Special Election or a Caretaker Government?

The time we have been waiting for has come. Gloria and Noli must go for the benefit of our people and the country and even for their own sake.

Renewed calls for Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign or face another impeachment try has put her on the defensive making the survival of her administration contingent on the support of the military and on a day-to-day basis. At no time since the “Hello Garci” scandal had the President been linked directly to acts of bribery, corruption and betrayal of public trust. The talk is no longer whether GMA should finish her term in 2010 but rather how to put an end to a graft-ridden and utterly immoral regime that no longer deserves to stay a day longer in office. Together with the people, we must find a way to remove her from office this year or early next year in a manner that is constitutional, peaceful, democratic and orderly.

One option is to conduct a presidential special election next year on in 2008 as provided for under the Constitution. If this fails, PGMA and her vice-president will have the luxury of finishing their term until 2010. This means two more years of governance that cannot but bring to our country dishonor, destitution and ruin.

Under the Constitution, no special election may be called eighteen months before the date of the next presidential election. Section 8, Article VII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides thus:

“Sec. 8. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office or resignation of the President, the Vice President shall become the President to serve the unexpired term. In case of death, permanent disability, removal from office or the resignation of both the President and the Vice-President, the President of the Senate or, in case of his inability, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall then act as President until the President or Vice President shall have been elected and qualified.” (Underscoring supplied).

Section 10 of Article VII provides for an orderly procedure for the holding of a snap or special election to fill up a vacancy resulting from the resignation of both the president and vice-president, thus:

“Sec.10. The Congress shall, at ten o’clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy in the offices of the President and Vice-President occurs, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call and within seven days enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President and a Vice-President to be held not earlier than forty-five days nor later than sixty days from the time of such call. The bill calling such special election shall be deemed certified under paragraph 2, Section 26, Article VI of this Constitution and shall become law upon its approval on third reading by the Congress. Appropriations for the special elections shall be charged against any current appropriations and shall be exempt from the requirements of paragraph 4, Section 25, Article VI of this Constitution. The convening of the Congress cannot be suspended nor the special election postponed. No special election shall be called if the vacancy occurs within eighteen months before the date of the next election. (Underscoring supplied).

The other option is to remove both the president and the vice president by force and forthwith install a “caretaker” government. This has been tried many times before but so far have not been quite successful.

This is not to say however that we will discourage the people from expressing their outrage by other means. This has happened before there is no reason why it cannot be done again. The point is, this government must go by all means possible- whether by a constitutional or an extra-constitutional means. This government has committed such abuse of power as to allow the people the right to employ any means necessary for the redress of their grievances.

Holding a special election is allowed under our Constitution; putting up a “caretaker” government is not and will require the use of “extra constitutional” means of ousting the president and her vice-president. All that is needed to hold a special election is for the presidential and vice-presidential office to be vacated by resignation. Forcing the president and vice-president to resign therefore is all that is needed for a constitutional and peaceful transfer of power. If the president does not resign the only remaining option, barring a fatal heart attack, is removal from office either by way of an impeachment or extra-constitutional means like a power grab.

We must take the constitutional route. The task of the day is to force the president and the vice-president to resign before the end of the year! The onset of the Christmas season is not an argument against launching a vigorous campaign to oust GMA. The most damaging coup ever mounted against then Pres. Cory Aquino took place the first week of December 1987. The testimony of banker Clarisa Ocampo at the impeachment trial on December 23, 2000 led to the ouster of former Pres. Erap roughly one month later. Former Pres. Marcos’ announcement in November 1985 to hold a “snap election” prompted the opposition to prepare for the presidential elections that precipitated the fall of the dictator in February the following year. National hero Jose Rizal was executed on the last day of December whose death ushered in the Revolution of 1898. The months of November and December is a good month as any to start a campaign to change the government or install a new order.

Asking the president and her vice-president to resign is not an easy task. History tells us that no dictator or corrupt leader ever surrendered power so easily. Only public pressure or the pangs of moral conscience will make a president or vice-president listen to the public voice. This had happened in the case of US Vice-President Spiro Agnew for spewing expletives or Pres. Richard Nixon for simply refusing to turn over for investigation 18 minutes of taped conversations. Japanese prime ministers resign from office on the slightest hint of official scandal or the lose of support from their peers.

The case of Mr. Benjamen Abalos is a case in point. With less than six months into his retirement from long years of government service starting as a city fiscal to town mayor and head of a constitutional body, Mr. Abalos had to resign as COMELEC chair over charges of corruption and the threat of impeachment. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Noli de Castro are facing more serious charges that would make the devil himself cringe in horror and shame. Two more years is like eternity for people who want to rob the country clean and dry.

Of course PGMA is a lot different. But that is one good reason to let her go.

Gloria and Noli Resign, Hold a Special Election

There are a number of points that must be clarified to make sure that the call for the resignation of Gloria and Noli succeed.

The first issue is whether Gloria alone should resign. Under this mode, Gloria resigns and Vice-President Noli de Castro takes over the presidency by virtue of the rule on succession. This is the point taken by Sen. Nene Pimentel although he qualifies that the vice-president must act only as a “caretaker until 2010.” Sen. Pangilinan says this is the “only constitutional solution to avert civil war.” This is correct but nobody is taking this proposal seriously even by those who support the vice-president like Senate President Manny Villar or the Lopez family. Inspite of his high acceptance rating than the president, Noli is perceived to be incapable of running the country at this particular juncture in our history, a view that even former Pres. Ramos himself has publicly declared. Thus, Noli too, must go, runs the public perception. After all, they were both elected in an election characterized by massive cheating on orders of the president herself as disclosed by the “Hello Garci” tapes.

