Petition launched for snap polls; Palace says Arroyo, Noli won't resign

More than 1,600 individuals led by opposition senators Aquilino Pimentel and Antonio Trillanes IV, two military generals, lawyers, journalists, artists, and representatives of civil society groups have so far signed a petition calling for the immediate resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro, and the holding of a snap election. In a statement posted on www.petitiononline.com/snap08, the signatories asked President Arroyo and De Castro “to spare the country from further turmoil and violence by immediately resigning from their respective positions." On Wednesday, Malacañang rejected the call for a snap election. Radio dzBB quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as saying that Mrs Arroyo and De Castro were the duly elected president and vice-president in the 2004 elections, thus they cannot step down just because some groups criticizing their administration wanted them out of office. The petition's signatories demanded the holding of a “special presidential and vice-presidential election within 60 days from the date of the resignation" of Mrs Arroyo and De Castro. "The only peaceful, legal and constitutional option available to the Nation under the circumstances and to prevent the situation from developing into a full-scale conflict or civil strife is for (Arroyo) and...De Castro to resign from their respective positions," the statement said. They said the call was “pursuant to Section 10, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution." The said section in the Constitution states that, “The Congress shall, at ten o'clock in the morning of the third day after the vacancy in the offices of the President and Vice-President occurs, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call and within seven days, enact a law calling for a special election to elect a President and a Vice-President to be held not earlier than forty-five days nor later than sixty days from the time of such call." The petition said President Arroyo "has lost public sympathy and support in the light of her tainted electoral mandate and her responsibility for the numerous controversies hounding her administration, as consistently shown by survey after survey conducted by reputable polling entities." The signatories said Mrs Arroyo "has completely lost her moral authority to govern this country," because of "numerous unresolved scandals involving the present administration," such as the “Hello, Garci" election controversy, the 329.48-million National Broadband Network with ZTE Corp. , the North Rail Project, the Diosdado Macapagal Highway scandals, the Joc-joc Bolante Fertilizer scam, Jose Pidal caper, hundreds of unresolved extra-judicial killings and the latest bribery incident at the Palace. Also, they said the October 19 Glorietta 2 bombing incident "appears to be a signal for the more violent phase in the regime of (Arroyo)," while the "sham impeachment case filed by personalities connected with Malacañang effectively sabotages and ridicules the impeachment process." Meanwhile, the petition said De Castro "is a beneficiary of the cheating perpetrated during the May 2004 Elections." It said the Vice President "is also considered to be a silent partner in crime of (the President) not only because of his close personal association and unflinching support for (Arroyo), but also because of his failure to stand-up against and denounce the abuses and excesses of the Arroyo regime." - GMANews.TV