of your dictatorship had come Mr. Drilon.
— same can be said of ate glue.. 65 percent want her out.. so for our sake umalis na rin sya.. tama na pagiging dictator nya..the end of your dictatorship had come ate glue.

For the sake of the Party you purportedly respect and love, as well as the Republic you say you serve, Mr. Drilon, please end this madness by acknowledging your mistakes. More than anyone or anything, even Ferdinand Marcos himself or Martial Law, you have done such grievous harm to the Party that we fear for its recovery.
–same can be said bout ate glue.. dont you love your country enough that you keep stealing from it to not the benefit of the masses whom you just shower with aid when it suits your needs.. but to the benefit of those congressmen who gets fertilizer money daw but no fertilizer naman. madam glue please acknowledge your mistakes.. that u fancy urself the next marcos and your just taking ur time before u implement martial law.. or is it alredy here.. you have done such grievous harm to the country that we fear for its recovery.

Practice what you preach, Mr. Drilon and recognize the will of the majority and accept its decision. Unless being a statesman is simply propaganda on your part.
–in short you practice what you preach madam arroyo.. if u say that being a coup plotter is a crime then have yourself arrested..Unless being a good catholic and following the law… is simply propaganda on your part.

unicosanjose,

Even Cory Aquino used to support PGMA, specially after the “sorry” speech. Look at her now. What is her stand against the current president?

Ang tawag dun, withdrawal of support. When does it happen? It happens when you realize what is right and what is wrong, and that you have the courage to stand for what you believe is right.

So who deserves withdrawal of support? Any leader who stands by so arrogantly to what you believe is wrong.

What did PGMA do wrong? Like i really have to ask that… We all know what she did wrong. It’s just a matter of acceptance. Her wrongdoings may be acceptable to you, but not to me, not to Drilon, and not to all others who practice the real principles of the Liberal Party.

And those that dont believe in that principles are…?????And those who are so simple minded to see it, are the saviour of the country. Woooohoooo!!!!

to lutongmakaw…

it was sen drilon who has no regard for the Party rules and democracy in the Party, from the time he assumed the Party Presidency in 2004, he has not convened a meeting of the National Executive Council (NECO)…pls check its function at the LP website…lahat ng desisyon eh sa kanya at “konsultasyon” sa mga kaalyado nya lang… sabi mo “it is his prerogative” mali naman yata yun, di naman kami ang Communist Party of the Philippines…and following you logic pabor ka pala sa Proc 1017 kasi prerogative din yun ni GMA…what im saying is…Drilon has hijacked the party to his personal ambition, i mean position…eh kung nasa side sya ng tama at katotohanan and he sincerely believe that it will prevail…at kung tunay syang lider e di sana kausapin nya mga kasamahan nya sa partido para papaniwalain sa “katotohanan”…unfortunately…he has been deserted by his soldiers…he was left with generals commanding no one…sad!