MYTHS and OUTRIGHT LIES
about the May Elections
1. Why don’t you just let GMA finish her term until 2010 instead of disrupting it with another
impeachment complaint?
THE TRUTH:
Firstly, impeachment is not disruptive when done properly. It is a valid mechanism to exact accountability from an
incumbent president. It provides opportunity to ferret out the truth and for both sides to present its arguments and
evidences. If found guilty, there is a provision for the smooth turnover of office. If found innocent after all arguments are
heard and all evidences are presented, the president will have cleared her name with a sense of finality. Either way, it
brings closure to a longstanding issue.
Secondly, there are indications that GMA intends to stay beyond 2010. The first attempt was to transform Congress into a
constituent assembly where the lifting of term limits was high on the agenda. There are also pronouncements that if GMA
will have enough numbers in the next Congress, they will work for a change in form of government by October 2007. This
will allow her to continue as head of state way beyond 2010, either as president or prime minister.
Our vote in May is crucial. We need enough men and women of moral courage to deter this nefarious plan.
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2. Impeachment will scare investors away, and will negate the economic gains.
THE TRUTH:
Impeachment will NOT scare investors away. Corruption and the extrajudicial killings WILL.
Advanced economies are becoming more sensitive towards both corruption and human rights violation. First, GMA received
a harsh rebuff from the European community for her human rights track record. Now, the UN and the US senate are doing
the same. And the administration’s public pronouncements are no longer sufficient to appease them. They’re demanding
action and actual results.
The PERC report that puts our country as the “MOST CORRUPT” economy in Asia will drive away more investors than impeachment will. In fact, impeachment, when allowed to play out its full course, will signal to the outside world a mature democracy serious in dealing with corruption even in the highest office of the land. This should encourage more investors to do business in our country.
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3. Do you really want to bring back Erap to replace GMA?
THE TRUTH:
This is a propaganda by the administration to position the elections as a proxy war between GMA and Erap. It has two
objectives. First – to turn off EDSA 2 veterans not just from denouncing GMA’s misgovernance and abuses, but also from
actively participating in the elections. Second – to deflect the issues against GMA (legitimacy, corruption, extrajudicial
killings, etc.) and make Erap the issue instead.
While there are some within the ranks of the opposition who support Erap, none has any illusion of restoring Erap to power.
Most adhere to the constitutionally prescribed succession process which clearly states that the Vice President takes over
when the president is impeached.
Erap is not the issue. The real issue is GMA – her legitimacy, her policy of repression, her tacit approval of extrajudicial
killings through her inaction, her corrupt government, her misgovernance.
It is only through our vote in May where we can exact accountability from GMA for all of these.
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4. If you succeed in impeaching GMA, who will replace her? Would you rather have Noli as president?
THE TRUTH:
It’s funny how the administration has been using this scare tactic to discourage the thinking class from joining the clamor
for impeachment. And yet, she was the one who personally chose her running mate in 2004. Is she now saying that she
intentionally chose an incompetent vice president?
Still, we believe we will be far better off under a “less competent” president like Noli, who enjoys the mandate of the
people, in the next 3 years, than with a “competent” president like GMA who is hounded by legitimacy issues, corruption,
and extrajudicial killings and who has shown a bent towards mangling the constitution to stay in power, even beyond 2010.
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5. Opposition are obstructionists. They have no real agenda except to remove GMA.
THE TRUTH:
Many in the opposition have clear advocacies and agenda for good governance (Note: BnW has an 11-point reform agenda
published in this website). And there are some in the opposition today who were reformists within the GMA administration.
But we have seen that no meaningful reforms can be achieved under this administration for as long as the issue of
legitimacy, compounded with corruption and extrajudicial killings, remains unresolved. Political survival, at all cost,
becomes the dominant policy.
We believe transparency and accountability are important foundations of good governance. Impeachment, if allowed to
play out its full course, will either indict or clear GMA from the issues hounding her. It is only then that we can pursue our
reform agenda more vigorously.
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