Loyalists to march vs GMA, too

A group that claims to represent the “true” Marcos loyalists said yesterday it would organize street protests to force the resignation of President Arroyo.

Cherry Cobarrubias, head of the True Marcos Loyalists, said her group has decided to withdraw its support from Mrs. Arroyo and call for her immediate resignation.

“We will take to the streets for President Arroyo’s resignation. We believe that President Arroyo has lost her moral ascendancy to lead our country,” Cobarrubias said. She said her group has two million members.

She scored the Arroyo administration for not addressing the issues of corruption and other irregularities.

“Mrs. Arroyo must have her soul overhauled. I just cannot sit down and relax and watch her on television consistently telling lies to the people and give us mere hypocrisy,” Cobarrubias, former Imelda Marcos spokeswoman, said.

Cobarrubias said Mrs. Arroyo hasn’t felt contrite even after the people forgave her for allegedly manipulating the results of the 2004 presidential elections with the help of poll officials like former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

“But we were wrong because Mrs. Arroyo and the members of the first family have consistently figured in anomalous transactions such as the Jose Pidal account, the ‘Hello, Garci’ tape, the bribery-ridden NBN project awarded to the ZTE and now the alleged payoffs to congressmen and local officials inside Malacañang. The Filipino people do not deserve to have a president like Gloria,” Cobarrubias said.

She said her group could no longer stomach the “series of lies and hypocrisy” of Mrs. Arroyo.

“We were all born equal in this world with dignity. Nobody has the right to take from us that dignity. We are asking President Arroyo to resign and give us (Filipinos) back our dignity. She must resign now. Enough of lies and hypocrisy,” she said.

The Marcos loyalists were among the first to pull out their support in 2001 from then President Joseph Estrada also due to allegations of massive graft and corruption.

“When President Arroyo was catapulted to power, we were the first one to throw our support behind her. We pulled out our support from President Estrada because we could no longer stomach the graft and corruption in our country then. But we are disgusted over Arroyo’s worst record on graft and corruption,” Cobarrubias said.

Cobarrubias said the Marcos loyalists are supporting the call of administration Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan for Arroyo to resign and let incumbent Vice President Noli de Castro take over the presidency.   – With Edu Punay, Paolo Romero