In Defense of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

07 August 2006
makati city

When I was a kid, I never dreamt of becoming a president. I have known that the task has always been hard, and no matter how you struggle to perform well, the fact is that you cannot please everybody.

These days, I have thought of something that is much harder than being the president. That is, being in the shoes of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Just exactly how hard it is to be PGMA?

1.It takes galls and guts to prove that you won "fair and square" during the presidential polls last May 2004.

While some of us may find it too easy, it would be making things possible if you were to fill in the shoes of GMA as there are a lot of fingers, with overwhelming and sufficient evidence, that pinpoints you not just a loser, but a cheater on that election.

GMA: "So will I still lead by 1 million overall?"
Garci: "Pipilitin ho natin ’yan." ("We will do everything to make it so.")
("Hello Garci" tape, May-June 2004. GMA made no less than 15 calls to Garci for several weeks after the elections. As a result, she got a lead of more than half a million in Muslim Mindanao, universally regarded as FPJ’s bailiwick.)

2.It takes a lot of skills and talent to appear and act in a manner that you are not used to, such as going to the slums to pretend that you are "para sa masa", coming before the public looking sorry for the victims of the spate of killings and human rights violations and appearing to be in fighting form against corruption.

Indeed, who would ever forget the sudden shift of the mood of the president when she explained and apologized for her direct intervention on the elections of 2004? From a tough-looking iron woman who could turn a person into a stone with a single blink of an eye, she suddenly metamorphosed into a kind lamb that looked incapable of committing any untoward activity.

"I was anxious to protect my votes and during that time had conversations with many people, including a Comelec official. My intent was not to influence the outcome of the election, and it did not. As I mentioned, the election has already been decided and the votes counted. And as you remember, the outcome had been predicted by every major public opinion poll, and adjudged free, fair and decisive by international election observers, and our own Namfrel.

"That said; let me tell you how I personally feel. I recognize that making any such call was a lapse in judgment. I am sorry. I also regret taking so long to speak before you on this matter. I take full responsibility for my actions and to you and to all those good citizens who may have had their faith shaken by these events, I want to assure you that I have redoubled my efforts to serve the nation and earn your trust."

(July 2005).

In the harshest possible terms, I condemn political killings. We together stopped judicial executions with the abolition of the death penalty. We urge witnesses to come forward. Together we will stop extrajudicial executions.

(State of the Nation Address, July 24, 2006)

3. It is not easy to cook up reasons and rhetoric to explain the current turmoil our society is battling with. Jargon, statistics and sound bites, however impressive and outstanding they are, have fallen short to overshadow the face of poverty and crises.

"I am not here to talk about politics; I am here to talk about what the people want; details on the State of the Nation and what their government is doing to make progress every single day.Sama-sama nating isusulong ang bansa patungo sa kinabukasang nagniningning.Gaya ng nakikita sa graph na ito, dahil sa ating reporma sa ekonomiya, we now have the funds to address social inequity and economic disparity. Too many ... masyadong marami, ang mamamayang nagugutom.

Hindi ako hihinto hanggang magtagumpay ang ating laban sa kahirapan.We now have the funds to stamp out terrorism and lawless violence.May pondo na tayo para labanan ang katiwalian.Our reforms have earned us P1 billion from the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account for more investigators, prosecutors, and new technology to fight corruption. We are matching this with another billion from our fiscal savings.

We now have the funds for constitutional and electoral changes. Sa kasalukuyang sistema, napakabagal ng proseso, at bukas sa labis na pagtutunggali, at sikil ang lalawigan at mamamayan sa paghahari ng Imperial Manila. Panahon nang ibalik ang kapangyarihan sa taumbayan at lalawigan.

For surely, there must be a better way to do politics, so that those who lose elections do not make the country pay for their frustrated ambitions. There must be a better way so that those who win the nation's mandate to govern can work without delay and whimsical obstruction. There must be a better way."

(State of the Nation Address, 24 July 2006)

Aside from that, you have to be imaginative and fictitious to vamp up more pledges and promises especially that the people are now breathing on your neck. You have to explore new and catchy phrases, and have to try every means to deceive/convince people to rally behind you.

"We will expand President Ramos' flagship San Roque Multipurpose Dam with the massive Agno River Project. Another major project is the Banaoang Irrigation. We allocate P200 million a month for small irrigation projects like those in the flood control plan of the Region II Development Council headed by Bishop Ramon Villena. Plus another P200 million a month for farm to market roads.

