Why Gloria was doomed to fail from the start

I’m saddened by the unfolding tragedy that is the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency. I have seen it fit to be the critic of her presidency but in truth, there had been a few good times between Gloria M. Arroyo and me.

In 1996, news about Gloria’s intention to run for the 1998 presidential race brought relief to those who dreaded the thought of Joseph ‘Erap’ Estrada becoming president. For those who cared about nurturing the fragile post-EDSA democracy to healthier stability, the thought of having Erap take control was indeed frightening.

As the topnotcher in the 1995 senatorial elections, Gloria indeed had what it takes to beat Erap. In early 1996, at the Intercon Hotel in Makati, Cherry Zapanta, a common friend, arranged the first meeting. Cherry was one of those who operated the reception area of the Cory Aquino Media Bureau for the 1985-86 Snap Elections which I headed. Cherry is also a Kabalen of Gloria and one of the closest friends of the president.

In that meeting which included then Senator Arroyo, Dona Eva Macapagal, Cherry Zapanta, Mike Arroyo and two former Diosdado Macapagal stalwarts in the Liberal Party, Mike Arroyo did most of the talking. Although what was offered to me was the general management of the campaign, I opted to be a simple media adviser because I was then running two businesses even as my kidneys at that time were already starting to deteriorate. Eventually I had to undergo hemodialysis for 25 months leading to an eventual successful kidney transplant in January 9, 2002 at the Makati Medical Center. Gloria gave me a surprise visit on January 12, 2002 at the hospital, not knowing that the day was also my 53rd birthday.

I served in the campaign team for about 20 months and formally resigned in November 1997. Those 20 months I spent with the campaign team gave me rare insights into the personality and character of both Gloria and Mike Arroyo. Even that early, I was convinced that Gloria did not have what it takes to be regarded as the ‘hope of the country’.

Notwithstanding her dismal track record and the endless chain of scandals, Gloria M. Arroyo must have pursued positive goals for our country. Why, even Ferdinand Marcos had lofty dreams for the Philippines and had wanted to leave behind a good legacy. Perhaps, Gloria even outperforms all other previous presidents in terms of the number of hours she puts in the job. When I was in her campaign team in 1996 and 1997, I would get calls from Gloria as early as 6 am – a most ungodly hour for me – whenever she wanted my assessment of an issue that was just raised against her the previous day.

Alas, it is true what they say that the road to hell is full of good intentions. History validates the fact that all the good intentions of rulers really depend on the methods they choose and the ideals they pursue. Looking back, this is where I see the failure and the tragedy of the Gloria M. Arroyo presidency. The roads that she chose to take, coupled with her inadequate moorings blended a lethal concoction leading to what is to be a failed presidency.

Trapo politics
Given all the kind of choices she had made and tends to make, Gloria M. Arroyo’s much-touted reforms can never happen. Reform and traditional politics (trapo) run counter to each other. Traditional politics in our country has mutated into the failed system that perpetuates the exploitation and virtual monopoly of the national wealth. Either you go for reforms or you embrace trapo politics. Macapagal-Arroyo preferred to play the trapo game.

How can reform be possible with traditional politicians who want only to preserve the status quo for the elite 5% or so who control over 85% of the national wealth? Reform must involve the more equitable distribution of wealth and the opportunities to create wealth. The 95% of Filipinos who do not have that wealth will want that reform. The 5% who have it will resist the reform. For instance, who did Gloria M. Arroyo get as her closest allies? Check the list and you’ll find the elite 5%, as represented by the famous Triple A of Aboitiz, Ayala and Alcantara.
Look at that ad of Makati Business Club (MBC) members who protested the earlier MBC position asking Macapagal-Arroyo to resign and you will see the complete list, from A to Y, from Aboitiz to Yuchengco, who happen to be beneficiaries of the regime. Remember how she had unceremoniously junked good members of her cabinet after the 2004 elections for the sake of political accommodation? That’s the trapo patronage system at work for you.

