First posted 04:21am (Mla time) June 17, 2005
By DJ Yap
Inquirer News Service

A REVOLUTIONARY government like the one that installed Corazon Aquino as president in 1986 is what Filipinos should now bat for, instead of just the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The radical suggestion was aired yesterday by Francisco “Dodong” Nemenzo, a former president of the University of the Philippines. He said the objective was to “start from the beginning” because a regime change would not be enough to bring about genuine reforms.

“We have to reduce the power of the elite. Only then can democracy have a chance to flourish in this country,” Nemenzo said at a press conference held at the university’s Quezon City campus, wherein disgruntled sectors of the UP community demanded Ms Arroyo’s “resignation, impeachment or ouster.”

The UP Alliance for Arroyo’s Removal (UP Aware), composed of students, teachers, and administrative, research and support staff, based its demand on allegations that the President’s victory in the May 2004 election was fraudulent.

Nemenzo said a snap election would be useless because the elite would still control the government.

“What we really need [to do] is call for a provisional revolutionary government,” he said in Filipino.

Asked to explain, Nemenzo said the people had lost their trust in government institutions, such as the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Even if the President was impeached, he said, those who would take part in the political exercise had “very low credibility.”

The only recourse left to the people is to take “extra-constitutional means” of wresting power, Nemenzo said.

It will then be up to the people to decide who should lead them, he said, adding: “In popular upheavals, it is the least expected person who turns out to be the leader.”

At the press conference attended by opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Ted Pascua, who represented losing 2004 presidential candidate Brother Eddie Villanueva, UP Aware read a statement rejecting what it said was a leadership founded on lies and deceit.

Giovanni Tapang of the Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan said his group had studied the female voice in the purported wiretapped conversations and compared it with Ms Arroyo’s last State of the Nation Address. He said the preliminary results indicated a likely match.

UP Aware also said the controversial tape was the latest indictment of the Arroyo administration.

To Nemenzo’s radical suggestion, Pimentel said he preferred a more “moderate” approach — Ms Arroyo’s resignation.

He said Vice President Noli de Castro should also step down, after which Senate President Franklin Drilon would serve as acting president for the sole purpose of calling for an election.

Asked if he then intended to seek the presidency, Pimentel said he was too old to do so.