|
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Arroyo allies play 'underdog' card
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo let her allies do the talking Saturday, as loyal Cabinet ministers called former colleagues "traitors" for abandoning Arroyo and urging her to quit.
Arroyo, who on Friday repeated that she wouldn't resign over a five-week-old election scandal, kept a low profile, apparently hoping that the lack of massive street protests was a sign she may weather her worst crisis and avoid a repeat of the "people power" revolts.
Instead, her closest allies held an hour-long news conference, carried live on national television, saying that 10 Cabinet members may have done Arroyo a favor by resigning en masse Friday.
"It strengthens the hand and image of the President," said Arroyo political adviser Gabriel Claudio. "Filipinos do not like treachery. Filipinos go for the underdog. By what they've done, they made an underdog of the President."
The country also awaited a statement on the crisis from influential Roman Catholic bishops, who along with the military played key roles in the 1986 revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos and the 2001 repeat that forced out Arroyo's predecessor, Joseph Estrada.
The capital's police force went on full alert Friday, but eased the warning after an anti-Arroyo protest fizzled after drawing only about 5,000 people.
One opposition leader admitted that having no clear replacement for Arroyo if she is forced to step down weakened their efforts.
"The difficulty in rallying enough support is that we are now in a crisis of leadership, a crisis of who will replace President Arroyo," Senator Jamby Madrigal said in an interview with ABS-CBN television.
Arroyo was, meanwhile, holed up in Malacañang where she consulted supportive legislators and her Cabinet allies.
"She is in command of the situation and everything will stabilize," said Arroyo's Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita late Saturday.
Compromise
"We have our leaders close to the ground who are tracking how things are moving as far as the political opposition is concerned," he added.
Armed Forces Chief Efren Abu issued a new warning to troops to stay neutral, amid calls by retired officers for soldiers to help oust the President.
"This serious political problem must be solved through the legal process and peaceful means. The Armed Forces must not, in any way, get involved in anything that goes against the Constitution," Abu said.
There were rumors of a possible compromise along the lines of a plan suggested by former president Fidel Ramos.
In that plan, the Constitution would be revised to set up a switch to a parliamentary form of government, followed by a referendum early next year, then new elections in May.
That would allow Arroyo to leave somewhat gracefully and end the American-style presidential system that has proven unstable for the country.
Impeachment
While increasingly isolated, Arroyo has dug in her heels, telling her opponents that she won't step down and challenging them to follow the Constitution by pursuing an impeachment case against her in Congress. Her ruling coalition holds the majority in the Lower House.
Arroyo claims the opposition blew the election scandal out of proportion to unfairly demonize her and grab power. She admits she talked with an election official during the count for the May presidential race about ensuring a million-vote margin, but says she did nothing wrong other than suffer a "lapse in judgment."
A joint House committee is investigating the audiotapes on the wiretapped conversations.
Her spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Saturday that the President felt "saddened and betrayed that those Cabinet members, whom she considered as trusted and loyal friends, were the first ones to abandon her at a time she needed them most.
"But life must go on," he said.
Traitors
Environment Secretary Michael Defensor was particularly critical of the Cabinet defectors, suggesting they were trying to take over.
"Filipinos hate traitors," Defensor said. "What happened was not only treachery but they actually moved...to oust the President, to topple the republic and to establish a new scheme of government where they would be in power to control the direction of the government."
But the defectors defended themselves, saying the crisis had frozen the government's reform program and undercut Arroyo's credibility.
Defensor said Cabinet members who asked President Arroyo to resign talked to four bishops and former president Corazon Aquino to draw their support in calling for her to resign.
He accused the former officials of plotting to unseat the president "for a new scheme of government where they'll still be in."
Secretary Rigoberto Tiglao said the action of the former Cabinet members was like coming into a battle "to find your fellow soldiers have abandoned their posts."
"They were all involved in governance and they abandoned it to grandstand in the political realm," Tiglao said. "The damage they've done is less to the presidency but more to their constituency."
Tiglao said in the next week government would be "business as usual" because "we've got a deep bench in the bureaucracy."
Secretary Gabriel Claudio said the former Cabinet members had the opportunity to raise the issues they are raising now to the President. He said the intentions of the former Cabinet members "was not to help solve the crisis but to assert what they had in mind."
"Why make a political spectacle out of this?" Claudio said.
"My thinking was my loyalty to my President ends when my loyalty to principles and people we serve are compromised," said Corazon Soliman, secretary of social welfare. "It's very painful, but we have to do what we have to do based on what we believe in."
Former Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, clarified they did not want to leave government and they were even grateful for the chance to serve the country.
He confirmed that he and former Education Secretary Florencio Abad met with Vice President Noli de Castro in Hong Kong to inform him of their plan to resign and he denied that they asked for concessions from de Castro if ever he becomes president.
Purisima said he believes that Arroyo had a hand in the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) by the Supreme Court (SC) against Republic Act (RA) 9337 or the Expanded Value-Added Tax (e-VAT) Law as he recalled that Arroyo was considering having the implementation of the measure delayed because of the drastic increase in the prices of goods and services that it would cause.
A party in Arroyo's ruling coalition and former president Corazon Aquino were among those joining calls for her to resign Friday, as did business and civil groups who had supported her. Arroyo lashed back.
"I say that their actions cause deep and grievous harm to the nation because they undermine our democratic principles and the very foundation of our Constitution," Arroyo said in a radio address Friday. (AP/Sunnex)
(July 10, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Catholic church leaders stop short of asking Arroyo to quit