The left-leaning Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) sounded the alarm that the recent resignation of government officials is the start of the season of jumping ship of the crew of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. This is in light with the resignations of National Power Corp., president Roger Murga and the country’s national treasurer Mina Figueroa. “Does this mean that the agencies that they are handling are so deep in trouble that they are bailing out early to escape blame and public scrutiny? The timing of their leave is really highly suspicious. Furthermore, their reasons are not acceptable; Murga is saying that he wants to spend more time with his family when the company he heads is now P1.3 trillion in debt, while Figueroa is saying that she wants a higher paying job, when the agency she heads is one of the primary responsible for the fiscal crisis,” said Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group.

“ Actually their conduct proves to be unbecoming of a public official because their motives for resigning are only for themselves and for their immediate family. They should also account for the mess we are in as well as the Chief Executive,” added Ramos.
It can be remembered that when the regime of Joseph Estrada was in trouble a lot of his appointed officials and allies also abandoned his ship to save their own hides. It is no different from what is happening now.

“As for the senate’s demand that other government executives to resign, it would not help unless the replacement would be determined to run the company like the National Food Authority and the Light Rail Transit Administration for the service of the people. They must remember that these companies were established as a social service and not as a business or a milking cow,” said Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP.

“Erring government executives must answer why such a large amount of money goes to their salaries and benefits when they are saying that the company is bankrupt, but it must be clear upon the public that the privatization of these companies is not the answer to these problems. If privatized, the problems we are facing concerning these companies will only become worse, just look at the water and power sector,” ended Ala. # # #
 

KMP - 15 September 2005