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Matapos unahan ng nagpapanik na si Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ang deklarasyon ng pagbibitiw ng mga miyembro ng kanyang gabinete, binigyang buhay muli ng Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) ang panawagang mag-resign lahat ng opisyales ng gubyerno lalu na ang pekeng pangulo kasama sina De Castro at Drilon.

Ayon kay Gerry Rivera, Vice-Chariman ng PM at presidente ng Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA), kung sinsensero at hindi gimmick ang pagsibak ni Gloria sa gabinete, dapat daw ay sya ang nanguna sa pagbibitiw.

“Bilang puno’t dulo ng problema, si Gloria dapat ay mag-set ng magandang ehemplo sa pamamagitan ng pangunguna sa pagbibitiw kasama ang buong gabinete,” dag-dag pa ni Rivera.

Mas mabuti pa daw ang miyembro ng gabinete na duminig sa panawagang resign all, samantalang si Gloria na numero unong gustong paalisin ng mamamayan ay nagpapakaipokrita at tengang kawali.

Nagpahayag din si Rivera na tutol sya sa mga panukala ni Gloria tulad ng Federalism at two-party system spagkat di ito ang magreresolba ng mga problema ng mamamayang Pilipino sa kasalukuyan, samantalang hindi naman daw interesado ang mga civil societies na maging miyembro ng gabinete hanggat nananatili sa pwesto si Arroyo.

“Matagal na naming iginigiit na bulok ang sistemang pampulitika at pang-ekonomiya ng bansa. Pero hindi solusyon sa problema ang mga proposal ni Arroyo. An tanging sagot ay ang kanyang pagbaba sa pwesto kasama ang iba pang trapo at ang pagbabago sa buong sistema,” pagbabanggit ni Rivera.

Samantala, binanggit ni Rivera na ang paglulunsad ng tutoong reporma ang sagot sa black propaganda ni Gloria na magiging banana republic ang bansa sakaling magkaroon ng panibagong people power.

“Ang kailangan ng tao ay isang bagung people power na kaiba sa Edsa 1 and 2, people power na magtataguyod ng  trasitional revolutionary government na tunay na kakalinga sa interes ng mamamayan,” pagpapatuloy ni Rivera.###

We are calling for the resignation of the entire regime starting with president GMA and Vice President de Castro down to all the constitutional successors in order to pave the way for a transitional revolutionary government as the first step in instituting real reforms in our society. "Resign All" is our response to the forced resignation of GMA's cabinet, and Purisima and company's move for de Castro's takeover.

We do not demand this from the regime but address the "Resign All" call to the Filipino people. It is only the Filipino people thru a new people power who can install the transitional revolutionary government. With the resignation of all officials, the people will have the freedom to choose the new leaders of the transitional revolutionary government. "Resign All" and the transitional revolutionary government are the crucial steps to pave the way for political, electoral and economic reforms.

Purisima, et al's scheme for De Castro's succession is an abortive palace coup pre-empted by the GMA's post-haste forced resignation of her cabinet. De Castro's succession will be a merry-go-round of elite faces in power. The tandem of de Castro and Drilon will mean business as usual for vested interests that have reaped the windfall profits from the privatization of electricity and water, the deregulation of oil, and other pro-globalization policies.

The forced resignation of the entire cabinet and GMA's endorsement of cha-cha are desperate maneuvers to stay in power and a pre-emptive strike against coup of Purisima, et al. Only cosmetic reforms can be instituted by a fake president in power and with the rotten system in place. We appeal to all well-meaning groups and individuals not to take GMA's gambit and fall into the trap of supporting an illegitimate regime and prolonging a decayed system. Constitutional change under a trapo Congress and underwritten by a fake president is a caricature of real reform.

The formula of Ramos for GMA as caretaker president and for convening Congress as a constituent assembly is a first cousin to GMA's gambit and his own ploy for political resurrection. His proposal for a "high commission of national leaders" will be a de facto junta with GMA as a window dressing.

Real reforms can only be codified in a new constitution under conditions guaranteed by a transitional revolutionary government. These conditions, among others, include the abolition of Congress and the Comelec. For example, only then can proportional representation for the masses be ensured in the election of delegates for constitutional convention, and can clean and credible referendum for the new constitution be held.

Instituting real reforms in society is the answer to GMA's black propaganda that the country will become a banana republic with another people power uprising. It is the failure of Edsa 1 under Aquino and Edsa 2 under GMA to implement reforms that continues to provide fertile ground for mass discontent. Thus the country needs a new type of people power, one that will not be hijacked by elite interests and will install a revolutionary government mandated to introduce reforms.###

Even while the resignation of the 11 Cabinet members and their calling for the succession of Kabayan Noli to the presidency may be tinged with perceptions of just making virtue out of necessity, especially in as much as GMA had already previously asked for their resignation, Partido ng Manggagawa’s Renato “Ka Rene” Magtubo today welcomed such development as favorable for the eventual ouster of the already lameduck president.

Ka Rene, however, tagged as “too little, too late” their resignations even as he deplored as “anti-people” what the resigned Cabinet members advocated as the Constitutional process of transition with Kabayan Noli taking over. In a previous statement, Ka Rene already declared that the seating Vice-President was also a beneficiary of the same fraudulent elections that contingently installed GMA.

“The point,” Ka Rene stressed, “is that it is the system which is rotten to the core, even as it is hand-in-glove with the US-engineered globalization, deregulation and liberalization – the current characteristics of old-day imperialism.”

“The resignation of Cabinet members and their changeovers, alongside even the succession of Noli into the presidency would not be enough. The pulse of the streets and the fields is for a radical transformation of the whole infrastructure, including the alignment of the government along the democratic interest of the broad populace.”

“The Constitutionally-defined process which prescribes a Noli succession is not pro-people. It would only be no more than a changing of horses for the foreign interests which dominate the Philippine scene.  What is needed is a politico-economic shake-up for collective, sustainable development; and not one of the same rotten system which will just further the continuance of foreign and elite dominance.

“That is why we have long been pushing for a Transitional Revolutionary Government (TRG) because that is the hard lesson of both EDSA 1 and EDSA 2. When we only effect change at the top, the bottom remain as powerless as ever, even worse off than where they were before such EDSAs.

“Like GMA, Noli has no credibility and trust with the populace, especially in so far as his skills for governance are concerned. Only the elite favor a GMA to Noli hand-over because that would be least disruptive to the dominance of the elite. Because with Noli at the helm, the same policies of subservience to global interests will surely be perpetuated. There would not be any change in the neo-liberal mold of governance which has brought unprecedented damage to the domestic economies but also untold miseries to the people.

“It is, however, good enough for the resigned Cabinet members that they have gotten out of the ever-shrinking orbit of authoritative rule by GMA. On the other hand, they have not yet gone beyond the habits of thought of neo-liberalism which have been fundamentally responsible for the state of continuing stagnation of our economic life,” Ka Rene opined even as he invited them to join the ranks of civil society calling for fundamental change.###