Rx for political crisis: No frequent changes in leadership

The Philippines’ largest association of doctors issued yesterday their prescription to the most serious political crisis to hurt the country in recent years: No to frequent and unlawful changes in leadership.

In a manifesto, the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said it was "deeply concerned with the political crisis gripping our nation."

"The cure for the national body politic: adherence to the rule of law, respect for the Constitution and the repudiation of violence and frequent and unlawful changes to the nation’s leadership," it said.

PMA president Dr. Modesto Llamas said their organization reached a position after weeks of consultation with its 28,000 members.

The PMA stressed their position on the crisis was "non-partisan and in complete fidelity with the doctor’s responsibility to society."

"Violence must not be resorted to as this will only cause untold misery on our already suffering people and may lead to economic collapse of our nation," it said.

The PMA warned that frequent changes in government "through procedures and processes outside of the bounds of the Constitution leads to political instability, drives and scares away foreign and domestic investors and downgrades our nation’s credit rating."

"The PMA calls on all Filipinos of whatever political persuasion, ideology or gender to always respect the rule of law and the Constitution."

The current political crisis was sparked by the opposition’s release last month of audio tapes in which a woman who sounds like Mrs. Arroyo speaks with a presumed election official in an apparent bid to influence the 2004 vote count.

Mrs. Arroyo has apologized to the nation for improperly calling an election official during the tallying of the votes but insists she did not try to fix the vote.

Mrs. Arroyo refuses to resign but is willing to face an impeachment challenge. Mrs. Arroyo has shrugged off protests so far.

One protest turned violent Friday when about 300 militant, left-wing farmers stormed the Department of Agriculture and ransacked offices before being evicted and detained by police.

Opposition lawmakers plan to endorse an impeachment complaint filed in the House of Representatives last month by lawyer Oliver Lozano on the day Mrs. Arroyo admitted making a "lapse in judgment" in phoning the election official.

They had previously shunned this route for fear that Mrs. Arroyo’s allies, who are in the majority, would block it.

The opposition had earlier hoped other forms of pressure such as street protests would persuade Mrs. Arroyo to quit.

At least one-third of the House must vote in favor in order for the case against Mrs. Arroyo to go to the Senate for trial.