Roxas vows to fight Cha-Cha
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/17/2008 2:52 PM
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Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on Friday vowed to lead the campaign to stop what he said were Malacañang’s moves to revive Charter change (Cha-Cha) as an attempt to extend President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s stay in power.
"I am ready to lead the fight against this new conspiracy to foment Cha-Cha," he said.
In a statement, he warned the Arroyo administration that the successful battle against the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) was not the end of the fight against its wanton abuse of the law.
"We have to remain vigilant. Even now, we hear of attempts to change our Constitution. We should be ready to fight any attempts at term extensions," he said.
Roxas mentioned that there appears to be a continuing attempt to force Charter change on the public as the end of President Arroyo's term nears despite the failed people’s initiative the administration has pushed two years ago.
"The reality is that the Cha-Cha tunes did not stop even after the Supreme Court junked the people's initiative," he said.
'Make amends in abuses with MOA-AD instead'
Roxas said that instead of insisting on Cha-Cha, the Arroyo administration should make amends to correct errors and abuses it committed in pushing for the dead MOA-AD.
He added that the Arroyo administration should start creating a reformed peace panel composed of more credible people trusted by Mindanaoans in order to come up with a genuine peace agreement in close consultation with all constituencies.
Roxas mentioned that since the Supreme Court (SC) has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the signing of the MOA-AD, government costs for relief assistance to evacuees of Northern and Central Mindanao have already reached more than P160M.
He cited figures from the National Disaster Coordinating Council which indicated that 368 barangays, 77 municipalities, 5 cities, and 9 provinces in Northern and Central Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have been affected by raids of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and counter-attacks by the military in mid-August of 2008.
The continuing battles were said to have led to a total of 102 civilians and combatants killed, and 121 others injured as of October 11.