Can you see reform at that time when she replaced Dinky Soliman with Noli de Castro as DSWD secretary? She backtracked only after she saw the negative backlash. Can you see reform when she replaced an able marketing man like Obet Pagdanganan in Tourism with someone as clueless about the requirements of the post as Ramon Durano? Are we surprised that up to now tourism remains in the category of a “potential” revenue earner while the same sector in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand has grown by leaps and bounds? Where is the reform in the appointment of Ramon Revilla as PEA Chairman? Where is the reform in giving a frontline development agency like the DOTC to an ex-cop, Leandro Mendoza? In this information age, we need someone who is techno-savvy for the DOTC post. And she chooses to get an ex-cop? The list goes on.

Lack of proper moorings
The great leaders of the world, especially those who shone during periods of national crisis, had something in common – they were well anchored on a powerful ideal, moral code or political ideology. The new ideal of love for the least of one’s brethren provided the moorings for Christian faith. The new classless order in society provided the political moorings for Lenin and Mao in revolutionizing Russia and China. These are great examples of the power of ideas whose time has come. Communism may no longer be the fire that it was in the early 20th century but there is no denying its effect on contemporary world history.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo never caught on with any of those great earth-moving, powerful ideas. Living in the past, she cannot move forward, and, of course, neither can the country. She peddles decision-making the way a Madame runs a brothel – flesh for sale at the right price. Trapo politics in this country is long overdue for burying six feet under. Yet it sticks out like slime on all our lives because of presidential patrons like Macapagal-Arroyo and all the teeming millions that make up most of the country’s citizens who are unable to perform their proper roles as citizens of a democracy.

The ease by which Macapagal-Arroyo could lose friends and co-opt enemies shows someone utterly bereft of proper moorings. Miriam D. Santiago is a classic case in point. In the three days of rallies leading to the May 1, 2001 assault on Malacanang, Miriam D. Santiago was one of those who primed the ‘mob’ for that assault. Come December 2003, Miriam D. Santiago jumped to Arroyo’s side without even trying to come to terms with reconciling the disparity in principle.
During the time when I was her campaign adviser, I was shocked when she visited convicted rapist, Rep. Romy Jalosjos, in jail. Here was a woman who was being positioned for the presidency and she totally missed out the implication of the message that the visit to Jalosjos delivered. This is not just a simple ‘lapse in judgment’ as she fondly excuses herself. This is an insight into a psyche that lives and swears by the credo of trapo politics. Damn female delicadeza – she, a woman, would condone the crime against womanhood, as long as the rapist can deliver her the votes from his province. Someone who would move heaven and earth and even go to hell for the almighty trapo vote can surely have the gall to steal an election.

In another instance during the campaign for the 1998 presidency, Gloria consulted the campaign team on our thoughts about her co-hosting a showbiz talk show with Boy Abunda. I immediately put my foot down. It would be like positioning a Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wanting to out-showbiz Erap, the showbiz president wannabe, when in fact she had all the qualities that Erap did not possess for the presidency. That incident added to the many other troubling insights I had gleaned on the character of our candidate and her decision-making process.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo topped the 1995 senatorial election as a member of the LDP. Because she was competing with then LDP president Ed Angara for the party’s presidential nomination in 1998, she was forced to put up Kampi in 1996. Then she ran under the banner of Lakas and Kampi for the 1998 vice-presidential race which she won with a comfortable margin over a respectable field that included former Pangasinan Governor Oca Orbos, Sen. Serge Osmena and Sen. Ed Angara (who agreed to become Erap’s Vice Presidential running mate). When she became president after EDSA II, she led a coalition for the 2001 elections under the banner of the now defunct People Power Coalition. Come 2004, Macapagal-Arroyo led the K-4 Coalition in the election that she is now widely-perceived as having ‘stolen’. At the same time, she is the titular head of Lakas. That is a total of five political parties and coalitions that she used for four consecutive elections.

