Makabayan senatorial bet and Nacionalista Party guest candidate Satur Ocampo today joined various sectors in condemning the Supreme Court decision allowing Pres. Arroyo to appoint justices of the Court despite the Constitutional ban on presidential appointments, saying it was part of plans to protect her from suit and allow a comeback via Charter change. "Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's immediate plans are becoming more and more transparent as the days pass. With the SC decision, she will be able to hand-pick the next Supreme Court chief justice and another justice thereby making the Supreme Court a purely Arroyo-appointed and subservient Court," Ocampo said.
"The prerogative to appoint the next chief justice and another member of the Court is in line with Mrs. Arroyo's over-all self-protection strategy when her term is over. Arroyo wants to pack the Court with her appointees and Congress with her loyalists in case an opposition president is elected so that she will be safe from charges filed in court and from Congressional investigations. It also paves the way for a return to power as prime minister via cha-cha which an Arroyo-controlled Court will most likely uphold," Ocampo stressed.
"In her desperation, she has not spared the party-list system and is maneuvering to have her allies stand as standard bearers of bogus party-lists," Ocampo added.
Ocampo said that Mrs. Arroyo is determined to weasel through the numerous criminal charges that are certain to be thrown her away the moment she is out of office. "She is pegging her hopes that by appointing the next chief justice, she will be able to escape criminal prosecution for all the scandals that her administration has been involved in the last nine years," he said.
"Macapagal-Arroyo is hell-bent on covering all bases before she steps down from the presidency, and all her efforts are aimed at two objectives: 1) escaping criminal liability; and 2) perpetuating herself in power by becoming prime minister. This is precisely why she is running for Congress, and why her allies are infiltrating the party-list system. The shocking greed for power and shamelessness is galling," Ocampo said.
"Macapagal-Arroyo will not escape the Filipino people's judgment and the verdict of history. We cannot and should not rest until she had been made to account for all of her crimes and to stop her from committing more," he said. #
PGMA to pack SC and Congress with loyalists to protect self and set stage for comeback via Cha-cha - Satur
Peacetalks
- GPH undermines basic peace agreements, refuses to respect and comply with JASIG
- Compliance with JASIG and the Oslo Joint Statements is not a precondition but an obligation
- GPH Negotiating Panel Chairperson Padilla gives notice of no formal talks next month
- Closing statement on the GPH-NDFP formal peace talks in Oslo
- Peace panels hold preliminary informal meetings in Hong Kong
Human Rights
- Aquino violated every key labor right this year – KMU
- “Stop the killings, violence and intimidation in Pangarap Village!”
- PH election to UN rights council called an embarrassment
- CHR report on Melissa Roxas practically clears AFP in torture -- Bayan
- BAYAN condemns killing of local leader in Batangas
Workers
- [2 + 2 talks] Aquino, a modern-day Aguinaldo – KMU
- Gov’t trying to dupe public with flawed employment definition – KMU
- Workers to keep watch on Corona impeachment trial
- Protesta mga magsasaka, sasalubungin ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan
- A day before Congress committee meeting Solons told: Stop Cha-cha
Peasants
- Vested interests taint Aquino’s Candidacy ABSTENTION FROM CARPER VOTE IN ’09 REVEALS REAL AGENDA
- Farmers, youth to Noynoy: Expect more protests for Hacienda Luisita Issue
- Noynoy should take responsibility and rectify the failure of the Corazon Aquino administration to implement genuine agrarian reform – Satur
- NORMIN FARMERS JOINS HACIENDA LUISITA STRUGGLE, URGES NOYNOY TO JUNK MEMO
- Land reform, justice for rights victims key to resolving Luisita conflict
Youth & Students
- UP student councils tag Noynoy as Arroyo’s heir
- KABATAAN Partylist remembers Beng Hernandez, writer martyr
- KABATAAN Partylist STORMS COMELEC: DEMANDS RESUMPTION OF VOTER’S REGISTRATION
- UP Students Dance Against Cha-Cha
- Christian Students Dismayed Over Dismissal of Petition for Writ of "Landmark Cases"
Women& Children
- [2 + 2 talks] Aquino, a modern-day Aguinaldo – KMU
- Gov’t trying to dupe public with flawed employment definition – KMU
- Workers to keep watch on Corona impeachment trial
- Protesta mga magsasaka, sasalubungin ng mga manggagawa at mamamayan
- A day before Congress committee meeting Solons told: Stop Cha-cha
Imperialism
- Bayan tells Aquino: “US troops already basing in PH”
- No to extension and expansion of US military operations in PH!
- US military buildup is biggest threat to regional peace – Bayan
- End imperialist plunder, repression and war! Defend Philippine sovereignty and patrimony against the onslaught of imperialism!
- Bayan holds rally to mark 20th anniversary of bases treaty rejection