Also in the works is an international airport in Poro, La Union and the improvement of the 2 airports in Batanes as recommended by Governor Vic Gato. Ilocos Sur will have a seaport in Salomague while the Cagayan Zone Authority will better the one in Port Irene.

To save dollars, windmills in Batanes and Ilocos Norte turn megawinds into megawatts. When Army Commander Romy Tolentino was North Luzon commander, he became a soldier-farmer, planting jatropha as yet another alternative fuel.The Metro Luzon Urban Beltway spans most of Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Mindoro and Marinduque. It must be a globally competitive urban, industrial and services center, because it produces more than half of the country's GDP.

To be world-class we invest in five comprehensive strategies for global competitiveness:
1. Make food plentiful and affordable to keep our labor cost globally competitive.
2. Reduce the cost of electricity to make our factories regionally competitive.
3. Modernize infrastructure at least cost to efficiently transport goods and people.
4. Mobilize, upgrade and disseminate knowledge and technologies for productivity.
5. Reduce red tape in all agencies to cut business costs.The most prohibitive red tape is in our outmoded Constitution. We need Constitutional change to bring our rules of investment into the new millennium

The new public bidding process has been shortened to 45 days for infrastructure, and 26 days for supplies, as of today. Even before this, Metro Manila firms paying bribes for public contracts declined from 57% in 2003 to 46 today. Congratulations, Metro Manila

Machine-readable electronic passports will enhance the credibility of Philippine travel documents, improve the mobility and increase the prospects of Philippine business and labor. "

(State of the Nation Address, 24 July 2006)

4. You have to be at ease rubbing elbows with the butchers and criminals. In all the occasions, you have to make sure that you acknowledge them, appreciating all their efforts even these have meant blatant use of guns, goons and grenades to silence those who prefer to speak up. For they are your last recourse, they are the pillars of your own version of democracy.

"Sa ganitong mga proyekto, palalakasin natin ang ekonomiya ng mga barangay at lalawigan. And we will end the long oppression of barangays by rebel terrorists who kill without qualms, even their own. Sa mga lalawigang sakop ng 7th Division, nakikibaka sa kalaban si Jovito Palparan. Hindi siya aatras hanggang makawala sa gabi ng kilabot ang mga pamayanan at maka-ahon sa bukang-liwayway ng hustisya at kalayaan."

(State of the Nation Address, 24 July 2006)

5. Can you spend your nights sharing bed with Mike Arroyo? You have to, because he is your husband (at least in the eye of the people) even though just looking at him spoils your day. You have to project a very good wife to him even if he always steals the limelight from you from his infamous (mis) adventures.

You should keep your blood level, as you have to tolerate his unwanted activities such as his addiction to jueteng, etc.

6. You should accept Mikey Arroyo as your son even if his movies, which all flopped, make you puke. Like father like son as he is, you have no choice at all.

7. No matter how you have glued yourself to power, you are now trembling down to your knees at the sight of millions of people challenging your supremacy. Your tricks aimed at deceiving these people are a failure and you have no resort at all but to silence them with the hails of bullets.

Should I be Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, I would rather go out of my office to save my face.

Where are our students?

From the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism blog:

Former UP student leaders condemn abductions, return of 'state-sponsored terrorism'

IT’S been over a month since University of the Philippines students Karen Empeño and Sheryl Cadapan have disappeared, along with their companion, farmer Manuel Merino, all of whom were reportedly forcibly taken by soldiers in Bulacan last June 26. The three remain missing despite the Supreme Court’s grant of the petition for habeas corpus filed by the students’ parents ordering the military to produce them in court last July 24.

The disappearance of two of its students — Empeño is with the Sociology Department of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy while Cadapan is with the College of Human Kinetics — has alarmed the UP Diliman community. In a July 12 resolution, the University Council, a body composed of faculty members, said it feared for the lives of the two, greatly concerned over the Arroyo government’s inaction about their disappearance.

Recently, former student leaders who served in the University Student Council (USC) in the Diliman campus have added their voices to express concern and condemnation of the two students’ abduction in the dead of night, calling it the “ultimate act of cowardice.”

The council alumni, which include Senator Francis Pangiinan and former education undersecretary Chito Gascon, both former USC chairpersons, also lashed out at the return of “state-sponsored terrorism” unheard of since the time of Marcos, and Arroyo’s lack of concern for the fate of the two students. (see statement below)

Meanwhile, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Jose Catral Mendoza ordered last week the group of Major General Jovito Palparan, commander of the 7th Infantry Division in whose area of jurisdiction the students were last seen, to produce them in court during the hearing tomorrow.

