Aquino: Fight may take longer
By Jocelyn Uy, Allison Lopez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:51:00 03/03/2008
Filed Under: Graft & Corruption, Protest, NBN deal, Politics
MANILA, Philippines -- Former president Corazon Aquino Sunday told Filipinos to prepare for a long fight, but said that in the end the public protests against corruption could force President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign.
Aquino spoke at a Mass at University of Santo Tomas, which was attended by Senate star witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr., who spoke of the seeming indifference of some Church leaders to his exposés on alleged kickbacks in the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
At a separate event, former President Fidel Ramos said that despite Friday’s rally in Makati City, in which thousands of protesters called for Ms Arroyo’s resignation, “we still have a long way to go.”
Ramos’ remarks were carried on the website of the ABS-CBN network.
Elsewhere, in an interview, ousted President Joseph Estrada rejected criticism of his presence at the Makati rally and said that those involved in the anti-Arroyo campaign would not have been able to muster enough warm bodies without the help of key political figures like himself.
Speaking at UST, Aquino said in Filipino: “I don’t want to discourage you but it appears it may take a longer time because we have not awakened those countrymen of ours who seem to be feigning sleep.
“Still I am not losing hope. If we were able to remove a dictator, maybe it would be easier for us now because there’s no martial law and I hope we will not have martial law.”
Ms Arroyo’s chief legal counsel, Sergio Apostol, said the President was confident her opponents could not draw enough people to the streets to oust her.
Wearing a bright yellow outfit -- her signature color and also the color of UST -- Aquino received a standing ovation before she spoke.
She asked for patience and stressed that she would not abandon Lozada, who had linked Ms Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, to the scandal-tainted NBN deal.
“Jun, just a little more sacrifice, just a little more hardship,” said Aquino, who came to power in 1986 after a popular uprising toppled Ferdinand Marcos.
“If not for you, Jun, only a few would know about what is really happening in our government,” she added.
Geopolitical concerns
In his speech, Lozada said a priest “close to the cardinals” had told him that he would have had “no problem” had Jaime Cardinal Sin -- a moving force in the EDSA I and II People Power revolutions -- been alive today.
“He told me (that) the cardinals and bishops are now careful of political activism because some Asian countries are afraid that the Catholic Church in their nations will become like ours.”
To loud applause, Lozada said: “I replied, ‘Father if you’re telling me now that the Church where I seek refuge is being indifferent to the truth and justice just because of your own geopolitical considerations, Father, you have to teach me to unlearn all the homilies, all the liturgical sharing, all those doctrines that you had [taught] me before, because I have to renounce my faith if that is how you will answer me.’”
What UST means
Lozada came to the church wearing a black T-shirt with the words: “We are UST (United in Search for the Truth).”
A 1984 UST engineering graduate, Lozada was welcomed back “home” with an ovation in the Santissimo Rosario Church before he spoke to the 1,000 people who had spilled outside the church.
The Mass was led by UST rector, Fr. Rolando de la Rosa O.P.
Among those who attended were Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Association of Mother Religious Superiors of the Philippines chair Sr. Mary John Mananzan, De La Salle University president Br. Armin Luistro FSC, Adamson University president Fr. Greg Banaga, former Cabinet secretaries Dinky Soliman and Florencio Abad, and former Speaker Jose de Venecia’s wife, Gina.
Estrada’s supporters
Estrada defended his presence on the stage at the Feb. 29 interfaith rally in Makati, which was criticized by some organizers.
“She (Aquino) has her own following because she is the symbol of democracy. Being a former president, too, I still also have my own following and I can draw more people than Leah Navarro and Boy Saycon,” he said in a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).
Estrada was referring to the leaders of the Black and White Movement and the Council of Philippine Affairs, respectively.
“I am very sure that without the religious sector which has a command crowd and without the help of [political personalities], they cannot draw their own assembly,” said Estrada, whose charisma among the masses catapulted him to the presidency.
Ramos urges caution
Ramos, who stood as one of the godfathers at the wedding of retired Philippine National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao and Jacky Tiu at the Manila Cathedral on Sunday, said the Makati rally was a beginning.
But Ramos added: “You must not jump to any conclusions just because it was seemingly well-attended. There was a lot of energy but if you’re looking at previous people power events that were successful, resulting in regime change, I think we are just beginning.”
Ramos was referring to the EDSA I and II revolts that resulted in the ouster of Marcos in 1986 and of Estrada in 2001.
“We are still [not] there. We still have a long way to go. I hope you listen to the homily. It’s all about the truth,” he said, according to the ABS-CBN account.
Ms Arroyo was also a sponsor at the wedding but left after the ceremonies.
Fr. De la Rosa gave a different view of people power in his homily at UST.
“We delude ourselves if we think that by removing the President from Malacañang, just as we did with Marcos and Erap (Estrada’s nickname), integrity and honesty will be restored,” he said.
He also said: “We must stop looking for scapegoats to ease our burden, our guilt. We seem to have a penchant for putting the blame on just one person or a group of persons in order to take the heat off ourselves.”
De la Rosa said it was a “dangerous misunderstanding” to single out moral bankruptcy in the government while not looking at one’s own.
An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said Lozada should not doubt the bishops’ support for him.
“The bishops in general, save perhaps for some, support Lozada,” Caloocan City Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, CBCP public affairs chair, said on the phone.
He added: “In fact, Lozada was one of the influences why the CBCP’s statement (on the NBN issue) has become firmer.”
Iñiguez said there were various ways the bishops could show their support for Lozada, including visiting and comforting him.
“Maybe he is just expecting other means of encouragement, that’s why he is disappointed,” Iñiguez said. With a report from Margaux C. Ortiz
|
