GLORIA WAKE UP! DO SOMETHING!

Listen to the President's Men and Woman

(from the Phil.Daily Inquirer report of Christine Avendano)

They Might Fight Back - Raul Gonzalez, Presidential Legal Counsel

Secretary Raul Gonzalez, chief presidential legal counsel, cautioned the government against hastily arresting the Ampatuans in the absence of solid evidence.

“If we use the iron hand on them, they might fight back. We should take precaution. These are not ordinary people,” he said by phone.

“We’re guided by the rule of evidence, not by emotions. Suspicions, accusations are not synonymous with guilt,” he added.

Gonzalez said that the Maguindanao provincial government-owned backhoe found in the crime scene was a “circumstantial evidence” against the Ampatuans.

“But you can’t convict somebody with one circumstantial evidence,” said the former justice secretary.

People Should be Given Equal Protection of the Law - Exec Sec Ermita

Asked about the criticism, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters that Mayor Ampatuan and his followers should turn themselves in for investigation.

“It definitely will help if those who feel that they are already being considered as suspect for them to turn themselves in and cooperate with the law enforcement agencies,” Ermita said in a briefing.

“To prove they’re innocent, they should give themselves up rather than go against the law by not turning themselves in,” he said, adding that this will help defuse the situation.

Ermita dismissed claims that the Ampatuan clan, which delivered votes for Ms Arroyo in the 2004 presidential vote, was “untouchable.”

“I don’t see why they should be considered untouchable. People should be given equal protection of the law,” he said.

Ermita said the public should await the action of Dureza’s team. He said the team would “identify those that will have to be summoned, or that will be subject of the order for them to be disarmed, to be taken into custody or against whom a warrant of arrest will be issued or charges will be filed.” (So not one of the Ampatuans has been summoned!)

No Evidence of Rape... no Beheading - Sec of Justice Devanadera (ex-future Supreme Court Justice, former mayor of the smallest town in Quezon)

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters Wednesday after a visit to the troubled region that state lawyers and prosecutors were still gathering evidence.

“I ask for more time to evaluate (the evidence),” she said. “So far there’s no evidence of rape. There was also no beheading.” (o ano iyong pinagsasabi niyong gruesome o heinous, wala namang na-rape a)

"They (Ampatuans) committed to submit themselves to any investigation - Presidential Adviser Jesus Dureza (Instead of summons, it was Dureza who "visited" the Ampatuans.)

Dureza met with the Ampatuans in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao on Tuesday afternoon.

“They committed to submit themselves to any investigation,” Dureza told the Inquirer by phone.

The meeting, held at the Ampatuan residence in Shariff Aguak, was attended by Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), his younger brother Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Jr. and the family patriarch, Governor Ampatuan.

But Dureza said he did not ask if indeed Mayor Ampatuan led the killers. “I went there to tell them about the creation of the crisis management committee, and about the investigation,” he said.

ARROYO IS BIDING FOR TIME. HILONG-TALILONG SIYA. HINDI MALAMAN KUNG PAANO SISIGURADUHIN NA HINDI MAGWAWALA ANG MGA AMPATUAN AT OUT OF THE BLUE, SABIHIN LAHAT ANG MGA PANDARAYA NILA NI ARROYO!