Press Release
March 12, 2007

LACSON: HOLD JUDGMENT ON CAUSE OF COMELEC FIRE

Re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson appealed for sobriety Monday over the cause of the predawn fire that hit the Commission on Elections (Comelec) office in Manilas Intramuros district Sunday.

Lacson said it is too early to make conclusions about the cause of the fire, as the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) has just started its investigation.

Its too early to judge, I myself called for calm and sobriety. The BFP had just started its investigation and pinpointed the focal point. The next step is to determine if there was an incendiary substance. In the absence of that, I think we should exercise restraint, he said at the Kapihan sa Manila forum at The Manila Hotel.

But he said that once it is established that the fire was an act of arson, it is time for the people to take direct action against the Comelec, or the perpetrators.

Once we see basis that the fire was deliberate, I think the people should make them accountable. I suggest those behind the fire should be lynched because they threatened to destroy the electoral process. But for now Im still holding comment until the results are out), he said.

If the fire was not deliberate, I think members of the opposition and those who judged Comelec right away owe the Comelec an apology, he added.

But he said the suspicions surrounding on the fire shows that the people do not tolerate cheating. He said the country will be ripe for revolution if the masses see their rights are being trampled upon.

Such a revolution, he said, need not be violent as it is a revolution of the masses. No one is leading them, the people will lead themselves, he said.

Meanwhile, Lacson said the Comelec should have no problem recognizing the Genuine Opposition as the dominant minority party as the GO registered properly with the Comelec.

He said that while the GO originally registered as United Opposition (UNO), election lawyer Sixto Brillantes had stressed that theres no problem in changing it to another name like GO.

If the Comelec recognizes the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino as the dominant minority party, we will in effect have two company unions, he said.

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