By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
11 November 2006
In my press statement yesterday as Chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, I described the status and prospects of George W. Bush after losing control over the US House of Representatives and Senate in the US mid-term elections. For committing grave crimes, including the war of aggression on the basis of lies, so many cases of corruption and the assault on civil and political rights, he is liable to be impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate.
Gloria M. Arroyo knows that, if the mid-term elections are held in May next year, the electorate will trounce her candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate because of her regime’s stinking corruption, electoral fraud in 2004 and responsibility for the decline of employment and income for the toiling masses and middle class and for the massive human rights violations. Consequently, she would be vulnerable to impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate.
Arroyo is well aware of her dire situation and prospects. Thus, she has tried hard to head off and cancel the 2007 elections of congressmen and senators by previously pushing the sham people’s initiative and the ongoing scheme for a constituent assembly to revise the 1987 constitution among other objectives to tinker with the form of government and concentrate powers on herself as the incumbent president. .
Arroyo is terribly afraid that the opposition would have the sufficient number elected to the lower house of Congress to cause her impeachment and deliver her for trial to a Senate that has already become oppositionist and is likely to become more so if the 2007 mid-term elections were to be held.
Of course, Arroyo can cheat again in forthcoming elections as she did in 2004. But the cheating would become extremely obvious in the face of the clear discredit and isolation of her regime, the continuing outrage of the people over the electoral fraud in 2004 and the overwhelming preference of the electorate for the opposition candidates for legislative offices. The people’s indignation would only be inflamed against the regime.
All previous attempts to impeach Arroyo have failed for the simple reason that the opposition lacked the number necessary for a successful impeachment. But if it pushes through, the mid-term elections next year will certainly yield enough opposition members in the House of Representatives to impeach Arroyo.
A successful impeachment in the lower house would gain overwhelming support from the broad masses of the people and the broad united front of patriotic and progressive forces enough to compel Arroyo to resign or be convicted by the Senate for her grievous crimes.
All that the military and police forces of the reactionary government need to do is to respect the legislative process and the people’s right to speak and assemble freely. They do not even have to proclaim that they are withdrawing support from the regime until they can see hundreds of thousands of the people rallying and marching to demand the ouster of the Arroyo regime. ###
