PRESS STATEMENT
Contact Person: Rowel Candelaria (0917-5462612)
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Civil society group clamors for impeachment of Abalos
The Coalition for a Citizens’ Constitution (C4CC) wants the impeachment of Commission on Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. to proceed even with his announced resignation yesterday as COMELEC head.
“Abalos said he resigned as chairman but not as commissioner. If that is true, then the impeachment must continue so that the truth will come out,” said C4CC convenor Joel Rocamora.
He said that the recent ZTE corruption scandal in which Abalos was accused of allegedly brokering the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) is a cause of anxiety for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her allies.
“The allies of Arroyo are worried that the controversy will penetrate the office of the President,” Rocamora said. “If this happens, the impeachment try against her might also return,” he added.
Gerry Bulatao, LGC-Network executive director, also supported the view that the impeachment effort against Abalos must go on. He said that it is likely that the ouster of Abalos might put President Arroyo next in the impeachment line.
“He [Abalos] must be charged with plunder and perjury,” he said. “I hope we do not forget about Mega-Pacific,” Bulatao said in reference to the anomalous purchase of the digital equipment required to computerize the electoral process.
For his part, Institute of Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER) executive director Ramon Casiple welcomed the resignation of Abalos, saying that this has curbed to some degree the damage to the COMELEC’s image. “The controversies are dragging the COMELEC as an institution,” he said.
The LGC-Network and IPER are member organizations of the C4CC.
“Constitutional reforms will never come into full circle if the public’s confidence on electoral system is low,” said Rowel Candelaria, another C4CC convenor. “It is this system that ensures the integrity of the election of the public servants tasked to fulfill the mandates of the Constitution,” he said.
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