KIKO CONDEMNS WEAK INSTITUTIONS FOR CONDONING MALACAÑANG

Following today's impeachment hearing by the Justice Committee at the House of Representatives against President Gloria Arroyo, Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan condemned the dismal state of public service in the country and called for genuine reform in government.

"The tragedy today isn't so much that we have an incumbent president that has committed impeachable offenses but that we have public institutions like the House of Representatives and the Ombudsman that have become so weak, so undermined as to condone, to tolerate, and to protect wrong doing and grave abuses done at the highest echelons of government," Kiko lamented.

Former House Speaker and administration ally Jose de Venecia admitted receiving P500,000 "bribe" money from Malacañang in 2007 to support the "sham" impeachment case against the president. Besides the bribery issue, other allegations to be tackled are human rights violations, the Mt. Diwalwal operation, civil liberties, the P728 M Fertilizer Scam, the North Rail project and electoral fraud in 2004.

"Sadly, if they failed to het the numbers in 2005 despite the widespread public outrage over the Hello Garci controversy, I do not see how they can get the numbers today. The revelations of De Venecia simply confirm what the public has come to realize since 2005 after the Hello Garci controversy which is that it will do anything legal or otherwise in order to survive politically," Kiko added.

"The political cancer called 'politics as usual' and failed political leadership continue to plague the nation. Only an alternative to 'politics as usual' characterized by courage, conviction and boldness will bring an end to the scourge of trapo politics," Kiko ended.