There is the other view that both Gloria and Noli must resign as president and vice-president respectively, both at the same time. Again, this is constitutionally possible but it is practically impossible to convince them to do so without threatening them with bodily harm like what was done to President Erap when a thousand mob was about to storm Malacanang to force him out after the seven o’clock extended deadline in January 2001. The beleaguered Erap left Malacanang allegedly to avoid bloodshed and the Supreme Court ruled that he had “constructively resigned” as president.

All these need not happen to Gloria or Noli for that matter. All that the people must do is to exert pressure by telling all and sundry that their president has betrayed their trust and violated her oath of office when she succumbed to the high crimes of bribery, graft and corruption. The impeachment case filed against Gloria for this purpose will provide the opportunity to unload to the public the venalities committed by the president herself. If the impeachment try is defeated, the case may be brought directly to the people for them to render a contrary verdict. The pressure so created must be so powerful as to leave to the president and her government no other choice but to resign. In other words, her ability to govern must be so distracted by corruption charges until she realizes that the remaining years of her term would be better spent providing for her own safety rather than trying to bequeath a legacy of a failed presidency.

The easiest way to convince Gloria to resign is to make the impeachment try a success. All that is needed is 80 or so House votes coupled with the quickest trick to send the complaint to the Senate like what then House Speaker Villar did to the Erap impeachment petition. The opposition has about 30 congresspersons who would most likely want to see the president impeached after two failed attempts. In other words, it is Speaker Jose de Venecia and his Lakas-CMD partisans who would play a key role in any attempt to remove the president by impeachment. Once the petition reaches the Senate, there is no other way but for the president to resign to avert criminal prosecution and become the second head of state to be put in jail in Philippine history. But first we must convince Congress that to save the country we must stop Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from using the powers of the presidency for her own ends.

Apart from this constitutional route by way of congressional initiative the only other option decisive enough to make the president and the vice-president resign is a resort to “extra” or “intra” constitutional means, that is by way of a military intervention or mass uprising. The argument is raised that a military intervention is sanctioned by the Constitution when it provided in Section 3 Article II in the Declaration of Principles and State Policies that “the Armed Forces of the Philippines is the protector of the people and the State.” In any case, a section of the military is restive enough to prod them into action what with the rampant corruption in the civilian leadership and the persecution of their own ranks: low pay, poor combat leadership, jailed officers and an elected senator denied his rightful seat in the Senate.

The use of “extra” constitutional means borders on the employment of pubic pressure, civil disobedience and mass uprising. It springs from a feeling of hopelessness and belief in the liberating use of violence as an expression of people outrage. Its proponents are prepared to abandon the Constitution to restore constitutional order. Because it relies on the unity and strength of the people it is powerful; but for the same reason it is also quite difficult to build, direct and bring to fruition. It is for this reason also that this option is very dangerous to employ and hardly reassuring in terms of success or victory for the people. There are a number of groups who are attracted to this route for one reason or another. One of them is Mandirigma.

Thus, at the moment, there are three identifiable platforms for the quick removal of Gloria and Noli de Castro.

Resign Gloria & Noli, Install the Chief Justice to led a “caretaker government”

The first group is the one led by the Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME). Its advocacy is centered on calling for the resignation of the president and vice-president and prohibiting the Senate President or the Speaker “to act as President” until the new president and vice president shall have been elected and qualified. KME would like to institute a “caretaker government” by designating the highly popular Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as “caretaker President.” This view springs from the assumption, which is patently erroneous, that the Supreme Court Justice is included in the line of succession.

Resign Gloria & Noli, Install a Caretaker Government and Implement Fundamental Reforms

The Laban ng Masa is likely to take this route. Alab Katipunan, a prominent member of the political command comprising the leadership of Laban ng Masa has provisionally adopted this stand. The “caretaker” government is expected to last until 2010 where a new election could be held to elect a new president and vice-president together with a half of the senate and a new set of congressional and local government officials. During this period, it is expected that “immediate fundamental reforms” may be implemented as envisioned in the “transitional revolutionary government” (TRG) program or agenda. One of the reform measures are the revamp of the Commission on Elections and the implementation of anti-poverty measures like regulation of food prices and the lowering of the cost of other basic commodities. Unless the “caretaker government” assumes a “revolutionary” character there is no way that reforms of this kind can be implemented. A chief executive even in the mold of the libertarian Chief Justice Reynato Puno would not be able to pursue a largely pro-people agenda under a “caretaker” set up composed of diverse interests and ideological persuasions.

It is expected that other anti-GMA groups and political blocs will take this position: remove GMA and let a “caretaker” government take-over in the person of Chief Justice Puno and rule until 2010. These may include the rejectionist (RJ) and the reaffirm (RA) factions of the left progressive forces. Even the Black and White Movement (B&W), once they realize that there exist another viable constitutional route other than Noli de Castro, may decide that the resignation of both the president and the vice-president and the holding of a special election is the quickest way to restore decency and redeem the moral integrity of the presidency.

The “Resign GMA-Noli, Special Election 2008” Campaign

The most logical and historically possible option is the call for GMA and Noli de Castro to resign in accordance with the procedures laid down in Section 8 and Section 10 of Article VII of the Constitution. This option passes the test of constitutionality and would be acceptable to the people exhausted of “extra constitutional” means but desirous of social and political change. A constitutional route promises to be an orderly process of succession and would provide fresh mandate to whoever would lead the country in the next six years. The resignation of the two top government officials and the immediate holding of a special or “snap” election to choose their successors will spare the country from the uncertainties of another “people power” or the danger of a “military takeover.” The procedure for a snap election to end an evil regime was used in the past there is no reason why it cannot be tried again with the same measure of success. What needs to be done now is to map out a comprehensive campaign strategy and draw up the operational tactics to make it work. Only the collective will and force of the sovereign people can remove a corrupt president and an indecisive and useless vice-president.