Workers picket Senate
as impeachment court reconvenes
[PRESS RELEASE, March 12, 2012] Some 50 workers from the militant Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) held a picket at around noon today in front of the Senate building to press for their "DISCLOSE ALL" demand.
BMP spokesperson Romy Castillo said, "We want the full disclosure of all evidences and testimonies – including those disregarded by the prosecution panel. We demand the revelation of dollar accounts, the perks received from Lucio Tan (Philippine Airlines platinum card), and the internal arrangements in government decisions – involving not just CJ Corona but of all high officials in the land”.
Castillo added, “There are those who say that a full disclosure by all government officials is irrelevant to the impeachment case. We dare say that these data are relevant if there is a grain of truth to president Aquino’s statement that the motive of the impeachment process is judicial reforms in accordance to with the regime’s mandate against corruption”.
In particular, the BMP declares that the people expects the “truth to come out regarding corruption and other abuses by government officials”.
But instead, Castillo averred, that the impeachment court – including the prosecution – “did not follow the people’s will because they averted the following: (a) the disclosure of Corona’s bank accounts on the pretext that they are waiting for an interpretation of the Foreign Currency Deposits Act by the high court, (b) the testimony of a PAL executive regarding the perks received by the chief justice, and (c) the internal arrangements on the Court on its decision regarding the TRO of Sec. de Lima’s hold departure order”. Thus, he concluded, “Workers could not help but assume that they are all covering up for themselves because government officials – not just Corona – run on the same modus operandi. The decisive act to dispel our doubts is for all state officials to disclose all public records, if they would not do so, the impeachment process is nothing but an obvious by-product of elite infighting between the Aquino and Arroyo camps". #
