Sanlakas - THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ACCUSATIONS

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SANLAKAS National Office:

150 K-6th St.

Brgy. East Kamias

Quezon City, Philippines

Tel.: (632) 433-8377

(632)

Fax: (632) 426-2422

E-mail: [email protected]

Our Party-List Representative

THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE ACCUSATIONS

August 12, 2003

Mr. Speaker, Distinguished Colleagues --

Yesterday, in an apparent bid to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on the petitions filed by Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa, and the Social Justice Society questioning the constitutionality of the so-called "state of rebellion", President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced the lifting of that so-called "state of rebellion". This is but a small victory for those willing to stand up against government abuse and misuse of its awesome constitutional powers. For without the challenge raised before the highest court in the land, who knows when the constitutionally baseless "state of rebellion" would be lifted by a paranoid administration?

That having been said, and the "state of rebellion" having been lifted, can the people now know the truth about the grave and serious accusations of official corruption and criminal conspiracy publicly hurled by the mutinous AFP junior officers against the Macapagal-Arroyo administration on the wee hours of July 27? After all, government complicity in the Davao bombings and in the sale of arms and ammunitions to rebel groups constitute charges that would deny any government of its legitimacy.

The way things are going, the probability that the people will ever know the truth about these serious accusations is diminishing, if it has not yet vanished.

Consider the following --

(a) After the mutinous AFP junior officers and their men were brought back to barracks, the prominent leaders were forthwith detained in separate cells and held incommunicado. They have been publicly labeled as "criminals" by no less than the President and Commander-in-Chief, even before they have been formally charged either in court-martial or in civilian courts. Under these trying conditions, their morale is being broken, their honor soiled, and their credibility destroyed in the eyes of the public;

(b) President Macapagal-Arroyo has equated national security with the security of her administration. While the legitimacy of her Presidency remains tenuous, considering the circumstances in which she took office, President Macapagal-Arroyo considers the affront against her administration as an attack against the Republic;

(c) In the last 16 days that the mutinous AFP junior officers have been detained and kept incommunicado, vital evidence may have already been destroyed and obliterated by the high officials who may, in fact, be involved in the charges made by these young officers.

Shall the people ever know the truth?

The Committee on National Defense of this House, in the conduct of its hearings on the Oakwood incident, has had to suffer the aggravation of the military and security officials refusing to present before the committee the prominent AFP junior officers or imposing conditions for their appearance. And now, the Executive Secretary had asked that the hearing of the committee be jointly conducted with the Senate and only in executive session.

The Senate had already conceded to this condition. And although the AFP junior officers who have ventilated the charges against the Macapagal-Arroyo administration are to appear before the Senate, Section 22, Article VI of the Constitution, which applies only to Cabinet members, had been invoked and had been made to apply. The public had been shut out.

Parenthetically, the Malacanang-created Feliciano Commission has announced that its investigation will be made open to the public, but held inside a military camp. Needless to say, the controlled conditions in a military camp would have their chilling effects.

The House must not go the way of these other investigations. The people have the right to know. The Constitution (Sec. 7, Art. III), no less, guarantees the right of the people to information on matters of public concern, and these publicized charges of official corruption and criminal conspiracy against high officials of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration are matters of the highest public concern.

We humbly ask the Honorable Speaker to issue the subpoena for the appearance of the AFP junior officers before the House Committee on National Defense in an open and public hearing in the premises of the House.

Under our Constitutional order, the Congress has the duty of serving as a check on the powers of the Executive branch. And we ought not be stampeded by allegations of coup plots and conspiracies to abandon that duty. Let it be said that in this House, the public shall know the truth.

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PRIVILEGE SPEECH

Hon. J.V. Bautista

Representative, Sanlakas

October 8, 2003

Maliliit na Manininda ng Kamaynilaan: Dapat bang Kamuhian o Dapat Tulungan?

August 25, 2003

A Question of Integrity, A Matter of Sovereignty

August 12, 2003

The People have the Right to know the Truth about the Accusations

July 30, 2003

The Accused can not Lead the Investigation

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