Governors call for an end to 'Arroyo resign' moves

Governors, some of whom attended a "bribe-tainted" meeting in Malacañang last Oct. 11, on Tuesday placed full-page ads in newspapers calling for an end to calls for the resignation of President Arroyo. The League of Provinces of the Philippines, in its full-page advertisements, also called on people to focus instead on the country's economic growth. The ads were signed by 30 out of 81 governors throughout the country. "It is regrettable that the level of distrust and cynicism in our society has plunged to such depths that these fictitious reports have taken a life of their own as gospel truth – and have unjustly smudged us and Palace executives as the collective personal of transactional politics that opposition and certain civil society leaders claim to plague government," it said. Also, it said certain quarters are "capitalizing" on a "trumped-up incident at Malacañang last October 11," referring to the meeting where some governors got cash gifts of up to P500,000. Neophyte governors Ed Panlilio (Pampanga) and Joselito Mendoza (Bulacan) had already come forward to confirm getting the cash gifts from Palace functionaries. But the league said some sectors had used the "trumped-up incident" to "resurrect their ludicrous call for President Arroyo to step aside halfway through her constitutional term of office." It said such a "recycled" call for a national leadership change "is certainly an absurd one at this point given that no such incident of alleged impropriety had taken place at the palace to warrant the president's resignation." "President Arroyo's resignation is something our nation needs like a hole in the head," it added. The league reiterated its members did not receive as a whole cash gifts, "let alone get any instruction from anybody to oppose a third attempt in the House of Representatives to impeach President Arroyo." "We are hoping this declaration will finally put this non-issue to rest and allow not only us elective officials but all other sectors as well to get back to the urgent business at hand, which is to work together with President Arroyo in sustaining and accelerating the growth of our economy," it said. - GMANews.TV