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There is no doubt that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will
survive the present crisis brought about by the perceived
irregularities in the aborted NBN-ZTE contract. The President has
survived far worse political crises in her presidency.
Here are the reasons why.
First, Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the rallying
point in the current massive efforts to unseat President Arroyo, is
slowly being uncovered as fake and is turning out to be as corrupt,
if not more, than the people he has wantonly accused of being
corrupt.
From shedding copious tears during the Senate
probe, Lozada is now grinning from ear to ear as he toured campuses
in Metro Manila where he presented himself as the epitome of all the
fine virtues that the administration lacks.
By putting himself in the public eye, Lozada is
now open to full scrutiny and, in due time, the deception and lies
that he has woven around his persona would be exposed. Without even
the government doing anything, Lozada would soon be unmasked as a
wolf in a sheep’s clothing.
Second, the Catholic Church, like the
opposition, is fragmented. The call of Jaro, Iloilo Archbiship Angel
Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines, for a “brand new people power” against Mrs. Arroyo
is being disowned by his fellow bishops.
Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos said it would
be premature to stage mass actions now since allegations of
corruption against the Arroyo administration have yet to be proven
in court. He also criticized Lagdameo for issuing such a call
without consulting the other members of the CBCP hierarchy.
Third, her detractors now seem to run out of
arguments to back up their charges against the President. They have
now resorted to personal insults, name-calling and slander. Mrs.
Arroyo is now seen by many as the underdog. And Filipinos have a
soft heart for underdogs.
Fourth, the President has remained focused on
her job as she had always been during past crises in her
administration. And the results are there to appreciate: an economic
growth of 7.3 percent in 2007, the highest in 31 years, strong peso,
balanced budget, surging investments, booming tourism and relative
peace throughout the country.
And fifth, there is no widespread discontent
among the people and their freedoms are not curtailed, the two most
important ingredients of a popular uprising.
Cabinet revolt
The most difficult crisis in the President’s
career in terms of impact on her administration was the mass
resignation staged by the so-called Hyatt 10 in July 2005.
At the height of the “Hello Garci”
controversy, eight Cabinet members and two bureau directors tendered
their irrevocable resignation and called on the President to do the
same.
The group was composed of Education Secretary
Florencio Abad, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita
Quintos Deles, National Anti-Poverty Commission Secretary Imelda
Nicolas, Trade and Industry Secretary Juan Santos, Budget and
Management Secretary Emilia Boncodin, Finance Secretary Cesar
Purisima, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman,
Land Reform Secretary Rene Villa, Customs Commissioner Alber-to Lina
and Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Guil-lermo Parayno.
In a press conference at the Hyatt Hotel in
Pasay City, the group called on the President to make the “supreme
sacrifice for God and country” to voluntarily relinquish her
office and allow Vice President Noli de Castro to assume the
presidency.
This was not only the worst form of treachery
against President Arroyo but also the most painful since among those
who called for her ouster were three of her most trusted confidants,
namely Soliman, Deles and Boncodin.
After the elections in 2004, the President
designated Vice President de Castro as DSWD secretary, the post that
she held when she was vice president. But Soliman cried in public
begging the President to retain her at the post and Mrs. Arroyo
obliged. Soliman, like Brutus, had inflicted the unkindest cut on
the President’s back.
The group hoped that their mass resignation
would trigger another EDSA uprising. But nothing happened.
The last time we heard was that the Hyatt 10 has
metamorphosed into what is now known as the Black and White Movement
with only former actress-singer Leah Navarro as its visible
spokesperson.
Gallery of fools
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Alan Peter Cayetano
have already announced that they now have new witnesses on the
NBN-ZTE deal.
This is a clear signal that Lozada is now
expendable and would soon join the Senate’s gallery of fools
composed of instant celebrities in their own time but who are now
all but forgotten: Ador Mawanay, Udong Mahusay, Michaelangelo Zuce,
Sandra Cam and Sgt. Vidal Doble. Like the others, Lozada will now be
consigned to the Senate’s recycle bin, to be plucked when the
senators would run out of clowns who will regale them with tall
tales and fantastic yarns.
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