GMA warns of new political repression

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The harassment of people supporting the move for President Estrada’s resignation was the start of a "new chapter of political repression," Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo warned here yesterday.

At the same time, the Vice President decried what she said were lies and disinformation being peddled against members of the political opposition.

"It seems we are again in another phase of political repression," said Arroyo, who was a guest of the Korea-Philippines millennium conference held here last Friday.

She cited the case of her chief of staff Renato Corona and the missing publicist Salvador "Bubby" Dacer.

Last month, armed men attempted to search Corona’s home on the pretext that a background check had to be conducted in connection with his nomination to a government post. Dacer, on the other hand, was abducted along with his driver by still unidentified men, one of whom was allegedly wearing a policeman’s uniform, last Nov. 24.

"The incident involving my chief of staff happened at about the same time Mr. Dacer was abducted," Arroyo said.

She also expressed fears for the safety of witnesses now testifying in the impeachment trial of the President.

"Special security measures should be arranged for all the witnesses," the Vice President said.

Arroyo also vowed to continue consolidating the anti-Estrada forces despite the black propaganda being waged against them.

"With or without black propaganda, it is our duty to consult always with the people because that’s part of good governance," she said. "We just have to do what is right."

The other day, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez accused Philippine National Police chief Director General Panfilo Lacson of doing a hatchet job on the Vice President in the US.

Golez claimed his friends in the US Congress told him Lacson raised concerns about Arroyo’s connections with the communist movement as well as the business activities in San Francisco, California of her husband.

Earlier, black propaganda Christmas cards had also been distributed.

Written on the card, which shows Arroyo with the Palace in the background, is the Yuletide greeting "Nawa’y sumainyo ang diwa ng kapaskuhan at magkita-kita tayo sa Malacañang (May the spirit of Christmas be with you and let’s see each other at Malacañang).

At its back is a list of Arroyo’s purported 24 Cabinet members, among them House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as executive secretary; Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson as interior and local government secretary; former Batangas Rep. Hernando Perez, adviser for political affairs; Lakas legal counsel Antonio Carpio as justice secretary; and former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa as national security adviser.