If you run, quit, UP prof dares GMA

MANILA, Philippines – Resign if you’re running for public office.

To level the playing field, President Macapagal-Arroyo should resign from the presidency and hand over power once she files her certificate of candidacy (CoC) to run for a seat in Congress, University of the Philippines Professor Randy David said Friday.

If Ms Arroyo opts to stay in Malacañang after filing her CoC, David said he would rather forgo his planned run, and mount a national crusade to expose Ms Arroyo’s “scheme’’ at self-perpetuation and campaign against local and national candidates allied with her.

“She has to be prepared, out of a sense of propriety and decency, to give up power and allow the vice president to be acting president after she files her certificate of candidacy,’’ he told the Inquirer by phone.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 8678 issued this week, Ms Arroyo can participate in next year’s congressional election in her hometown in Pampanga without first having to resign the presidency.

David, a professor at the UP College of Social Science and Philosophy, had declared he would challenge Ms Arroyo if she seeks a congressional seat in Pampanga’s second district to keep her grip on power.

Ms Arroyo has been making nearly weekly visits to her hometown of Lubao and other parts of the second district, fueling speculations she was barnstorming for her candidacy.

On Friday afternoon, she motored to Guagua for a climate change briefing, the so-called Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Day of the Common Tao and the inspection of the barangay road improvement projects, shrugging off the speculations.

“That’s speculative,’’ Press Secretary Cerge Remonde curtly said when asked about the challenge posed by David.

Ms Arroyo’s ally, Prospero Pichay of the Local Water Utilities Administration argued that the President has the mandate to serve until June 30, 2010.

David said that if ever he decides to file his CoC, he would quit from his work in UP and give up his column at the Inquirer.

Undue advantage

“I expect her to step down from the presidency, and give up her powers and control over resources that she has been using in the last five months to control the political field in Pampanga,’’ he said.

Unless she does that, Ms Arroyo will have an undue advantage over David, who said that once he files his CoC, he’s prohibited from campaigning and is virtually “gagged’’ until the campaign period starts in late March.

A militant group yesterday said it wasn’t true that Pampanga folk were clamoring for President Arroyo to run for Congress, as claimed by Malacañang spokespersons.

“That’s a bit of a stretch. It’s as if the Palace spokesmen are from another planet... People would rather clamor for another typhoon than clamor for Mrs. Arroyo to run for office again,” said Renato M. Reyes Jr., secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).

Bayan said this was probably “a crude way of conditioning people to accept” Ms Arroyo’s reported bid to stay in public office.

“It [also] shows that Mrs. Arroyo is going to do everything to buy herself some immunity or protection from suit once she is no longer President,” Reyes said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer