NEIL A. ALCOBER REPORTER
7 MISTAKES
Members of the Save Our Nation: Aquino Resign movement hold placards showing the seven mistakes allegedly committed by President Benigno Aquino 3rd in connection with the killing of 44 policemen in Maguindanao. The group called on Aquino to resign. PHOTO BY MIKE DE JUAN
A NEWLY formed coalition is calling for the immediate resignation of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to give way to a transitory government that will be led by religious leaders.
The Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM) and the Movement Against Dynasty (MAD) formally signed a coalition agreement at the Astoria Hotel in Pasig City (Metro Manila) on Thursday in an effort to dismantle the political dynasties in the country and to install new leaders from the labor sector.
Lawyer-activist Jose Malvar Villegas, grandson of Filipino patriot Gen. Miguel Malvar, told The Manila Times that the coalition is proposing the creation of a caretaker government composed of religious leaders.
“This coalition aims to install a labor government in 2016 in the same manner that almost all the countries in Europe are labor governments. But before we can do that, we have to get a caretaker government after the President [Aquino] is persuaded to resign. We propose that the caretaker government will be composed of religious leaders chaired by Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal with Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao City and Archbishop Ramon Arguelles [representing Luzon],” Villegas said.
“With the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines at the helm, Muslim leaders and other religious leaders would guide us into honest and transparent elections so that we can have a new set of officials with integrity, who are incorruptible, and with tested morality,” he added.
The lawyer-activist said the caretaker government will assume the functions of the executive department.
He, however, clarified that the caretaker government will not interfere with the legislative and judicial branches of government.
Villegas said the coalition will join other groups in commemorating EDSA People Power on February 22 to press for the resignation of Aquino.
“We in the coalition believe that it is not a matter of just stepping down [for the President] because we are not in favor of the next-in-line successors like Vice President [Jejomar] Binay, Sen. [Franklin] Drilon. These people are also suspect, and we do not favor automatic succession that gives the people no voice in their choice of a leader. So we will get a non-partisan group like [that of] religious leaders,” he added.