News Round Up
(August 27-Sept 3 )

Tribal elders, leaders call for GMA ouster

BAGUIO CITY — The Metro Baguio Tribal Elders-Leaders Assembly on its 3rd assembly called for the ouster of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) due to worsened national oppression and development aggression under her regime. Over 56 individuals belonging to 15 tribes in the Cordillera sealed this declaration in a resolution dated August 14.

The MBTELA addresses organizing and education work among tribal elders and leaders in Baguio City.

In the resolution, the Assembly said that GMA’s subservience to foreign capitalists had plunged the Filipino people into deeper crisis, especially with the passage of anti-people, anti-IP policies such as the Mining Act of 1995 and the National Minerals Policy. Such policies, according to the MBTELA, only provided leeway for the plunder and destruction of indigenous peoples’ ancestral land and resources.

Arroyo is charged of electoral fraud including graft and corruption in her administration and members of her family.

The Assembly asserted that GMA has lost the Filipino people’s trust and no longer has the credibility to govern the country.

Due to this, the MBTELA said the president must immediately resign to give way to the setting up of a transition council to prepare for elections that will truly uphold the people’s will. ***