I am no big fan of the present White House resident in America. But compared to our Gloria, George W. Bush believes in a political ideology – the tenets of Conservative Politics. You have a guide as to how President Bush will likely react to certain issues. Not quite the same with Macapagal-Arroyo who changes parties and loyalties with every wind.

This is why I can only consider those who claim to ‘genuinely’ believe in her as truly pathetic. Even more pathetic are those who are willing to go along with the rape and abuse of the democratic process so long as a showbiz president does not get installed. They truly deserve her and to be part of her ‘Harlot Politics’ – as I like to equate all this to cause and flesh trading in the Macapagal-Arroyo era. How can anyone believe someone whose entire political career underscores the fact that she does not really believe in anything?

You are better off believing in Santa Claus than in those Macapagal-Arroyo catch phrases like ‘fiscal reform’ and ‘new politics’.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Character Flaw

Unfortunately, SELFISH Gloria just don't get it.... she has no more will and credibility and has already caused too much harrassment to the office of the presidency. She should step down. She has caused our culture much harm.

"What is at stake now is not only the presidency ... but the survival of our institutions," he said.
A Union Bank employee, who did not wish to be identified, said his company closed its offices and the employees told to go home, indicating it wanted its employees to attend the rally. He said he was in favor of Ms Arroyo resigning: "How can I explain to my children that you can commit something wrong and you only have to apologize?" (quoted: PDI. Image from PDI.)

Arroyo is putting the country in the abyss

Some letters wrote to the editors of Inquirer. Nobody could have said it better....

Focus on job creation, not on OFW deployment

I HAVE just read the article "Number of OFWs in '05 breaches 500,000 mark." I want to make a response to the following comment made by Acting Labor SecretaryDanilo Cruz: "We are confident that our goal to deploy a million OFWs globally continues on a firm and stable track."

My response is: Why does Cruz and the Department of Labor continue to focus so much of their time and effort on making sure there are more OFWs abroad rather than on the more important tasks of attracting more industries and creating new jobs in thePhilippines?

It seems to me that the Philippines government should try to encourage the creation of more industries and jobs in the Philippines itself so that the country's economy will improve on its own, rather than have to rely on the help of OFWs, who go overseas to find a better life for themselves. The whole OFW policy is misguided and short sighted and is more of a bandage
solution to a much bigger problem.

It's time for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her government to come up with better ways to improve the Philippine economy without having to depend on the income remittances of Filipinos working overseas or raising taxes on everyone, which Arroyo wants to do.

Otherwise, Philippine sovereignty will erode, as the country becomes an economic dependent led by an impotent president who is chiefly concerned about saving herself and her family from
scandals.

KYE PARSONS, 2002 Huntsman Drive, Salisbury, Maryland,USA

Regain lost honor

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo finally confessed what the public has suspected or known all along --that it was she who was in a wiretapped phone conversation about an alleged conspiracy to rig the 2004 presidential election results. The President’sadmission, however,
fell extremely short of unraveling the truth about the widely circulated taped conversation. She merely opened the Pandora’s box of damning questions on her culpability for election fraud. Whatever she might have admitted, the confession and her apology rang hollow and was bereft of sincerity with which one could empathize.

For one, Ms Arroyo refused to admit to any wrongdoing. For another, the confession was incomplete and apparently legally calculated.

While everybody knew who “Garci" was, the President chose to play coy by merely referring to him as a certain Commission on Elections official -- a move that was undoubtedly a legal precaution. Relevant details were left hanging, simply because mentioning them might incriminate and might be used against her.

It may have been out of legal prudence that the President took that tack, but it did not augur well for the people. When Ms Arroyo adamantly refused to admit the authenticity of the tapes, the people did not like it, because they hate to be lied to. Now that she has admitted it is her
voice on the tape, and that what she did was merely a “lapse of judgment,” they feel they are being taken for a ride. That’s worse, because people doubly hate having their intelligence insulted.

