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Gonzales’ appointment revives ‘no-el’ fears


President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's decision to pick national security adviser Norberto Gonzales Jr. as the new Defense secretary has revived suspicions that her government is plotting to remain in power via a failure-of-elections scenario. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Sunday said Gonzales’ appointment is “strategic" as the administration’s candidate is not doing well in recent presidential surveys. “His strategic placement is specifically designed to ensure the perpetuation in power of the ruling regime in the likelihood of its failure to convincingly bag the 2010 elections," the CPP said in a statement on its Web site. It noted that the administration's standard-bearer, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who will relinquish his Defense post to Gonzales Monday, remains at the bottom of surveys along with other administration bets. Such a wide difference between the opposition and administration candidates will be hard to remedy even with massive cheating in the elections, the CPP said. “Thus, the lame duck regime is now more determinedly putting in place a ‘failure of elections and transition government scenario’ which the new defense secretary has long been blatantly pushing," it added. Earlier this year, Gonzales proposed a council-led transition government where a council headed by the chief justice would run the government and oversee the drafting of a new Constitution before the May 2010 elections. The CPP noted that Malacañang, which merely distanced itself from Gonzales’ proposal, never tried to totally discount such a scenario. Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar meanwhile defended Gonzales, saying he has the “appropriate background" on security matters to take over the defense portfolio because of his current position as national security adviser. Olivar said Gonzales was designated officer-in-charge of the defense department in 2007 before Teodoro was appointed to head it. He said the military is looking forward to working with Gonzales again. - GMANews.TV

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