Palace disowns move for transition government

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang disowned yesterday the reported move of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to meet with leaders of the Catholic Church and the Supreme Court to seek their support for the establishment of a transition government.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said President Arroyo summoned Gonzales late last week to explain reports of his alleged meeting with Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias, a critic of the administration, and Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

Remonde said he had been told by the President that Gonzales denied meeting Tobias. It was not clear, however, whether the national security chief had also denied meeting with Puno.

“The actions of Secretary Gonzales in so far as those so-called transition councils are concerned, are entirely his own,” Remonde told the government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

“He has no authority from the Cabinet and from the President and therefore only Secretary Gonzales can clarify those issues,” he said.

Remonde also scoffed at suggestions that Gonzales could not have acted on his own on such a sensitive matter without consulting the President.

Remonde claimed that Gonzales’ being the head of the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PDSP) might have influenced some of his initiatives as national security adviser.

“We are not alarmed. We are a bit used to such kind of initiatives coming from Secretary Gonzales. Sometimes he does things not as National Security Adviser but as head of the PDSP,” he said.

A series of bombing incidents – including deadly ones – has sparked fears that the Arroyo administration is setting the stage for the declaration of emergency rule or martial law and eventually a cancellation of the elections in 2010.

Mrs. Arroyo has been battling allegations that she is intending to prolong her stay in office through various means, including imposing martial law or amending the Constitution.

Even her last State of the Nation Address scheduled tomorrow is hounded by controversy, with opposition lawmakers expressing concern that her allies might use the occasion to transform the joint session into a constituent assembly to pave the way for Charter change and eventually a parliamentary form of government.

Repeated assurances from Speaker Prospero Nograles, House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, and presidential son Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo have failed to assuage the opposition’s fears.

Mrs. Arroyo’s former defense chief Avelino Cruz earlier told a group of lawyers that she cannot be trusted to keep her promise to step down, considering the many times that she had lied.

In her Rizal Day speech in 2002, Mrs. Arroyo promised to step down after the end of her first term in 2004 and not run for re-election, saying her running would worsen the political division in the country. She, however, reversed herself and ran in 2004.

Cruz also cited in his speech a “disturbing pattern” that points to an administration plot to cancel the elections in 2010 and keep Mrs. Arroyo in power.