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Tag: Gary Alejano

Magdalo sees greater challenges with Arroyo back in power

15 years ago at the Oakwood Hotel in Makati.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)


Related article:

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/magdalo-10-years-oakwood-224739924.html

When Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Rep. Gary Alejano and some 100 officers and soldiers were preparing to mark the 15th year of the life-changing decision they made when they went out to denounce the corruption in the dubious presidency of Gloria Arroyo, little did they know that she would be installed as Speaker of the House, third in the line of succession to the presidency.

The irony was not lost on the officers and soldiers who spent seven years of their lives in detention for what they did on July 27, 2003.

“Critics of the Magdalo point to the fact that we once broke the military chain of command, and in the process found ourselves in the crosshairs of the State. We faced the consequences of the stand we made fifteen years ago, and we accepted the fate that the Arroyo regime imposed upon us”, said Ashley Acedillo, who was then a 26-year old first lieutenant in the Philippine Air Force.

ICC will be the next battleground

Rep. Gary Alejano during the House Justice Committee hearing on the impeachment complaint against Pres. Duterte. Photo from Philippine Star.
Rep. Gary Alejano during the House Justice Committee hearing on the impeachment complaint against Pres. Duterte. Photo from Philippine Star.

It was not surprising that the Malacañang-friendly congressmen killed without much fuss the impeachment complaint against President Duterte filed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano Monday.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, also a member of the Magdalo group (which started as a group of young military officers advocating for reforms in the military), lamented the quick dismissal of the impeachment rap saying that the members of the House Justice committee didn’t even study the content of the complaint when they decided that although it was sufficient in form, it was not sufficient in substance.

But Trillanes, one of the few who dare oppose Duterte, said it’s not the end of the quest for a better government for the Filipino people.

In fact, the dismissal of impeachment complaint would even bolster the communication filed by lawyer Jude Sabio against Duterte before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Alejano to Duterte: ‘May I borrow your jetski?’

Pres. Duterte takes a swipe at critics before Filipino community in Myanmar, March 19, 2017. Malacanang photo by Marcelino Pascua.
Pres. Duterte takes a swipe at critics before Filipino community in Myanmar, March 19, 2017. Malacanang photo by Marcelino Pascua.

Not surprisingly, President Duterte resorted to incoherent rant when asked about the plan of Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano to file a supplemental impeachment complaint to include developments in Scarborough Shoal and Benham Rise.
This happened in a press conference in Myanmar Monday where Duterte was on a state visit.

Duterte said, “Well for what? If he (Alejano) wants to fight with China, he can lead. I would be glad to send him as the first batch of delegation of Filipinos who want to take the Spratly Islands and all of those they occupied now. Sige. Siya ang mauna.(Go ahead. He should go first). It would be a slaughter for the Filipinos to do that.
‘Yung kanyang tapang-tapangan, huwag munang. (His acting brave, don’t) Do not compare me with you. You are all cowards. Alam ninyo nakita ‘yung kagitingan ninyo noong nag-mutiny kaya mga walang hiya kayo. (You know we have seen your “bravery” when you staged a mutiny. You are shameless.)”

He continued fulminating more about the protest actions that Alejano together with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the Magdalo group did against Gloria Arroyo when they were young military officers in July 2003 (Oakwood mutiny) and in November 2007 (Manila Pen siege) which were irrelevant to the question about China’s activities in Scarborough Shoal and Benham Rise.

Impeachment vs Duterte ‘in the larger scheme of things’

Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano files the first impeachment complaint against  Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano files the first impeachment complaint against Pres. Rodrigo Duterte.

There are things that you do knowing that its chance of success is not high but you do it because you know it’s the right thing.

Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano filed Thursday an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte. It’s the first against the President who was elected with 16 million votes and enjoys high trust and satisfaction rating nine months into his presidency.

The complaint alleged committed culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

Soldier turned legislator Gary Alejano’s concerns on the BBL

Rep. Gary Alejano interpellating during the deliberations on BBL.
Rep. Gary Alejano interpellating during the deliberations on BBL.
No one was surprised that the Supreme Court junked the petition questioning the legality of the Bangsamoro Basic Law which was still being deliberated by both chambers of Congress when it adjourned sine die last June 11.

The BBL missed its timetable of the Senate and House of Representatives passing it by June 11.

Supporters of the legislation which promises lasting peace for Muslim Filipinos and the country are hopeful that the resumption of the deliberations on the bill after President Aquino’s last State of the Nation Address on July 17 would lead to bill’s eventual passage into a law.

When that time comes, more groups will be questioning it before the Supreme Court.

Before the adjournment of the House of Representatives, Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano raised valid issues during his interpellation of Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, one of the vice chairs Hoc Committee on the Bangsamoro Basic Law.