FOR TRUTH, GMA RESIGNATION

SOME 5,000 members of multi-sectoral groups marched on the streets of Dagupan Friday afternoon before holding protest action at the Dagupan City Plaza to demand for the truth about the scandal-ridden NBN-ZTE deal and ask for President Arroyo’s resignation.

Organized by Agco la–Pangasinan, it was the first mass action in the province directed against the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Agco is a broad coalition of different organizations in Pangasinan formed in 2000 to seek the resignation of then President Joseph Estrada.

The march was preceded by a mass at the St. John the Evangelist Church celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Renato Mayugba.

Fr. Oliver Mendoza, parish priest of San Fabian and convenor of “Agco ed Tila”, meaning  “I don’t like lies”, said it was only the first in a series of activities to be undertaken by the Dagupan-Lingayen Archdiocese in search of truth in line with the call of the bishops for communal action.

Other rallies, he said, will be carried out in the four vicariates of the archdiocese.

The protest actions are aimed at promoting awareness among the people regarding the corruption issues at hand so they can make their own discernment and decide for themselves, which, Mendoza said in an interview in San Fabian, is what communal action really means.

No politician was allowed to speak in the rally in order not to lend political color to the activity.

Participants to the rally, comprising of students, seminarians, members of the civil society and businessmen, among others, burned effigies of the First Couple while chanting “Gloria Resign”.

Officials  and  faculty  members of the Virgen Milagrosa University in San Carlos  City, led by Dr. Angelo Juan and VMUF  president Ma. Lilia Posadas-Juan, president, participated.

Also present was Dr. Aurora Samson Reyna, an official of UL.

Students from the different Catholic schools in the diocese were excused from their classes to enable them to join the rally.

Ed Poserio, a businessman and an executive of Chimes Enterprises, echoed the manifesto of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) that sought among others reforms in the government.

At the end of his speech, Poserio said, “President Arroyo must change or she will be changed”.

Placards carried by rallyists were marked “Gloria Resign” “Ayaw namin sa sinungaling” “No to Greed”, among others.

Boyet Cusi, a member of the Couples for Christ group and a street educator volunteer, sought the abolition of Executive Order No. 44 to allow Commission on Higher Education chairman Romeo Neri and other officials in government to tell what they know about government activities or projects.

Other speakers during the program included Fr. Benjie Ursua of the Independent Church, Violeta Palaganas and others. #

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