Sorry is not enough, Labor wants a new worker-friendly government

Being forced to admit wrongdoing, after efforts to hide the truth have failed is just not acceptable. Simply saying "Sorry I was wrong" cannot erase criminal liabilities and "lapses in judgment" does not excuse Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from judgment by the public.

GMA cannot expect labor, the sector that suffered most under her administration, to be contented with her less than truthful apology at face value. Even in the Catholic tradition, saying sorry and asking for forgiveness is not enough, one has to do penance. So more than mere words, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and all her cohorts must go!

Despite her apology, the President cannot remain oblivious to the deep-seated discontent among the general public. Her government has not only mired itself in dishonesty, distrust and dishonor, it has lost relevance.

The very essence of the gloriagate scandal is not only about whether it was her voice on those tapes. More importantly, it is whether she stole the 2004 elections or not! On this point she avoided issuing a definite statement that she did not cheat. She only said that it was a "lapse in judgment" for her to talk to a COMELEC official.

This comes as no surprise, since this is the very same Administration that violently disregards workers' rights and made a whole mess of its labor and industrial policies.

The Macapagal Arroyo administration has long ago failed to redeem itself in the eyes of the workers. The alleged jueteng payoffs to the President's relatives and the "Hello Garci" tapes are only the icing on the cake.

Thus for labor, at the core of the Arroyo administration is a fundamental lack of capacity to respond to workers' interests, proven by its not taking the opportunity to bring forth the potential for radical reforms that EDSA 2 offered. This inability that brings to light the super rich elite's continued subservience to the interests of the few, their own, and their complete failure to govern the country to benefit the many.

The APL is calling on all workers to band together and oust the GMA administration. Let their removal from office pave the way for a transitional government that will in turn give way to the needed radical reforms reflecting the genuine will and interests of workers everywhere, who after all are the majority of the citizenry.