After Corona: GMA Accountability Must be Pursued

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance welcomes the Senate decision convicting Chief Justice Renato Corona for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal public trust. This is a victory for the Filipino people who have consistently asserted for good governance and genuine change. This is just the beginning of a longer battle for such, as it does not end with Corona’s conviction.  Certainly, there are, other if not more, officials in government guilty of plunder, corruption and human rights violations who must be investigated and made accountable. Foremost in this list is Gloria Arroyo, whom Corona colluded with in his power as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, for the former to evade accountability.  

Corona’s conviction does not let Gloria Arroyo off the hook. In fact, his conviction should lead to making Arroyo accountable on the matter of plunder and gross violation of human rights. This remains a challenge to President Aquino, who has not done anything in concrete to prosecute Arroyo.  There is no excuse for this, as justice delayed is justice denied to the people.  Arroyo must be made accountable, and Aquino must equally step up to his pronouncements of better governance.

Come July, we will all anticipate PNOy’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), and we would like to hear of clear and decisive measures including  actions made in the interest of the people. We would like to hear of decisive steps undertaken in the interest of marginalized sectors of  Philippine society, of which indigenous peoples are included. But only this April, indigenous leader Jimmy Liguyon of Bukidnon was killed in his own home.  A quick glance at pressing issues in our Cordillera homeland tells us  development aggression persists in our ancestral domains.  Large mines are hell-bent on plundering our remaining resources, such as in Mankayan where Lepanto and Goldfields insist on their operations inspite of the people’s rejection of it;  large dams and  energy projects are also taking their toll, such as the geothermal project of transnational company Chevron in Kalinga, among others, and  militarization remains in tandem  with all these.

We are therefore tasked to persist in our struggle for genuine change, and continue to challenge Pnoy and his administration to seriously address people’s issues. ***