young radicals

Halloween Protest

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posted by adarna @ 8:20 AM 0 comments

Erap pardon shows GMA continuous betrayal of youth, Edsa Dos - Kabataan Party

More corruption, loss of trust in gov't seen with Estrada's release,
unsolved scandals

The Kabataan Party today hit the Arroyo government for its continuous
betrayal of the Filipino youth and EDSA Dos, saying that the rash
granting of pardon to former President Joseph Estrada shows Mrs.
Arroyo's ultimate abandonment of EDSA Dos principles.

"Such developments only show how Mrs. Arroyo continues to betray the
youth and the ideals and principles of the people's uprising that
catapulted her to power," Kabataan Party President Raymond Palatino
said.

Palatino warned that the hasty pardon for Estrada and the unresolved
cases of bribery and corruption involving Malacanang and several
politicians set a bad precedent for future officials and could further
erode public trust in the government.

"The impetuous pardon for Estrada and unsolved cases of corruption
highlight how hypocrisy and lack of accountability has reached new
heights under the current administration. It's distressing to see how
the present government is more than willing to sacrifice long-standing
legal and democratic rights and even credibility and morality in the
government for political accommodation and greed for power," he
pointed out.

"It is appalling to see how the Arroyo government is using the
Estrada case to divert public attention from far worse cases of
corruption and plunder involving the president herself and her
cohorts," he added.

Bad precedent for village polls

"It's also disturbing that we are having this shameless display of
decadence in the government in the eve of the barangay and Sangguniang
Kabataan elections," he lamented.

Palatino also expressed fear that the scandals of corruption and the
new twist in the Estrada plunder case might send a negative message to
future government officials that they are above the law and can have
the government run at their own whim.

He added that these events could also result to an increase in the
number of corruption cases in the government as it gives corrupt
politicians the notion of being "invincible."

"What would prevent crooked politicians from engaging more in
corruption and other unlawful practices if mechanisms for
accountability are weak and can be easily bent by political interests
and money?"

"We fear that these events will further erode the remaining
confidence of the people, especially the youth, to our democratic
institutions and processes and embed corruption deeper in our
political system, "he added.

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posted by adarna @ 2:28 PM 0 comments

Erap pardon will not save Arroyo

Anakbayan's statement on the Estrada pardon grant

Youth group Anakbayan expresses deep doubts over Mrs. Gloria Arroyo’s real motives for having granted Executive Clemency to ousted president and convicted plunderer Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

Anakbayan questions the timeliness of the pardon. The response to Estrada’s petition for clemency was so abrupt that even Estrada’s lawyers were caught off-guard.

Coincidentally, it came at a time when Mrs. Arroyo was implicated anew in the ZTE scam via a damning testimony from Jose ‘Joey’ de Venecia at the resumption of the Senate hearings. It also conveniently comes at a period when Arroyo faces the public’s overwhelming distrust over what is perceived as the most irreconcilable political crisis yet to ever beset her administration.

Anakbayan has reason to believe that, like all other diversionary tactics being perpetrated by Malacanang, Estrada’s pardon is not for ‘reconcilition’ and humanitarian purposes but still for the survival of Arroyo’s beleaguered administration.

Estrada’s pardon, however, will fail to save Arroyo. It has done nothing but display the Arroyo administration’s lack of moral ascendancy in imposing sanctions to corrupt wrongdoers. It demonstrates the Arroyo administration’s practice of political expediency in legal and judicial decisions that come as a threat to its tenure.

History will indeed judge Arroyo’s decision but we pose a challenge to the Estrada camp, known personalities of the political opposition, amid this development. Youth and students will not hesitate to condemn even the slightest inkling of Estrada’s capitulation towards the Arroyo administration following his pardon.

We will not be diverted from our cause to build the broadest movement against the present corrupt and Mafia-like Arroyo regime. ###

Related articles and documents:
Read full text of Arroyo's pardon order here.
State prosecutor's statement.
Estrada's motion for reconsideration.
Sandiganbayan's guilty verdict.

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posted by adarna @ 8:26 AM 0 comments

SUMA-TOTAL of Arroyo's bribery and corruption

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posted by adarna @ 2:34 PM 1 comments

Arroyo administration is that of bribes, betrayal and blatant corruption

Anakbayan's statement on the bribe attempts and 'cash gifts' linked to Malacanang

Anakbayan expresses full support and admiration for the likes of Pampanga Governor Among Ed Panlilio, Anakpawis Rep. Crispin 'Ka Bel' Beltran and all other public officials who have admitted to receiving ‘cash gifts’ from persons associated with Malacanang.

A bribe, called by any other term, is still a bribe. These latest bribe attempts are by far the most desperate moves by the Arroyo administration to suppress growing public and political clamor for accountability in the ZTE scam and other corruption issues.

The Arroyo administration has survived this long precisely for its dependence on treachery and syndicate-like tactics. This government is clearly being run by an administration of bribes, betrayal and blatant corruption.

With the ZTE scam, we have witnessed thus far how the President employs her Cabinet members and party allies to do the dirty work for her. If the ZTE scam proved anything it is that the Arroyo administration cannot hope to continue with clandestine acts of corruption without eventually being exposed, rotten eggs will surely stink.

And continue to fester. These attempts at bribery prove that however President Arroyo tries to escape involvement, the pure shamelessness of her ilk will eventually catch up with her. The foul smell has reached Malacanang and no amount of denial, flowery declarations of progress and all sorts of white-wash can drive away the stench.

The Arroyo administration is paying a high price for survival but in the process digs itself into a deeper grave. Such is also a characteristic of an administration frantically holding on to power.

It is very unfortunate that we have a government that can scrimp out millions, even billions, in bribes but none for education, housing and other basic social services. ###

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posted by adarna @ 7:58 PM 0 comments

Free Burma!

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posted by adarna @ 7:58 PM 1 comments

desperation, not delicadeza

Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos resigned from post yesterday in a dramatic press conference complete with blocking and painful expressions from his family who were flanking him. Full text of Abalos’ resignation letter here.

Abalos’ resignation is another breakthrough development in the sense that he is the first Malacanang-appointed government official to have been implicated in a scandal involving the administration to ever resign from his post. The first casualty, he is now being called, and we expect more heads to roll. Some say he did it out of delicadeza, methinks it’s out of desperation still for the Arroyo administration’s self-preservation. To portray Abalos’ resignation as a ‘heroic’ or ‘honorable’ act is tantamount to tolerating his pretense of innocence and projection of righteous indignation when his involvement in the ZTE scam becomes more obvious and harder to deny. On the contrary, if his resignation proved anything it is that he is a mere maggot in an exposed can of worms. He is the dispensable one, the easiest to get rid of.

Yet one that still has to be handled with care. Abalos, it seems, is now the ‘real deal’ in the ZTE deal, and not Sec. Neri as earlier perceived. It is he who has nothing left to lose and everything to gain if he decides to kiss and tell.

As for his reasons for resigning, it is very difficult to imagine how he hopes to achieve peace of mind for himself or his family when investigations are still ongoing. Same goes for the numerous legal cases that await him, impeachment notwithstanding. He himself said before that he would not ever consider resigning from his post because it would mean admission of guilt. What now?

Let’s wait and see what’s cooking on TV (or what is now being dubbed as the NBN telenovela).

---
what's the buzz?

the eagle, er, vulture has landed.

*photo from philstar.com

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posted by adarna @ 7:59 PM 0 comments