TRIBUNE: GUINGONA AMNESTY ARGUMENT, DANGEROUS
MANILA, OCTOBER 21, 2010 (TRIBUNE) In the matter of the amnesty grant, neophyte senator, TG Guingona, was quoted as saying that while the military rebels violated the law, in the view of many, they were following the law.
He explains that the Constitution provides that the President of the Philippines shall be elected by the people. Gloria Arroyo, now a representative in Congress, was not elected. "She cheated her way to the elections, therefore she had no legitimate claim to the Office of the President...therefore it was incumbent upon the officers of the Armed Forces to remove the usurper who has no legitimate claim on the office of the presidency. They (the mutineers) were acting in compliance, and not in defiance of the Constitution."
That's a pretty dangerous line of thought embraced by a senator of the republic, as it virtually gives the AFP officers and men carte blanche to rebel against a Malacañang tenant and his government anytime they are of the belief that the sitting president is a usurper and has not been elected by the people.
Stated differently, staging a coup or a mutiny is no longer a crime but a constitutional act, following Guingona's argument.
But what he forgets is the fact that the Oakwood mutiny was staged in July 2003, or before the presidential polls, which means that the Trillanes caper shouldn't wash on his claimed constitutional act.
Then too, how does Guingona explain the fact that he, his father, and even Noynoy Aquino and his mother, along with all those members of Congress who were in the opposition, ousted a legitimately elected president in a coup that was plotted by Gloria, her military, churchmen and civil socialites? They ousted then sitting President Joseph Estrada, and supported Gloria to the hilt up until 2005, when the "Hello Garci" tapes were finally exposed. Yet this was legal and constitutional, these same groups claimed.
But even as early as 2004, during the election campaign, and even after the proclamation of Gloria by Congress, her Cabinet secretaries and the members of Congress certainly knew that she had cheated her way to victory. But, as they were allies of Gloria then, they kept their mouths shut. To them, she was no usurper and they supported her all the way, including looking the other way and ensuring that the election fraud, as could be gleaned from the election documents, would not be questioned by the then political opposition.
One recalls too, that in 2001, Guingona, his father, who was the appointed vice president (not elected either), and the military and police, along with the leftists and civil socialites, were all in support of Gloria against the Filipino people, as represented by the Edsa lll groups. She was a usurper, but they supported her still.
In 2006, the Gloria government said a coup had been hatched against her by the rebel officers and Marines. Yet these same rebel soldiers, who still face court martial, claim there was no such coup, in which case, as they claim innocence of such a crime, there is therefore no need for them to avail of the amnesty that will soon be implemented, following certain procedures.
In the case of amnesty, it is presumed that these rebel soldiers are guilty of the crimes committed, which is why amnesty is being offered. But why is Guingona claiming that those who rebel against a president and his government are correct in so doing, if, in their view, the president is a usurper, because he has not been elected by the people?
Given the electoral cheating that occurs in this country every time, and given the fact that there was again, massive electoral fraud during the 2010 presidential polls, courtesy of the PCOS machines, how certain are the people that indeed, Noynoy Aquino was elected? Because of his claimed 15 million votes?
Center for People Empowerment in Governance or CenPeg, at a press conference, came up with election figures. Thirty-three million votes were cast on the precinct level. Add up the votes of Noynoy, Erap, Villar, Gibo and the smattering of the other minor presidential candidates and you get a 36 million vote count, with the vote count going higher in the municipal level and even much higher in the provincial level.
Therefore, if the military in time, believes that Aquino did not win the polls, does this mean that the military should depose the government?
Guingona really should think before he speaks.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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