MANILA - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima called the National
Transformation Council (NTC) a loose grouping of disgruntled Arroyo
allies, whose acts already constitute conspiracy or proposal to commit
rebellion against the government.
In a statement, de Lima vowed that the government “will not relent in applying the full force of the law against them in order to protect the people and the State from an unconstitutional and illegal power grab.”
She said the NTC has been using a “strategic policy” to instigate a military-backed uprising among Filipinos by exploiting the Mamasapano incident.
“This is a false hope, since certain actions already implemented by the group, from organizing foras and conferences of supporters and sympathizers, can already be contemplated as conspiracies relating to sedition, rebellion or coup d’ etat,” she said.
The NTC, composed of bishops and other individuals, calls itself an "ecumenical and interfaith collective" that professes to "work for the common good of Philippine society through rapid and comprehensive systems change."
They have long been calling for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III.
The NTC, whose members include bishops and several former government officials, had been aggressively pushing this call lately amid the government’s supposed failure to act on the Mamasapano incident.
Former Tarlac Rep. Peping Cojuangco supposedly called for a “transition government” to replace the Aquino administration. Cojuangco is Aquino’s uncle.
De Lima also noted another member of the NTC, former Defense Secretary and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, has been calling for a change in the regime through people power.
She said this was a doublespeak, considering the NTC’s declaration that a junta will be relevant if backed by the military.
“A junta by any other sanitized name is still illegal and unconstitutional. By calling for people power and military support to force the President’s ‘resignation’ in order to pave the way for a junta, the NTC and its mushrooming allied alphabet soup organizations of discredited government officials consisting of charged plunderers, grafters, and tax evaders, or of those under investigation for such crimes, may have just crossed the line of legitimate dissent,” de Lima said.
She warned that conspiracy or proposal to commit rebellion or coup d’etat and even sedition is already punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
De Lima, however, is confident that any power grab, whether civilian- or religious-led, will not succeed, as she believes the military will not support an “extra-constitutional installation of a junta led by GMA bishops and ex-officials.”
She also called the strategy “pathetic gutter politics” used by “disgraced pathological personalities to crawl their way back to national relevance, at the expense of the people’s effort to come to terms with the complex issue of peace in Mindanao in their search for justice for the SAF44.”
She said these personalities are using the nation’s grief to “pervert a national catharsis, serving only their own thirst and craving for absolute power by imposing upon this nation a tyranny of religious and political has-beens.”
In a statement, de Lima vowed that the government “will not relent in applying the full force of the law against them in order to protect the people and the State from an unconstitutional and illegal power grab.”
She said the NTC has been using a “strategic policy” to instigate a military-backed uprising among Filipinos by exploiting the Mamasapano incident.
“This is a false hope, since certain actions already implemented by the group, from organizing foras and conferences of supporters and sympathizers, can already be contemplated as conspiracies relating to sedition, rebellion or coup d’ etat,” she said.
The NTC, composed of bishops and other individuals, calls itself an "ecumenical and interfaith collective" that professes to "work for the common good of Philippine society through rapid and comprehensive systems change."
They have long been calling for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III.
The NTC, whose members include bishops and several former government officials, had been aggressively pushing this call lately amid the government’s supposed failure to act on the Mamasapano incident.
Former Tarlac Rep. Peping Cojuangco supposedly called for a “transition government” to replace the Aquino administration. Cojuangco is Aquino’s uncle.
De Lima also noted another member of the NTC, former Defense Secretary and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, has been calling for a change in the regime through people power.
She said this was a doublespeak, considering the NTC’s declaration that a junta will be relevant if backed by the military.
“A junta by any other sanitized name is still illegal and unconstitutional. By calling for people power and military support to force the President’s ‘resignation’ in order to pave the way for a junta, the NTC and its mushrooming allied alphabet soup organizations of discredited government officials consisting of charged plunderers, grafters, and tax evaders, or of those under investigation for such crimes, may have just crossed the line of legitimate dissent,” de Lima said.
She warned that conspiracy or proposal to commit rebellion or coup d’etat and even sedition is already punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
De Lima, however, is confident that any power grab, whether civilian- or religious-led, will not succeed, as she believes the military will not support an “extra-constitutional installation of a junta led by GMA bishops and ex-officials.”
She also called the strategy “pathetic gutter politics” used by “disgraced pathological personalities to crawl their way back to national relevance, at the expense of the people’s effort to come to terms with the complex issue of peace in Mindanao in their search for justice for the SAF44.”
She said these personalities are using the nation’s grief to “pervert a national catharsis, serving only their own thirst and craving for absolute power by imposing upon this nation a tyranny of religious and political has-beens.”
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