2 ex-solons asking GMA to resign

Two former senators are asking President Gloria Arroyo to resign. Rene Saguisag, who was here in Cebu City Friday night, had called for the resignation of Arroyo, as a "peaceful and decisive solution" to the present turmoil.

Saguisag said Arroyo could "no longer actively govern" in the wake of controversies besetting her government and Vice President Noli De Castro should also resign for being "incompetent." "We can't have any more of these talents, these criminal geniuses," said Saguisag, adding that the presidency should be left to Senate President Franklin Drilon, being next in line, but only on a temporary basis.

"It would be nice if GMA resigns," Saguisag said in his speech during the installation ceremony of the 17th board of officers of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu and Cebu City Chapters and the honoring of new lawyers, at the MCWD Social Hall.

In admitting she talked to a Comelec official, Arroyo became "morally challenged" and had destroyed the public trust, said Saguisag, a human rights lawyer who had represented two former presidents, Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada.

The trial on the legality of Estrada's ouster is still going on. In case he wins, Estrada would be "reinstated with backpay," Saguisag joked but told the lawyers he does not favor Estrada's reinstatement.

On the other hand, former senator Ernesto Herrera has joined the call for Arroyo's resignation, alleging she violated the Constitution by talking to an election official while the election was still in progress.

Herrera said an impeachment against Arroyo would not succeed in an administration-controlled Congress, so the only way to oust her from office would be to pressure her to resign by way of people power or external pressures.

Herrera, a former senator who supported the losing bid of the late presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., warned of an escalation of protest actions against Arroyo amid the dire economic situation and the public perception of her cheating in the polls.

"Mo escalate kani tungod sa kalisod sa panahon ug sa perception sa pagpanikas," said Herrera who clarified he would junk a take over of a military junta or revolutionary government.

In an interview over DyLA radio, Herrera said the wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and commissioner Virgilio Garcillano showed there was cheating in the last elections.

He said Arroyo's claim that she was merely trying to protect her votes was still improper because she should have asked the Comelec official to protect the votes of all candidates, not just hers, to have an honest election.

Herrera also questioned why Arroyo called up Garcillano, assigned in Bicol, if her intention was only to protect her votes in Mindanao. He said that calling Garcillano 15 times was not a mere lapse in judgment.