Citizen Arrest may Greet Gloria After Polls, KMU Warns

Published on February 4, 2010

February 4, 2010

“Gloria Arroyo may assert her right to run for a congressional seat in Pampanga, but she definitely won’t have the ease in making her way to Pampanga when she steps down in June,” labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno warned today, saying a “citizen’s arrest” is brewing to greet her in June.

KMU said with the glitches and weaknesses of poll automation and the revival of the fertilizer fund scam, the people’s wrath is once again heating up, hinting at how a social upheaval will engulf Arroyo in her final minute in power.

“The citizen’s arrest will be the people’s united action not only to ensure that Arroyo will step down but to make sure that she will go down in history as the most hated president of this country,” said KMU Chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

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“If it’s necessary for the people to block her from going anywhere when she finally leaves the Palace, then let it be. If that is how the people want to pursue justice for all her atrocities and devious schemes, no individual or court can stand in their way,” he added.

Labog said the citizen’s arrest also stands as an option in case Arroyo pursues her plan to remain in power beyond elections, especially with the “aces still up in her sleeves.”

“Failure of elections, midnight appointment of Supreme Court chief justice, declaration of martial rule – all these can justify a citizen’s arrest,” Labog said.

“Arroyo has no place to hide. No island in this country can be a place of calm for her, for she has turned every Filipino into her nemesis in her nine years in power,” added Labog.

Since 2001, number of cases of extrajudicial killings has risen to more than 1,100 – a record comparable to that of the Marcos dictatorship. This bloody human rights record is even accentuated by the Maguindanao massacre wherein 57 people were slaughtered.

“The people will never forget her controversies and corruption cases – NBN-ZTE deal, fertilizer fund scam, Le Cirque dinner, and of course , her cheating in the 2004 elections,” Labog said.

On the economic side, Arroyo has caused continuing discontent among Filipinos as prices of basic commodities have soared to record levels while she continues to sit on wage hike proposals. Massive retrenchment has hounded workers every year, while farmers have experienced worse landlessness. (Posted by: (Bulatlat.com))

Reference: Elmer Labog
KMU Chairperson