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MANY Filipinos could not believe that President Arroyo won her
latest political fight with the opposition in Metro Manila.
They think she lost the fight, or that the
decision should have been a draw. But most public opinion, the
newspapers, opinion writers and coffee shop analysts said she has
survived the worst blows to stay in power until 2010.
The critics threw every punch at her in what
they considered a final showdown. They mounted a giant rally in
Mayor Binay’s Makati and a big protest in Liwasang Bonifacio. In
between, prayer rallies failed to knock her out.
The blows came mainly from civil society groups
and a powerful bloc of anti-Arroyo bishops. Unexpected
reinforcements came from the seasonally sleepy students.
To ensure her downfall, the challengers
organized the group of Former Senior Government Officials, which
counts with former Cabinet members and middle-level managers
responsible for the corruption in their respective offices.
To deliver the knockout blow, the challengers
sent Jun Crybaby Lozada to rouse emotions and to rally the ringside
crowd.
Some analysts said the champion won the fight by
doing business as usual and showing she was in command. Others said
she disarmed the CBCP with her powers of persuasion.
There were plenty of criticisms at the
“commercials” during the bout. The critics charged that every
province, regional development council, town, city and barangay
council advertised full support for the champion.
At the presscon after the victory parade, the
champion said the opposition delivered low blows to rob her title.
She kept her heart because the nation was watching and was united
behind her.
Will she retire in 2010 or go for another title?
Sen. Drilon warned GMA will go for the parliamentary heavyweight
division two years from now. The Supreme Court decision on the Neri
petition clears the way for a bigger fight, he said.
“Inggit ka lang,” said trainer and coach
Eddie Ermita.
Palace adviser on rice
THE Palace announced yesterday the appointment
of Pedro Palayo as Presidential Adviser on Rice and Fish.
“The appointment confirms the President’s
interest in ensuring that affordable rice and other food items are
available in every home,” the press secretary said.
The opposition criticized the appointment as a
window dressing because Palayo’s experience is not in rice
production or retailing but in manufacturing rice sacks.
Palayo immediately answered his critics by
announcing the holding of a “rice-less day” on April 15. Every
home will be encouraged to forego rice on that day, he said. The
First Family will set the example. The President and her family will
be shown on TV dining on noodles, bread and canned soup.
Another priority is introducing a bill that
would make rice hoarding and overpricing punishable by death. He
said he would ask the Department of the Interior and Local
Governments and the local jurisdictions to promote rice-less fiestas
and no-rice celebrations.
The abolition of the National Food Authority is
high on his list. At the same time, he said he would hire
agricultural consultants from Vietnam and Thailand to advise
Filipinos on increasing rice production.
Use every idle lot in Metro Manila for
gardening. Reclaim Central Luzon’s title as “rice granary of the
Philippines” and return the rice fields to the farmers.
Palayo thinks the folk song “Magtanim Ay Di
Biro” needs positive-sounding lyrics to celebrate the joys of rice
growing.
“Our goal is to achieve rice self-sufficiency
in 2010 or before 2010,” he declared. Palayo urged
Filipino-Americans and other expatriates to send rice and breakfast
cereals, not canned goods, to families in the Philippines.
April 1 is a holiday
MALACAÑANG is preparing a draft executive order
declaring April 1 a national nonworking public holiday.
The draft says that “during these perilous
times, Filipinos could use a sense of humor and lightness to ease
the national stress, improve the quality of life and survive the day
with grace.”
The order takes note of “the poisoned partisan
politics, the grimness in our national papers, the anger in the
editorial pages, the profusion of bad news, the increasing conflict
among the three major branches, the Church’s intrusion into
matters of state, the incivility on the street” and “what the
government and the citizens could do to restore smiles and
laughter” in the national life.
“April 1 or April Fool’s Day is an
appropriate time to remind us that there is a place for lightness in
the speeches of public officials, in the relations between the
government and media, on print space and broadcast airtime and in
the daily grind amid traffic jams, rice insecurity and rising oil
prices.”
The EO encourages public officials to learn how
to take jokes at their expense, be more self-deprecating, accept
heckling like good sports, add humor to public addresses, return the
Gridiron Skit to the National Press Club “and to do a thousand and
one things” that will improve human relationships and health.
While encouraging harmless pranks and practical
tricks that are popular on April 1, the draft adds that spreading
rumors about an impending rice crisis is a bad joke.
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