Ms Arroyo’s television address was a production that played a poor script and poorer acting. She attempted to appeal to people’s emotions and counted on the Filipinos’ being quick to forgive and forget, but her forgettable but not forgivable performance came out as what it was --
rehearsed and contrived. Comedian Ate Glow could have performed better.

And speaking of screen presence, Ms Arroyo is a far cry from Susan Roces, not because Susan is a better actress (definitely) but because when Susan speaks or displays righteous indignation (as she has done recently following Arroyo’s tape disclosure) it is heartfelt.

The President utterly lacks the dignified bearing of a Susan Roces. Pound for pound (not to mention height against height) "Ate Glo" is no match against "Manang Inday" in public credibility.

President Arroyo, a professed devout Catholic, should take counsel from the famed running priest, Fr. Robert Reyes. The priest said Ms Arroyo’s confession would not have been accepted in Catholic rites. The sacrament requires a sinner to reveal all her sins. He further preached, “It’s
not enough to say sorry if you did not confess all your sins. There has to be penance. Penance will hurt. It will hurt the penitent and it has something to do with the sin committed.”

For the people deeply offended by what they perceiveas the President’s grievous sin of lying and cheating in the elections, the penance they prescribe is that she step down from the presidency.

The credibility and trust that are now lost from the presidency could be restored only through her resignation.

To make up to the people for her lapse in judgment and act of impropriety, Ms Arroyo has promised to redouble her efforts to serve the nation and earn the people’s trust. But the people’s trust has been irreversibly breached.

Elsewhere, heads of state are expected to resign indisgrace for breach of their nations' political ethics. In another culture, hara-kiri would have beena proper penance for Ms Arroyo’s lapse in judgment. To the Japanese, to take one's own life and suffer the pain of a self-disembowelment ritual is to regain lost honor and save face. Here, “to save face” has taken a different sense; those who cling to power have taken it to mean having a face thicker than a carabao’s hide (my deep apologies to the carabao); the term "kapalmuks" [thick-faced] must have been a word coined
specifically for politicians.

It has come to pass that time-honored values of "palabra de honor" [word of honor] and "delicadeza"[sense of propriety], to borrow the words of fellowAtenean (de Naga) Conrad de Quiros, have become commodities that are routinely and horrendously defiled in this country, no thanks to Ms Arroyo.

The President has asked for forgiveness. But to forgive her at this point is to condone lying and wrongdoing (and ignore evidence of election fraud) committed by the highest official of the land. This would reinforce the cynical belief that in this country cheating and other foul means are tolerated or, worse, are part of the rules of the game called Philippine elections.

It would justify the Machiavellian tenet that the ends justify the means to capture political power. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would certainly not be happy to be remembered as the president who lied, who cheated and won the election, and later was caught but nonetheless got away with it.

She would not like her lapse of judgment and act of impropriety to become a model of conduct that other elective officials may be tempted to emulate. No, she would not allow that. She would make certain her office remains exalted and free from a besmirched reputation. She would make
sure that only honest and honorable statesmen and stateswomen would occupy the Office of the President. Wouldn’t you, MadamePresident?

ELMER S. CASILLAN, 12 Queborac Drive, Bagumbayan Sur,Naga City

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More than impropriety

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s admission that she talked to an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) before her proclamation raises a key issue that Filipinos must grapple with. It is not one of mere impropriety, as her allies would have us believe. Neither is it of stability or the need for sobriety.The issue is, plainly, one of right and wrong, and what is
to be done in the face of wrongdoing.

Ms Arroyo asked us to forgive her. But if the President were to be exonerated by a public apology, what basis would there be to charge the Comelec official she conversed with, and the others with whom this Comelec official collaborated to carry out questionable if not criminal
acts?

Some argue that the legitimacy of Ms Arroyo’s victory is nonetheless unquestionable, that she would have won anyway. This assertion is now open to debate.

Others say there is no alternative leader. Again, this is an open question.

