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Saturday, March 20, 2010

PMAyers urge colleagues to help keep polls clean

Source: Daily Inquirer
By Christine Avendaño, Marlon Ramos



MANILA, Philippines--Prompted by fears of a failure of elections, top alumni of the Philippine Military Academy are preparing to call on their colleagues, whether on active duty or retired, to help ensure the integrity of the May 10 polls.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, board chair of the PMA Alumni Association Inc., on saturday said the 15-member board has approved in principle a resolution containing the call.

He said the board members decided on Thursday to issue such a resolution after discussing their “concern” about the possibility that the country’s first automated elections would end up a failure.

Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief of staff, said the group’s concern was triggered by the “belief” that “the manner in which the 2004 and 2007 polls were conducted has weakened the country’s institutions,” and the need for the democratic process to be “preserved and defended.”

On Friday, Charito Planas, a deputy spokesperson of President Macapagal-Arroyo, said a military takeover of the civilian government was possible should there be a power vacuum caused by failed elections.

Planas’ statement boosted speculation on a Palace plot to extend Ms Arroyo’s stay in power with the support of Lt. Gen. Delfin Bangit, the newly named AFP chief of staff, and other generals loyal to her.

Eroded credibility

Biazon said he had observed a “regrettable trend.”

He said Bangit’s appointment as AFP chief of staff and the recent Supreme Court ruling authorizing Ms Arroyo to name the next Chief Justice were “a manifestation of the erosion of the credibility of our institutions and institutional processes.”

Biazon said the PMA alumni’s resolution would probably be worded thus: “We are enjoining all alumni, retired and still in active service, to work and ensure that this would be a clean and honest election to enhance the credibility of our democratic process.”

Basically, he said, the PMA alumni board was urging graduates in the active service to “avoid partisan political involvement” during the electoral exercise.

“And for those retired, to help in their own way to ensure that the political process of election will be credible,” he said.

Biazon said the board members had submitted two proposed resolutions—one by Plaridel Garcia and Eduardo Cabanlig of PMA Classes of 1959 and 1961, respectively, and the other by Rex Piad.

He said the two resolutions would be merged and issued as soon as possible.

Asked whether the resolution would have weight on the PMA alumni association, Biazon said: “It would probably be taken note of by all the members.”

No failed polls

In Malacañang, Ms Arroyo’s spokesperson Ricardo Saludo sought to assure the public that the May 10 elections would not end in failure.
He said the country had had no failure of elections since 1946, and that he did not see why the May polls would end up such, especially because these would be done through automation.

“The only worse thing that could happen is we go back to manual counting of the votes,” Saludo said over government radio station dzRB.

And even then, he said, quoting the President’s election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, no manual election in the country had ever failed.

“So there is no reason to fear this,” he said.

Saludo also dismissed speculation that the recent Supreme Court ruling authorizing Ms Arroyo to name Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s successor was part of a grand plan by the Palace for the President to stay in power after June 30.

He said those airing the speculation were the same critics of the Arroyo administration and were candidates in the May polls.

“That’s what these candidates want—to land in the headlines. That’s why they are saying this,” he said.

AFP too busy

The statement also prompted the AFP spokesperson, Lt. Col. Arnulfo Burgos, to dismiss the possibility.

“As far as the AFP is concerned, we are not thinking of that scenario,” Burgos told the Inquirer by phone Saturday.

Her added that the AFP was “too busy to even think about [a military junta].”

Asked what the AFP would do if the elections failed to produce a new president, he said the military hierarchy would “respect the laws on succession of command.

“We will just defend and uphold the Constitution,” he said.

According to Burgos, the 120,000-strong AFP is training its resources on putting an end to the insurgency in June, as ordered by the President.

He said military units were also occupied with complying with Bangit’s order to crush the bandit group Abu Sayyaf in 60 days.

“We are enhancing our coordination and cooperation with the PNP (Philippine National Police) on security matters regarding the elections,” he said.

Asked if the AFP saw any indication of a failure of elections, Burgos echoed Saludo: “Look at our recent past. We have had no failed elections.”

He said that based on the military’s assessment of the current situation, there was no reason to suspect that the automated polls would fail.

In fact, he said, the possibility of a failure of elections was not discussed during Bangit’s meeting with PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa at Camp Crame on Friday.

“We are doing all we can to have honest, orderly and peaceful elections. If we would be remiss in our duties, then we might have problems,” he said.

Possible scenario

On the campaign trail in Cotabato City, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile told reporters that the only agencies that could enforce the law in the event of a failure of elections were the military and the police.

But he said authority would remain with civilian leaders because members of the Cabinet would stay at their posts until the next President replaces them with his or her own officials.

“The continuing government in the Philippines [will be] the Cabinet. That is not replaced until the next President replaces it, even if [Ms Arroyo’s] term ends,” said Enrile, a member of the senatorial slate of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).

He said the military would be supervised by the defense secretary, and the PNP, by the secretary of the interior and the chair of the National Police Commission.

“[The Cabinet] will run the bureaucracy of the Philippines, which is actually the real government of the country; only, there will be no President,” Enrile said.

He said the country’s leaders—former Presidents, leaders of the Catholic hierarchy, and other sectoral leaders—should come together to choose the head of government once it was determined that the elections had failed.

“When will we know that there has been a failure of elections? After May 10, or at least beginning May 11. And we have 59 days to solve the problem,” Enrile said, referring to the selection of a leader.

Invitation to upheaval

PMP standard-bearer Joseph Estrada said Malacañang was inviting an upheaval when Planas said a military junta could take over in the event of a failure of elections in May.

Estrada said that if the Arroyo administration was planning to hold on to power, it should “think 10 times” before proceeding, even if through a junta.

“[Planas] is inviting a revolution in this country. That is uncalled-for. She should not even say that,” Estrada told reporters in Cotabato City.

He said Filipinos might be slow to react but were sure to do so if they had had enough.

“Our countrymen long for elections. They are itching to replace this administration that has made them suffer because of its many cases of corruption,” Estrada said.

No longer figment of imagination

In Tarlac City, Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar and his running mate Loren Legarda said a failure of elections was no longer a figment of the imagination of the opposition.

Legarda said that amid these maneuvers of the executive branch, it was imperative that the Villar-Legarda tandem win in the polls.

NP senatorial candidate Susan Ople chided Planas for raising the specter of a military junta.

“Do you hear tires screeching? That’s the sound of investors taking a detour and moving as far away as possible from the Philippines,” Ople said. With reports from Norman Bordadora and Michael Lim Ubac

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