Politics Heating Up in The Philippines

There is a real possiblity that the president of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo, could be impeached. An audio recording has been circulating, allegedly of a phone conversation of Mrs. Arroyo and the election commissioner, and it suggests a conspiracy to commit electoral fraud. In addition charges of corruption and illegal gambling ("jueteng") bribes are being leveled against Mrs. Arroyo's immediate family. Roy Chocco has a nice rundown on the situation on his blog:

Random Thoughts: Count the ERs: "For the past several weeks, the Philippine Congress has been conducting hearings to determine whether the 'Hello Garci' aka 'Gloriagate' recordings are authentic. Yesterday, the Congress issued an arrest warrant for former COMELEC Commissioner Garcilliano after he 'ignored it's summons to appear' (quoted fromt the PDI).

Meanwhile, the Senate for the past several months has been conducting hearings on jueteng (in aid of legislation). In the Senate hearings allegations that Mike Arroyo, the husband of the President, Mikey Arroyo, the son of the President and Iggy Arroyo, the brother-in-law of the President are involved in this illegal endeavor. Yesterday, they had as witness/resource person, Michaelangelo Zuce who testified that the President knew that jueteng money was used to bribe Philippine election officials so the would have helped he in her campaign. In addition, he also testified that 'all the conversations (in the 'Hello Garci' tapes) really took place because Commissioner Garcilliano told me about them'"

Mrs. Arroyo has been a staunch ally of the US in the GWoT, and she is playing this up in her struggle to hold onto power.

Read the rest.

This page is from the original Don't Let Me Stop You blog. We have moved to a new site: Visit DLMSY on WordPress.

Return to main page of Don't Let Me Stop You