Black & White Movement Focuses on Critical Few needed to pass new impeach rap vs PGMA
Mike Banos
July 09, 2006
Fifty one down, twenty seven to go.
The Black and White Movement is focusing on getting the twenty seven more signatures they need to secure from congressmen to enable the House Committee on Justice to begin hearings on the new impeachment complaint against the President.
In an anti-Cha Cha rally held July 5 at Cagayan de Oro's Kagawasan Kiosk, former social welfare secretary Corazon "Dingky" Soliman said the B & W Movement is confident they can secure the needed signatures by the third week of this month which would require Justice Committee Chair Simeon Datumanong to begin hearings on the revised complaint.
"We are mustering our support in the home provinces and cities of congressmen who have not yet made up their minds about the latest impeachment complaint," Soliman told media covering the rally. "We will ask our supporters and more specifically their organizations to pressure their congressmen into signing the latest impeachment complaint, so they will be stepping up their visits and communications to their resident representatives in the next two weeks, preferably in time for GMA's State of the Nation Address on July 24."
She said the chances of securing the critical few signatures needed has vastly improved recently when the influential Catholics Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) threw its hat in the ring to oppose the administration's charter change initiative.
Some one hundred members of the Black and White Movement joined Soliman and B&W movement convenor Leah Navarro at the rally which aimed to clarify the nature of the new impeachment complaint to the people and rail against Malacanang's alleged machinations in making the so-called People's Initiative appear to be coming from the grassroots.
The group also used the occasion to present their latest protest song against charter change entitled "Ayaw ko ng Gloria Cha-Cha-Cha" which was recorded by Navarro who got the rallyists dancing and swaying to the tune.
The rally was originally scheduled to start at 1:00PM as stipulated in the permit issued by the Office of the Mayor but the person in-charge identified only as one Malou had the organizers scurrying to the City Engineer's Office at Kauswagan and back to fetch the person in charge so they lost two hours after power was restored to the Kiosk only around 3PM.
Besides the B&W Movement, other groups identified to have joined the rally included the Foundation for Good Governance, Jesus Is Lord Movement, Pilipina, Abanse! Pinay, Karapatan, Enraged, Task Force Macajalar, and the Promotion of Church People's Response, an affiliate organization of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). Barangay delegations from Bugo, Gusa, Lapasan, Macabalan, Puntod and Calaanan, Canitoan were also present.
Lawyer Beverly Musni, chair of the Misamis Oriental chapter of the Karapatan - Northern Mindanao, was also present and said Bayan Muna party-list representative Joel Virador would be visiting Cagayan de Oro Thursday for a follow-up forum dubbed "People's March Against Gloria's Cha-cha."
A nationwide protest caravan is also being put together by various opposition groups and has scheduled its latest stop in Davao City Friday with former representative Noynoy Aquino as the speaker.
"By then, I hope she (President Arroyo) will resign, otherwise all forces against her will double their efforts to have her impeached," Musni said.
Fr. Antonio Ablon, chairman of PCPR-Misamis Oriental, also slammed Malacanyang for again bringing up the separation of church and state when mentioning the CBCP's participation in protest actions opposing charter change and supporting the latest impeachment raps against the President.
"This is no longer a political or religious issue, but a moral issue," Ablon told participants in the vernacular. "And the church will always make a stand in matters it perceives are eroding the morality of the people, especially of its leaders at the highest level."
"Besides, not one priest or bishop has or claimed to have signed anything in behalf of the state, so I wonder what separation of church and state (Presidential Spokesman) Toting Bunye is complaining about," he added.
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The Black and White Movement is focusing on getting the twenty seven more signatures they need to secure from congressmen to enable the House Committee on Justice to begin hearings on the new impeachment complaint against the President.
In an anti-Cha Cha rally held July 5 at Cagayan de Oro's Kagawasan Kiosk, former social welfare secretary Corazon "Dingky" Soliman said the B & W Movement is confident they can secure the needed signatures by the third week of this month which would require Justice Committee Chair Simeon Datumanong to begin hearings on the revised complaint.
"We are mustering our support in the home provinces and cities of congressmen who have not yet made up their minds about the latest impeachment complaint," Soliman told media covering the rally. "We will ask our supporters and more specifically their organizations to pressure their congressmen into signing the latest impeachment complaint, so they will be stepping up their visits and communications to their resident representatives in the next two weeks, preferably in time for GMA's State of the Nation Address on July 24."
She said the chances of securing the critical few signatures needed has vastly improved recently when the influential Catholics Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) threw its hat in the ring to oppose the administration's charter change initiative.
Some one hundred members of the Black and White Movement joined Soliman and B&W movement convenor Leah Navarro at the rally which aimed to clarify the nature of the new impeachment complaint to the people and rail against Malacanang's alleged machinations in making the so-called People's Initiative appear to be coming from the grassroots.
The group also used the occasion to present their latest protest song against charter change entitled "Ayaw ko ng Gloria Cha-Cha-Cha" which was recorded by Navarro who got the rallyists dancing and swaying to the tune.
The rally was originally scheduled to start at 1:00PM as stipulated in the permit issued by the Office of the Mayor but the person in-charge identified only as one Malou had the organizers scurrying to the City Engineer's Office at Kauswagan and back to fetch the person in charge so they lost two hours after power was restored to the Kiosk only around 3PM.
Besides the B&W Movement, other groups identified to have joined the rally included the Foundation for Good Governance, Jesus Is Lord Movement, Pilipina, Abanse! Pinay, Karapatan, Enraged, Task Force Macajalar, and the Promotion of Church People's Response, an affiliate organization of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). Barangay delegations from Bugo, Gusa, Lapasan, Macabalan, Puntod and Calaanan, Canitoan were also present.
Lawyer Beverly Musni, chair of the Misamis Oriental chapter of the Karapatan - Northern Mindanao, was also present and said Bayan Muna party-list representative Joel Virador would be visiting Cagayan de Oro Thursday for a follow-up forum dubbed "People's March Against Gloria's Cha-cha."
A nationwide protest caravan is also being put together by various opposition groups and has scheduled its latest stop in Davao City Friday with former representative Noynoy Aquino as the speaker.
"By then, I hope she (President Arroyo) will resign, otherwise all forces against her will double their efforts to have her impeached," Musni said.
Fr. Antonio Ablon, chairman of PCPR-Misamis Oriental, also slammed Malacanyang for again bringing up the separation of church and state when mentioning the CBCP's participation in protest actions opposing charter change and supporting the latest impeachment raps against the President.
"This is no longer a political or religious issue, but a moral issue," Ablon told participants in the vernacular. "And the church will always make a stand in matters it perceives are eroding the morality of the people, especially of its leaders at the highest level."
"Besides, not one priest or bishop has or claimed to have signed anything in behalf of the state, so I wonder what separation of church and state (Presidential Spokesman) Toting Bunye is complaining about," he added.
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