Test of credibility. Members of the Kabataan Pinoy mount a picket in front of the Comelec office in Intramuros.
***
Melo urged to put
closure to ‘Garci’
‘Test of credibility, independence’
BY GERARD NAVAL
ARCHBISHOP Antonio Ledesma and Makati
Mayor Jejomar Binay yesterday asked newly named
elections chairman Jose Melo to look into the "Hello
Garci" controversy that accuses President Arroyo’s camp
of cheating in the 2004 presidential elections.
Ledesma, former vice president of the
Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, and
Binay, president of the United Opposition, said putting
a closure to the scandal would help restore the
credibility of the Commission on Elections.
"(The challenge to Melo) is to follow
up on those unresolved issues that have implicated
Comelec in the past like the `Hello Garci’ tape. I think
these are all issues that are of part of the
responsibility of Comelec and hopefully the leadership
will try to look into a closure of all these issues,"
said Ledesma, archbishop of Cagayan de Oro.
Chiz warns of social cost
of Esperon’s battle plan
SEN. Francis Escudero yesterday warned
of the social costs of AFP chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon’s
campaign to wipe out 17 of 87 communist fronts in the
first quarter.
"When war drums roll, those who’ll take
care of the civilians be better ready," Escudero said.
Escudero said Malacañang should place
"public health and social services on red alert" following
Esperon’s statement.
THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines yesterday condemned what it said was the apparent
acceptance of corruption in Philippine governance.
In a pastoral statement issued after its
plenary, the CBCP said it is lamentable that the "subordination
of common good to private good" has become blatantly exhibited
in today’s society.
"We have to confess that corruption is in
truth our greatest shame as a people. But if it goes unhindered,
it is because, as we have had occasion to point out in the past,
we all too often condone it as part of the prerequisites of
power and public office," the four-page statement said.
