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Lawyer condemns Gonzales' plan to effect 'transitional junta'


Lawyer Harry Roque of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) condemned on Wednesday a ‘planned’ transitional junta from the secretary of defense in case of a failure or postponement of the May 10 polls — something he also blamed on the Commission on Elections (Comelec). “Intensyon ng Comelec na pumalpak, kaya nila pinili itong automated election system (AES) na binigay sa kanila ng Smartmatic.. dahil gusto nila ng Gloria forever," Roque said. (It was Comelec’s intention for poll automation to fail. This is why the automated election system from Smartmatic was chosen because they want Gloria to stay on forever.) Roque announced the CCM would be filing a petition before the Supreme Court to revert to manual voting instead on May 10. “Hinain namin itong petisyon na ito dahil sa scenario ni Norberto Gonzales noong siya ay [nasa] National Security Council pa lamang. E ngayong siya ay [nasa] Department of National Defense, bakit ako magdududa sa kanyang determination na ipatupad itong transition junta niya? Hindi isolated itong nangyaring ito. Ang scenario po talaga, No-El, at iyan ang gagawin ni Norberto Gonzales at ng kanyang mga kakampi," Roque said. (We plan to file this petition because of the scenario given by Gonzales when he was still with the National Security Council. But now that he’s at the Department of Defense, why will I doubt his determination to effect his plan for a transition junta? This is not an isolated case. The real scenario is a no election scenario and this will be implemented by Norberto Gonzales and his allies.) However, Armed Forces Chief Delfin Bangit assured on Tuesday that no military takeover would happen in case of a failure of elections. [see: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190079/afp-chief-meets-bishops-allays-fears-of-military-takeover] On the same day, President Arroyo’s lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the Comelec could still postpone the polls if glitches in the PCOS machine testing would not be remedied in time. Macalintal said that postponement would avert a failure of elections scenario. [see: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/190070/postponing-elections-the-only-remedy-arroyo-lawyer-says] Revert to manual Roque stressed that the polls must push through, but not under the system that he alleged was planned to fail in the first place. “[We want to] revert to manual voting, counting, and canvassing of results. At least we are used to this system and no voters’ education would be required," Roque said. “Hindi kami pumapayag sa kahit anong postponement [ng eleksyon]. Ito ay kasama sa plano ng mga nagnanasa na magdeklara ng military junta at nangunguna na dito si Norberto Gonzales, at hindi niya ito sinisikreto," Roque said, adding that a military junta scenario was what pushed the CCM to file a petition against the automated polls last year. (We do not agree with any proposal to postpone the elections. This forms part of plans of those who seek to put up a military junta and Norberto Gonzales, who is spearheading this move, has not made a secret of it.) In June last year, Roque filed a petition before the Supreme Court on behalf of CCM asking it to nullify the P7.2-billion poll automation project. “Iyong mga forms na gagamitin para sa isang manual voting, counting, and canvassing, [maaaring] gawin pa rin sa [loob] ng dalawang araw siguro..kung gugustuhin, kakayanin. Kung nakinig sila noong isang taon pa, at naglagay ng mga safeguards, ay wala tayong problema ngayon. Kung [pinakinggan] nila ang aming hiling na mag-partial na muna, wala tayong ganitong dilemma," he added. (Had Comelec listened to us when we asked them to undertake partial automation, the country wouldn’t have this kind of dilemma.) Roque also said the group would file anti-graft and plunder charges against all officials of Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM for entering into a contract that is “disadvantageous to the government." He also said it would file a special petition before the Commission on Immigration and Deportation to issue a Hold Departure Order against all officials of Smartmatic and Comelec. Appoint new Senate President The CCM also called on the Senate to appoint a Senate President to serve as acting chief executive after June 30. “Nananawagan po kami sa ating mga Senador, kailangan po silang maghalal ng isang senate president na mayroong mandato beyond June 30, 2010.. Buo ang loob ko na hindi papayag ang Korte Suprema na mabuwag ito ng isang transition junta," Roque said. (We are appealing to our senators to elect a new Senate President who would have a mandate beyond June 30, 2010.) Roque said the CCM would file all petitions within the day. Asked how possible a ‘Gloria-forever scenario’ is today on a scale of one to 10, Roque said immediately it was a nine. "Naniniwala ako na kapag hindi matuloy ang eleksyon sa May 10, hindi magagalit ang taong bayan. Magwawala sila. Ang pakiusap na lang namin, mag-sama-sama na lang po tayo sa lansangan. Pakiusap po namin sa mga senador, bigyan niyo po kami ng acting president hanggang magkaroon ng eleksyon muli at sama-sama tayong manindigan laban sa transition junta ni Gloria at Norberto Gonzales." (If elections fail to push through on May 10, I believe that the people will not get angry. They will go postal. What we are asking for is that we should all go out in the streets.) - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV

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