PRESS RELEASE
March 7, 2010

The League of Filipino Students warned that the stubbornness of Malacanang to force the appointment of a new Supreme Court Chief Justice is suspect as to the real motives of the Arroyo regime in the 2010 elections and beyond.

“We suspect that Mrs. Arroyo is preparing the legal framework to ensure her peaceful ascent as Prime Minister despite the conduct of the 2010 elections, and of utmost importance in such framework is the immediate appointment of a loyal and pliant Chief Justice.” This was the statement of Terry Ridon, National Chairperson of the League of Filipino Students and senior of the UP College of Law, as the LFS joined hundreds of lawyers, law students and supporters in a protest rally in front of the Supreme Court to voice their opposition to Malacanang’s ‘sinister moves’.

Ridon said that the unrelenting interest of Malacanang and GMA’s allies in Congress in pushing for Charter Change, and her candidacy as a district representative are all but clear indications that her plans of becoming Prime Minister is still in full swing.

“The task therefore of the Arroyo Supreme Court is to look for all legal justifications for Charter Change and her eventual regaining of political power despite the election a new President by May.”
Ridon also intimated that Arroyo’s appointment of a new Chief Justice during the prohibitive period is not only patently unconstitutional but would make Arroyo completely comparable to the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“She had not only declared martial law and imprisoned activists like Marcos did, but will soon have completely established an Arroyo Supreme Court similar to the situation under the dictatorship where the SC kowtowed to Marcosian fiat.” Ridon said.

He also said that such appointment may ensure that Mrs. Arroyo and her allies shall be treated with kid gloves by the courts, upon the filing of graft and plunder cases against her once she leaves Malacanang by June 30.

The LFS plans to stage more protest actions in the next few weeks on the matter.