Thursday, October 23, 2008 Malig: Unity elsewhere, but not in Pampanga? By Jun A. Malig Cognition
"AS WE start seeing Christmas lanterns for sale in the streets and move into the holiday season, we should all count our blessings and look to the future with greater hope, confidence and optimism.
Our people must come together this holiday season to celebrate faith and families. Our communities must pull together and set aside personal feuds and political differences and focus instead on positive things we can all do together to improve our lives.
The challenges of the future are truly enormous. We will need to come together as a people in order to meet them."
The preceding paragraphs were stated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in latter parts of her speech during the inauguration of the GMA Network Center in Diliman, Quezon City last October 17.
Of course, it would be preposterous to think that the country's highest official mentioned about the "setting aside of personal feuds and political differences" just to make her speech nobler and significant.
We must assume that she truly meant what she said and that she was referring to the entire country, which includes her home province.
Definitely, it won't look good for a figurehead to ask her detractors to refrain from antagonistic acts while, at the same time, her loyal supporters back home are busy doing the exact opposite. One need not be an opinion writer or a keen political observer to notice this.
It was reported and stressed that Malacañang or the Arroyos have nothing to do with the feuds and differences that have been happening since day one at the provincial Capitol, especially the ongoing recall petition against Gov. Eddie Panlilio.
Of course it's also preposterous to assume that since the Palace has a "hands-off" policy on the "parochial" political situation in Pampanga, the politicians and individuals in the President's home province are no longer covered by her appeal for unity and setting aside of personal feuds and political differences.
It's not hard to figure out that President Arroyo clearly understood the situation of the reverend governor. Like Panlilio, her political foes and critics never stopped censuring and attacking her since the day she was elected to office.
Like the reverend governor, the Kapampangan President has faced well-planned and well-executed efforts by her detractors to remove her from office.
I'd like to believe that her call for unity is not directed only to those who dislike her and the way she runs the country. I'd like to believe that she was addressing every national and local politician in the entire archipelago, including those in her home province, in her plea for peace and unity for the sake of Christmas season and amid the global economic crisis that is knocking on our door.
Life is already hard, especially for the common people and ordinary workers who have been struggling to make ends meet. Perhaps this is the precise reason why the President wants her people to be spared from the ugly side of politics wherein the war is actually between kings and queens and not really between knights and pawns.
