He asked the government to nullify the midnight deals such as that covering the right to mine in Mt. Diwalwal in Davao Oriental and instead,develop and nationalize the country’s natural resources such as geothermal and hydro-energy. Bautista suggested having a comprehensive plan on climate change and on mitigating disasters brought about by natural calamities. Kalikasan-PNE pressed for justice for 27 environmental activists killed under the Arroyo regime.

The National Federation of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines, meanwhile, asked Aquino to put a stop to the plunder of their ancestral lands, which has been causing the displacement of indigenous peoples. The group also asked Aquino to stop the constructions of mega-dams like Laiban dam and nullify the commercialization of ancestral lands.

Prosecute Arroyo

To promote justice, truth and accountability, the groups said it would help if Arroyo was prosecuted. Sr. Mary John Mananzan, co-chair of Pagbabago! (Change), said that the nine years of Arroyo’s presidency had been marked by massive corruption and plunder, and rampant human rights violations leading to social injustice.

She said Arroyo has been involved in at least 10 huge graft-and-corruption cases amounting to hundreds of billions of pesos. “She used the people’s money for self-indulgence, she bought off legislators to kill the impeachment complaints against her, and cheated in the elections. To cover up her crimes, she declared a state of emergency and barred government officials from testifying in Congress. She invoked the so-called executive privilege and used the military, the police and the paramilitary against unarmed civilians, resulting in widespread human rights violations.”

For these reasons, the progressive groups said Aquino must ensure that Arroyo would be prosecuted for:

– Corruption scandals during the Arroyo administration involving herself, her family, and her political allies. “She should be held accountable for her role in the NBN-ZTE deal, the fertilizer fund scam etc.”

– Electoral fraud in the 2004 elections. “Hold her accountable under the principle of command responsibility for corruption cases involving top-ranking military and police officials.”

– Conduct an independent audit of the May 10 elections, take the COMELEC officials to task, as well as Smartmatic and other members of the Arroyo government for violations of the automated electoral system law.

– Gross human rights violations during the Arroyo administration.

According to Terry Ridon, national president of the League of Filipino Student, they will give these concrete people’s demand to the Aquino administration. On July 26, he said the people would mobilize to show that they are serious about their agenda and that the people are longing for meaningful change. He warned that the people would launch mass actions if Aquino ignored these demands. (Bulatlat.com)

 Save as PDF