But the military says it cannot comply with the appelate court’s order, denying that any of its troops is holding the two students and Merino. Army chief Lieutenant General Romeo Tolentino even suggested that activists who have been reported missing may have gone underground and joined the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

Tolentino said the alleged abductions being blamed on the Army may only be a ploy to cover up the fact that they went underground. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), through spokesman Gregorio Rosal, however dismissed the claim as “absurd,” citing reports that several witnesses have pointed to the military or police as the perpetrators in most of the cases of disappearances.

As if alluding to Tolentino’s insinuation, Palparan, who guested via phone patch at the “Debate” talk show on GMA-7 last week, also kept saying that night that they have a certain Ka Tanya and Ka Siera in their custody after their arrest in Hagonoy.

Yesterday, the mothers of the two missing UP students went to the Army headquarters in Malolos to confront Lt. Col. Rogelio Boac, Task Force Bulacan commander, about Palparan’s claim but he denied any knowledge of the supposed arrest of two women NPA rebels.

Below is the text of the former student leaders’ statement:

UP DILIMAN USC ALUMNI STATEMENT ON THE ABDUCTION

OF KAREN EMPENO AND SHERLYN CADAPAN

Diliman, Quezon City

University of the Philippines, Diliman students Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan were abducted by armed men around 2 a.m. on June 26. It has been a month since the students were taken and there is no word on their whereabouts or any indication that the government is acting on their forced abduction.
We are former members of the University Student Council, fellow student leaders and friends of Ms Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan.

We are deeply concerned that student leaders and activists are being threatened by the government.

We condemn the ultimate act of cowardice when masked armed men come in the dead of night to drag students from homes.

We condemn the return of state-sponsored terrorism on a scale that we have not seen since the time of Ferdinand Marcos.

We express our unqualified disappointment with the Arroyo government which has yet to express any hint of concern for the fate of these students.
We call on the Arroyo administration to mobilize its resources to assist in the recovery of these students.

We call on all sectors to join us in condemning forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and all forms of state-sponsored terror.

We call on all Filipinos to guard and honor human rights and human dignity that we fought for so valiantly at the cost of so many lives.

Concerned University Student Council Alumni, University of the Philippines, Diliman:

Abraham Rey Acosta, USC 1995-96
Grace Afuang, USC 1997-98
Rhona Agtay, USC 1995-96
Gigo Alampay, USC 1984-85
Gidget Alikpala, USC 1987-88
Almahdi “Aldean” Alonto, USC 2000-01
Tita Aquino, USC 1991-92
Jonas Bagas, USC 1997-98
Gay Bemeza, USC 1987-88
Marichu M. Bernardo, USC 1998-99
Ryan Cablitas, USC 1996-97
Percival Cendaña, USC 1995-96, USC 1996-97, USC 1997-98
Angelico Clerigo, USC 1998-99, USC 1999-2000
Forsyth Cordero, USC 2000-2001
Jed M. Eva III, USC 1995-96
Carlo Fabregas, USC 1997-98
JJ Fernandez, USC 1987-88, USC 1988-89
Chito Gascon, USC 1985-86
Dorothea Lazaro, USC 1998-99
Vincent Lazatin, USC 1986-87
Emil A. Liwanag, USC 1998-99
Cielo Magno, USC 1997-98, USC 1998-99, USC 1999-2000
Eyron Buera Magtibay, USC 1999-2000
Norman F. Manguinao, USC 1998-99, USC 1999-2000
Mardi Mapa-Suplido, USC 1985-86, USC 1986-87
Kate Natividad, USC 1998-99
Ramby Nolido, USC 1987-88
Len Pagalanan, USC 1998-99
Raymond Palatino, USC 1998-99, USC 2000-01
Liberty M. Palomo, USC 2000-01
GlennMark C. Pamplona, USC 1995-96, USC 1997-98
Kiko Pangilinan, USC 1985-86, USC 1986-87
Bien Peñaranda, USC 1999-2000
Aaron Karl D. Pundol, USC 1997-98, USC 1998-99
Charmaine G. Ramos, USC 1991-92
Nova Rellosa, USC 1989-90
Gil de los Reyes, USC 1985-86
Arnold Cesar O. Romero, USC 1999-2000
Katheryn Rualo, USC 1999-2000
J. Edward San Juan, USC 2000-01
Jill Santos, USC 1998-1999, 2006-2007
Raymond Sebastian, USC 1999-2000
Camille Sevilla, USC 1985-86
Grace Simbulan, USC 1997-98
Giovanni Tapang, USC 1990-91, USC 1993-94
Monette Velarde, USC 1999-2000