Opposition forms caretaker gov’t

Opposition groups said yesterday they will soon form a caretaker government amid calls for President Arroyo to resign over alleged election fraud.

Mrs. Arroyo — battling her worst political crisis since assuming office in 2001 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was swept from power by massive public protests — has denied manipulating last year’s ballot and has repeatedly rejected calls to step down.

She said she is ready to face impeachment proceedings when Congress convenes next week. She has also announced the formation of a "truth commission" to separately probe the charges.

Horacio Morales, a former agrarian reform secretary under Estrada and one of the conveners of the proposed interim government, said it is "the best alternative to the current situation."

The initiative was one of several floated by opposition blocs seeking to oust Mrs. Arroyo.

The so-called caretaker council will operate for "not more than 1,000 days" during which it would pave the way for regular elections, Morales said.

The activists also rejected the possibility of constitutional succession by Vice President Noli de Castro.

"A simple succession will mean the continuation of the same current administration, minus GMA," said Patricia Sison, another advocate of the caretaker council, referring to Mrs. Arroyo by her initials.

The group said the caretaker government would include representatives from groups who actively participate in efforts to oust Mrs. Arroyo.

Former solicitor general Frank Chavez said the formation of a transitional government would not violate the Constitution.

"When the people revolt and demand a change in government, their action cannot be deemed unconstitutional," he said. "Their act of dislodging their leaders in government is not a violation of the Constitution, but it is in fact a decisive act of upholding the... Constitution which has been defiled, debased and desecrated by their leaders."

Numerous opposition parties and groups nationwide have demanded Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation, many of them supporters of Estrada and his actor friend, the late Fernando Poe Jr., Mrs. Arroyo’s main challenger in the May 2004 election, who died of a stroke in December.

But the largest opposition rally so far, which drew about 40,000 people in Makati City last week, was only a fraction of the massive people power revolts that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001.

It even fell short of the pro-Arroyo crowd of 125,000 that met in Manila’s Rizal Park last weekend.

Morales said opposition groups would welcome support from the military, but would not allow a military junta.

"As far as we are concerned, this is an option that will give us breathing time, breathing space to somehow ensure a better political culture," he said. — AP, Perseus Echeminada