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Unseating

Slowly but surely, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is showing her dictatorial tendencies.

In the past, it was only the progressive groups and the militants who have been vocal in expressing that there is an undeclared martial law as seen in the numerous killings of leaders of these groups — one of them is Romeo Sanchez, the regional coordinator of Bayan Muna in Ilocos and the secretary general of BAYAN-Ilocos; and the latest victim is Diosdado “Ka Fort” Fortuna, national member of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) and chairman of Anakpawis Partylist (AP) in Southern Tagalog.

Recently, a few days after the 33rd commemoration of the declaration of Martial Law, GMA turned her ire on peaceful protest actions of anti-GMA groups by declaring that her administration is “tired of chasing the bullies around the schoolyard” and directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to enforce the “no permit, no rally” policy and “calibrated preemptive response” to these protest actions.

This is clearly an infringement of the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and the right of the people to air their grievance against the government. These are fundamental rights that any elected official shall respect and protect. Furthermore, a law shall not be passed to breach these constitutional rights.

Moreover, GMA is to be blamed for the growing protest actions and clamor for her to resign because she has lost the moral and legal basis of leading the government. The issues surrounding Malacañang — electoral fraud, the involvement of GMA’s family in jueteng, the secret deals like the Venable contract — continues to be unanswered.

Dismissing the impeachment complaint in Congress is not synonymous to GMA’s innocence but rather it showed the ineptitude of the legal means to seek the truth and so the need for the parliamentary of the streets.

Repression and suppression is not the solution to the growing political and economic crisis in the country. This will only worsen the crisis. The only way to curb the political crisis is to concretely address the issues surrounding the lady in Malacañang. But since the impeachment has been dismissed, resignation is the only decent alternative left for her.

For as long as a cheater and a liar is in Malacañang, the people will seek justice. Hopefully, GMA will recognize this before violence erupts.

There are other options that a restless citizenry can turn to. #

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