AKBAYAN (Citizens' Action Party) today joined the ranks of other progressive anti-Arroyo forces and luminaries of the Catholic church in a show of force to continue demanding for the ouster of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) a day after the House of Representatives voted down the impeachment complaint.

“Malacañang is peddling the lie that her opponents will not be able to muster enough warm bodies to force GMA out of office,” said Akbayan President Ronald Llamas, “but here we are today to prove them wrong.”

Akbayan, together with other groups under the September 7 Movement, held a protest rally at Mendiola, bringing their message right at the footstep of the Presidential palace.

“GMA said she wanted her day in court but since she herself exerted all efforts to kill the impeachment we will instead give GMA her day in the streets,” said Llamas, “where the verdict is not sugar-coated by her lackeys in Congress.”

Llamas added that AKBAYAN held no illusions about the odds facing the complaint in Congress, “but we did not want to lose on a technicality, without exhausting all means available to exact accountability from GMA.”

Llamas explained that the killing of the impeachment complaint only posed more questions than it answered them. “Did she conspire to have the weak Lozano complaint endorsed knowing it would be subsequently killed? Did she really conspire to abduct members of Board of Election Inspectors in Maguindanao?

“But now that she has proven that she will not stop at nothing to remain in power,” Llamas said, “we will do everything we can to remove an illegitimate president from Malacañang for the good of the country.”

 http://www.akbayan.org

mobilizations:

 http://www.akbayan.org/press_release_072505-sona.htm

 http://www.akbayan.org/press_release_071505.htm

 http://www.akbayan.org/press_release_071305-alisdyan.htm

 http://www.akbayan.org/press_release_070905.htm
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