Still others argue that the instability that would arise from a change of president would be disastrous for the nation. But is the instability caused by the President’s wrongdoing not disastrous enough?

A President incapable of distinguishing between mere impropriety and grave wrong doing should not lead. Ms Arroyo must step down from office.

By stepping down, the message to all, most especially our youth, is clear: dishonesty is unacceptable. Dishonesty is wrong. No public official who is dishonest should remain in office. Dishonest officials must be accountable for their actions. “Sorry” is not enough.

By remaining in office, Ms Arroyo’s message is theopposite: it pays to be dishonest; just apologize and all is forgiven. Worse, there are indications of a cover-up of the wrongdoing at the highest level. As evidence of the cover-up emerges, Ms Arroyo’s position will become increasingly untenable.

Much has been said about the need to respect constitutional processes. The truth is, far too many Filipinos have lost faith not just in our leaders but in our institutions.

The Comelec has no credibility; so is the legislature; and the judiciary has failed to deliver justice especially to the poor and powerless. A church that preaches sobriety but remains silent in the face of patently immoral public acts will lose its reason for being. Businessmen who value profits and market stability over what is a clear case of misgovernance will soon lose both. And civil society leaders who cannot condemn wrong doing by the country’s highest officials isolate themselves from the majority for whom hunger and basic survival are daily fare.

The people cannot wait for the outcome of a fact-finding commission, which would take a year or so while Ms Arroyo remains in office.

We repeat, Ms Arroyo must step down. This is the first and necessary step in the peaceful transition to a restructuring of our institutions.

ZENEIDA Q. AVANCEÑA, president, CARMEN I. DIOKNO,treasurer, The Diokno Foundation

source: the inquirer

Resignation Statement of Our President's Cabinet Members

Full text, resignation statement of 10 Cabinet members

Of Leadership And Credibility

WITH deep concern and firm resolve, after a long period of reflection, debate and consultations, we, the undersigned, are hereby submitting our collective irrevocable resignation.

As early as Tuesday, July 5, we had already made our decision to resign. The President preempted our moves. This preemption does not change our conviction that her decisions as of late are guided mainly by her determination to survive as President. We believe that she will continue to make her decisions according to this norm.

By this act, we are not making any judgments on the tapes and "jueteng" issues. There is a proper forum to resolve those issues consistent with the rule of law. More pressing and immediate concerns confront our people today than poisoned politics or infirmities in our Constitution. At the core of these concerns are the issues of leadership and credibility--the ability of our President to continue to lead and govern our country with the trust and confidence of our people.

The longer the President stays in office under a cloud of doubt and mistrust, and with her style of decision-making, the greater the damage on the economy and the more vulnerable the fragile political situation becomes to extremists seeking to undermine our democratic life. In the end, the poor will suffer the most.

The President can be part of the solution to this crisis by making the supreme sacrifice for God and country to voluntarily relinquish her office and allow her constitutional successor, the Vice President, to assume the Presidency. Resignation is a legitimate constitutional option for affecting leadership change. Given the crisis in the Presidency, this is the least disruptive and painful option that can swiftly restore normalcy and eventually, bring us to prosperity.

We reject violence and anti-constitutional alternatives and call on our people to do the same. We will reject any attempt to exploit our resignation to sow intrigue and destabilization. We should all unite behind our constitutional successor and work together to resume our struggle for social, political and economic reforms.

The process of reforming society is difficult. It will entail sacrifices among our already suffering people. It will generate resistance and conflict among those who may have to give up power and privilege. We need leadership that can inspire our people to stay the course, while we confront these challenges. We need leadership with the moral courage to push on in the face of adversity; leadership that can steer the nation towards healing and reconciliation.

Even as we take leave from public service, we assure everyone of our unwavering commitment to continue serving our country, especially the underprivileged and powerless amidst us.

Now, couldn't Arroyo do the same? The supreme sacrifice for the greater good?