Kit Tatad: In Cebu today, the National Transformation Council will convene a citizens’ assembly, led by delegates from the Visayas and Mindanao, to review its position on Aquino. This will be the second such assembly since the Council’s founding in Cebu City three years ago. The first was held in Lipa City, Batangas on August 27, 2014, under the leadership of Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, Archbishop of Lipa, and with a number of Catholic bishops, Protestant pastors, and Muslim imams participating. The Lipa Declaration, issued at the end of that Assembly, condemned the Aquino regime for the “unbridled and unpunished corruption and widespread misuse of political and economic power in all layers of society,” and called upon Aquino to relinquish his position now. “Far from preserving and defending the Constitution, as he swore to do when he assumed office, Aquino has subverted and violated it by corrupting the Congress, intimidating the judiciary, taking over the treasury, manipulating the automated voting system, and perverting the constitutional impeachment process,” the Declaration said. It declared that by bribing the members of Congress to impeach and remove Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and railroad the widely opposed Reproductive Health Law, Aquino damaged the moral fabric of Philippine society, lost the moral right to lead the nation, and became a danger to the Philippine democratic and republican state and to the peace, freedom, security and moral and spiritual well-being of the Philippine people. Since the Lipa assembly, many have asked the Council, how will it compel Aquino to vacate the presidency without resorting to “people power” or the use of arms? Does the Council expect or hope to remove Aquino solely by the power of its moral declarations and the prayer of its spiritual and moral leaders? While they do not hesitate to talk of radical and revolutionary change, they are ever careful to specify that only non-violent means are to be used. But as old as the idea of revolution is the question, “can you ever make an omelet without breaking the eggs?” Or is the only other option to eat boiled eggs? People expect these questions to be answered in Cebu. The event could be overshadowed in the media by the stories about ISIS and the “Occupy Central” protesters who want to bring democracy to Hong Kong. I will be speaking at the Assembly, and I will have to ask the delegates whether, after showing the world twice how to change government without any violence or blood-letting, we now need the “Occupy Central” protesters to teach us what to do. manilatimes.net/occupy-central-teach-us/130839/
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 00:10:30 +0000
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