Don’t just say you love me, prove it

A WARM but subdued welcome met former President and Representative Gloria Arroyo during her district visit last week.

Governor Lilia Pineda expressed the cabalen’s joy in her release from detention, saying she is “pleased that the processes on the case are happening properly.”

GMA’s trip was not a sentimental journey or a working one. Touching base with her constituents, she reached out to her leaders for her unspoken aspiration.

Given the sentimental nature of Pampangos – their sense of gratitude as sterling quality – it will not be difficult for Mrs. Arroyo to get reelected.

Far from the raucous and rousing welcome she used to experience when she was President, her homecoming was affectionately met by the common folk.

Local politicians who went to jostle and compete for her attention – and favors, too – were not visible. They also kept strict radio silence.

If she desires to make a comeback bid, the chances are she will make it. Even if she would be returned to hospital arrest, her cabalen would vote for her.

Will Mrs. Arroyo seek another term?

She is not talking but her recent trip indicated she would.

Will her reelection be good for her District? The question is debatable. She wants to continue her family’s legacy of public service.

But would Malacañang grant her full freedom, give her rightful due in pork barrel funds or extend assistance to her new projects?

Now that she is really down physically and politically, the largest beneficiaries from her favors, the local minions and political sycophants who habitually bounded her seemed to have vanished.

I believe she wants to reelect. But she is just waiting politely for her allies and supporters who have always professed undying love for her to make the first move.

In the musicale “My Fair Lady,” Prof. Higgins fell for her student Eliza. He kept telling her of his great love for the girl. In spurning her suitor, she told him, “Stop telling me you love me. Show it.”

Save for Mayor Edgardo Guerrero of Floridablanca with his nominal statement for his group, her diehard leaders here have yet to speak, nor demonstrated acts of support for her comeback.

I have been expecting the voluble and outspoken PML President and Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo to make his pronouncements of public support to his benefactor.

If it is true that all mayors are united in promoting and helping the reelection bid of the former president, the least they should do is draft and proclaim a Manifesto of Support for GMA’s record term.

The PML, in many past instances, was quick to the draw in issuing pro GMA manifestos through official resolutions which carried all the signatures of PML members. This is the best proof of the mayors’ alleged love for the lady.

Mrs. Arroyo’s quiet desire to reelect has caused palpable discomfiture in Malacañang. It completes a double political whammy on the ruling party – the first being the obvious and untenable reality that the administration has yet to come up with its candidate for governor. Now, it has to contend with the reality of putting out a credible and “winnable” candidate in the second district.

The Palace announced last Sunday that Mrs. Arroyo can run in next year’s election “but does not see her camp as a significant political force.”

The statement implies that Malacañang does not worry if she runs and wins in Pampanga as long as her political party does not make a national resurgency.

National Catholic leaders have also advised the former President on her plan. A permanent Council member of the CBC said “she should no longer run because of health reasons and the string of criminal case she is facing.”

A Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros wanted her “to look at her constituents x x x it’s her own decision to make.”

But then the reality is that her District would be losing some P200 million worth of PDAF (pork barrel) projects and some if she wins. The Palace has nine messy ways to skin a cat.