The Sham and the Shame!

Arroyo’s ‘Doble Cara’

It was 1962. A new year had begun. A new president had just taken office. He would have liked to immediately address the nation’s problems, a daunting and difficult task regardless the year or era. Gloria Macapagal was a 14 year girl who had just moved into Malacanang as the only daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal. I’m certain that she recalls those early days of January when her father had to send a platoon of army rangers to the Central Bank office to forcefully prevent the late Dominador Aytona from assuming his post as governor.

The Aytona case has lived in infamy as the most notorious case of “midnight” appointments in Philippine history ever. Which is why I am quite shocked that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is acting the way she does. Considering her late father’s angst and agony over the tricks of the Garcia administration, I would expect that aversion to midnight appointments would be imbedded in Madame Arroyo’s DNA. Obviously not!

Reports indicate that she has made several hundreds of midnight appointments to positions far and wide. She even appointed a new Supreme Court justice. Why? What could possibly be her intent in making these appointments? To reward faithful friends and supporters who have stuck with her and her family thru the myriad scandals and incidences of graft and corruption that have plagued and characterized her administration? Quite likely. Yet that is not the worst angle in this fiasco.

Looking at her “body of work” in the past 6 months, it is clear even to the cross-eyed and myopic among us that Arroyo is positioning herself in such a way that any legitimate attempts to take her to task for the wanton corruption in her administration can be thwarted by the use of a disputable legal “shroud” and the “actions” or decisions of her dubious “appointees” whether acting individually or in concert.

Let me explain. She has taken the unprecedented and highly unusual step of running for Congress in her home district of Pampanga. And in the process she and her family engaged in a nauseous “zarzuela” that she was merely responding to a “popular” demand from that district’s constituency. ABS-CBN reported thus:

"Madame President, I believe that the best service I can give to my constituents is urging you not to deny them the privilege of being represented by your person," the young Arroyo told his mother during a "serenade" at Malacañang. (Mike Arroyo, her son, is the current representative from that district.)

Please, pass out the barf bags!!

Even though members of Congress are not immune from prosecution for crimes, the fact that she is aligned with the party opposing Benigno Aquino III, she could, as I’m sure she would, cry “political persecution” as the motive for attempts to get her and/or her husband behind bars or have them cough up all the wealth they have accumulated since her ascendance to the presidency. She could also use the “privileged hour” in Congress to blare out outrageous allegations about the Aquino administration for which she would be cloaked with immunity.

Her hundreds ( probably thousands) of midnight appointees positioned throughout the various institutions and instruments of government could also be mobilized to slow down the Aquino administration either thru action or inaction, depending on which positions they occupy.

There is also this speculation that her primary objective is to be positioned to become the prime minister should a parliamentary type of government be adopted in the near future. I’m sure that this prospect alone would mobilize the electorate to ensure that the presidential type of a republic would be retained.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s attempts to retain power and get enveloped in a cocoon of untouchability is indeed shameful. If, as she claims, she wants to serve her people further after she leaves Malacanang she should look to former American presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as role models. They continue to use their prestige and influence as former chief executives to contribute to society and the world in many positive and admirable ways. Perhaps she realizes that, in light of her record, she carries with her neither respect nor respectability.

What is equally nauseating about Madame Arroyo’s conduct is that it belies many of her recent pronouncements. She has said that her administration will work to make the transition to the Aquino team smooth and efficient. If so she should immediately rescind all the appointments she has made in the last several months and give Aquino the opportunity to move forward with people he has selected and who enjoy his trust and confidence.

Last week she was the guest of honor of the military to mark her farewell. She spoke and among other things said that “like an old soldier” she would merely “fade away”. What a sham!

She seems not content to leave as her legacy a trail of corruption and missed opportunities for the nation. She will likely be remembered for the blatant sham with which she has behaved at the end of her term.'Doble Cara' is what our Spanish forebears would have labelled her. What a shame, indeed.
ldq44@aol.com