Miriam: Cory, Drilon plotting to oust GMA

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago accused former President Corazon Aquino yesterday of conspiring with Senate President Franklin Drilon in using the Senate to remove President Arroyo from office through a series of congressional inquiries.

Santiago claimed she had information from at least three independent sources confirming that Drilon had received instructions from Mrs. Aquino to conduct a spate of Senate probes in an effort to sustain moves to oust the President following the failure of the impeachment bid at the House of Representatives last month.

Santiago claimed the recent investigations by the Senate of the Venable lobbying contract, the wiretapping issue and the North Rail project were all part of a "serial impeachment."

"The recent series of Senate hearings which all called for the presence of Cabinet members were not coincidental but purposive," Santiago said.

"The target was not the alleged specific anomaly but President Arroyo," she alleged.

Santiago said another source told her that Drilon was allegedly given an Oct. 15 deadline to unseat Mrs. Arroyo from office.

If Mrs. Arroyo does not step down by Oct. 15, she will be "removed physically," Santiago’s source reportedly claimed.

"Of course, physical removal refers to assassination. Hence, I told President Arroyo that she should beef up her security measures," Santiago said.

The senator claimed her source was "impeccable" and was even present during the gathering when the Drilon relative spoke about the plot.

Santiago admitted, though, that the Drilon relative might have been engaging in psychological warfare.

On the other hand, Malacañang officials said they were not working to unseat Drilon and maintained the Palace would not meddle in the internal affairs of the Senate.

Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio downplayed reports of a possible attempt to unseat Drilon, calling the rumors "absolutely false."

"These rumors are nothing new. They have been going on since he (Drilon) called for the resignation of the President," he said.

"But we have given the Senate and the public our assurance not to meddle (in their affairs). That policy and commitment still stands," Claudio said.

Malacañang officials stand behind Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye’s revelations about Drilon. "I was not there, but with the firmness by which Secretary Bunye made that revelation," Claudio said, he had no reason to doubt it.

"He’s confident about the truth and accuracy of his allegations," Claudio added.

Claiming Drilon had "set up" the President to issue her June 27 televised apology about the "Hello Garci" affair, Bunye said Drilon later used the issue against her in calling for her resignation.

Santiago, meanwhile, said the President might have been forced to issue the controversial Executive Order (EO) 464 as a form of self-defense to protect the presidency from issues related to the probes and to preempt abuse of government officials by lawmakers.

The senator earlier criticized Mrs. Arroyo for issuing the controversial EO that prohibits government officials and the military from appearing before congressional inquiries.

"I respectfully questioned President Arroyo on the reasons for EO 464. She said one of the reasons was to preempt the abuse of Cabinet members by Drilon and the opposition following the lurid example of the Norberto Gonzales appearance," Santiago said, referring to National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales who was cited for contempt by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee and detained after refusing to answer questions on the Venable contract.

"In a way, the implacable revenge of the Cojuangcos led to EO 464 as a measure of self-defense on the part of the administration," she added.

‘Withdrawal Syndrome’

Santiago expressed belief that the Cojuangco family of Mrs. Aquino hatched the plot after realizing that the government was seeking to take away their 5,000-hectare Hacienda Luisita and return it to farmers.

Last Friday, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) decided to scrap the stock distribution option plan (SDO) of Hacienda Luisita, effectively taking away control of the sugar plantation from the Cojuangcos and placing the plantation under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) over the next two months.

"The Cojuangcos are suffering from acute withdrawal syndrome over the hacienda," Santiago said.

"It was one of the reasons why President Aquino sacked me as (Department of) Agrarian Reform Secretary," Santiago said recalling her stint at the DAR in 1989.

As DAR secretary, Santiago said she had supervised a referendum in Tarlac in 1989 that saw 96 percent of the farmers approving the SDO agreement.

"After the referendum, I made the mistake of telling the press that I thought that President Aquino should inhibit herself as chair of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) which would make the final decision on the stock option," Santiago said.

"She (Mrs. Aquino) did, but as a result I got kicked out of the Cabinet, presumably for insubordination," she said.

Santiago, a former Quezon City trial court judge, said that she was of the opinion that the SDO under the Agrarian Reform Law was unconstitutional since it violates the equal protection provision.

"The general rule is for land to be taken away from the landlord and given to the farmers. Why should there be an arbitrary exception for the Cojuangco hacienda?" she said.

Last Friday, DAR recommended to scrap the Hacienda Luisita’s SDO scheme that gave its workers shares instead of land on a plantation owned by the Cojuangco family.

DAR officer-in-charge Nasser Pangandaman said the SDO scheme has not lifted the farmers out of poverty after over a decade of working on the sugar plantation.

Mrs. Aquino approved agrarian reforms in 1988 that allowed plantation owners to distribute shares based on the value of property to workers in an attempt to ease tensions over land ownership that had fueled a long-standing communist rebellion in the countryside.

Pangandaman recommended the total scrapping of the SDO which had been implemented by Hacienda Luisita for 16 years.

"After 16 years of implementing the stock distribution option, the department is saddened by the fact that the living conditions of the plantation workers did not improve," Pangandaman said.

"Worse, it deteriorated through the years, which is contrary to the vision of (the agrarian reform law)."

Under the law, the land would be distributed to farmers, and landlords would be compensated. Pangandaman did not reveal other details of the decision and how it would be carried out.

But the DAR recommendation must ultimately be approved by the PARC headed by President Arroyo.

Mrs. Aquino, who has been involved in a campaign to oust Mrs. Arroyo, believes the move was politically motivated.

"To underscore the point that Cory Aquino should start behaving in a politically correct manner, the Hacienda Luisita issue was resurrected — a familiar refrain from the years of the Marcos dictatorship," she said in a speech Friday.

In reaction, the former president told The STAR yesterday that President Arroyo is apparently trying to force her to give up the cause.

"On the contrary, all I have to do is to make sip-sip and all this will stop," she said.

However, Pangandaman denied that politics played a role, saying a review of the stock scheme was prompted by a strike at the hacienda last November that led to clashes leaving seven farmers dead and more than 100 police and workers injured.

The timing of the recommendation was merely "coincidence," Pangandaman stressed.

Aquino spokesman Rapa Lopa said the former president is not involved in the operation of the plantation and has sold most of the shares she inherited from her parents.

Santiago, for her part, recalled that in 1957, Jose Cojuangco Sr. purchased Hacienda Luisita with money partially borrowed from the Central Bank of the Philippines Monetary Board and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on the condition that the land would be distributed to small farmers.

In 1985, the Manila regional trial court ordered the Cojuangcos to sell the land to DAR for distribution to the farmers.

The Cojuangcos appealed the order before the Court of Appeals.

While the case was pending, Congress passed the Agrarian Reform Law that, according to Santiago, contained a loophole in favor of the family by allowing the SDO scheme in lieu of actual land distribution.

"For heaven’s sake, give it up and store up treasures in heaven," Santiago advised the Cojuangcos over the issue. — With Aurea Calica, Perseus Echeminada, Joanne Ramirez, AP