TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
mvo's Blog
mvo's Blog
Should there be another EDSA? (People power against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo)
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Yesterday's protests or prayer-rally as they call it (February 29, 2007-Friday) at the country's financial and business center, in Makati City, was the biggest and most potent so far after the National Broadband Network (NBN) - ZTE Deal anomaly broke out. Indeed, the boisterous calls nowadays for Truth and Justice by different sectors of the Philippine society is reminiscent of the angry shrills that was commonplace at the height of the 'Hello Garci' alleged electoral fraud scandal that almost toppled the Arroyo Administration. At the height of that scandal, it was almost near certain that President Arroyo would leave the Presidency of the Republic either through resignation or through a forced eviction by angry protesters with a probable military component. However, that super-charged clamor and indignation fizzled out in time as the President remained steadfast and tenacious amidst the great forces that were endangering her hold at Malacanang. She bounced back and emerged arguably stronger if we go by the adage of 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'. She was able to weather the tumultuous tempest, as they say. Indeed, after 2005 and now we're into 2008, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through her political savvy and incontrovertible economic dexterity and lucky stars (2007 RP GPD at 7.3% - highest in 30 years, her whole term so far has had an uninterrupted growth trajectory, an unprecedented feat - the longest in Philippine history) remains to be the President of the Republic of the Philippines. In fact, discounting another people power with military support, which is unlikely, she is on her way to finishing her term when it expires in 2010.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that President Arroyo's presidency is under a constant mode of survival as if it is constantly under siege. We can argue however that all leadership positions always are uncertain and constantly under threat but the President's case is perhaps more amplified and runs more deeper and intense considering the Office that she is occupying and its repercussions and ramifications to the nation. At any rate, we hear talks of coup attempts of withdrawals of support, of allies jumping ship, and of course of the perennial scandals that rattle her Administration, each of which continuously weakening her political capital. In fact, if we go by the surveys since 2004, the President does not have the support of the people to back her won mandate to be the country's chief executive until 2010. Nonetheless, since we are a nation, a Republic, of laws and not of fickle sentiments, she remains to be President and she deserves to dispense with the duties of her Office, which she solemnly swore to in the service of the nation and of its people. You may not love her. You may not like her at all even. Nevertheless, she is the President and she is doing her job earnestly. She is working hard to uplift the nation, especially economically. She has in fact done a lot of good things. The development, to my mind, is visible. We just don't realize it but we are in fairly good times compared to previous administrations But those are almost always buried under the heap of distrust, unpopularity, and frustrations for what she could have done more which she did not or she was not able to do. We cannot blame many people for wanting oust her. There are legitimate issues hounding her Administration. Those issues needs to be addressed. If not, even if she finishes her term, her legacy will be heavily tainted by the anomalies and scandals that have rocked her Administration. History will judge.

Now with the issues of corruption again rattling the Arroyo Administration and multi-sectoral groups, with the perplexing union of the left and the right, of the motley group that again are calling for her resignation or forced eviction considering her unflagging fighter-stance to tough it out, President Arroyo is again in a dangerously beleaguered position. She may or may not be ousted. But general notion is, she will weather this storm yet again.

From my end, my standpoint is that the President should not resign. At least I have not yet been moved to change that position since the Hello Garci scandal of 2005. The current scandal are fueled by allegations, allegations which have been sensationalized so much by our media. These are allegations which have yet to be proven in court or be complemented by the imperative documentary and other supporting evidence. The fashionable clarion call nowadays is for the Truth to come out. It is undoubtedly a noble cause. Even a former president convicted of plunder and other corrupt personalities are welcome to search for such truth. Under this call for truth, people are again demanding the replacement of the incumbent president. Unless all allegations have been proven then I am not one with those who want a change of government. Doing so will again bring an unnecessary period of instability that will threaten our growth trajectory and derail the programs and projects toward national development initiated by this government. We will again shoot ourselves in our foot. We have had two people power revolutions, the latter one dubbed as EDSA II is considered more of as a power play, where have it brought us? We are still a nation divided. I am not in favor of yet another extra-constitutional means of effecting change in government. The alternative before 2010, which is only two years away, is to me unacceptable. When all is said and done, what matters is what was delivered. If what was delivered contributed to the development of this country then that deserves commendation and support. I believe that this President can deliver. She is a hard-worker. Her legacy will be to set the stage for a better trajectory for Philippine development, backed by economic resurgence, when she relinquishes her office in 2010.

As regards the various crimes alleged against her, once she is no longer President she will have no more immunity from lawsuits. Then those people who are genuinely against her because of the allegations of corruption and human rights violations against her can run after her. While she is President, she deserves support for her programs so that she can leave behind of legacy that befits a 'good' president which she wanted to be. History will be the great judge of her achievements, of her failures, of her contributions to this motherland, the Philippines.

February 29, 2008 | 9:51 PM Comments  0 comments

Tags:
You must be logged in to add tags.


Mike Ong's Profile

Mike Ong's Friends


Latest Posts
Should there be...
Independence Day (A...

Monthly Archive
June 2007
February 2008

Change Language


Filter By Type
Travel
Topics

Friends
Alexis Lozano
Kristine M. Barrios
Sandy Mae
Tek Narayan Bhattarai


2904 views
Important Disclaimer