SKETCHES
By Ana Marie Pamintuan (The Philippine Star)
Updated December 02, 2009 12:00 AM
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is simply behaving true to form, so no one should be surprised that she hasn't had enough of power and is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. She is perfect for that house of iniquity and insatiable greed.
And the people of Lubao, Pampanga, many of them recipients of largesse from the family long associated (though never convicted of anything) with jueteng operations, the clan of Bong and Lilia Pineda, are expected to grant the President her wish for a continuation of her brand of public service.
GMA's relatives must have told her what a "rewarding" experience it can be. The 13th Congress has four presidential relatives feeding from the House trough: GMA sons Mikey and Dato, brother-in-law Iggy and Kasangga party-list Rep. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo.
As an "honorable" member of Congress, GMA won't be immune from criminal prosecution for offenses committed during her incumbency.
But a House seat will make her one step closer to the realization of her post-presidency game plan, as related by a reliable source: to vie for the speaker's post, then shepherd Charter change and a shift to a parliamentary system, under which she could try to become prime minister.
There are too many unpredictable factors in that game plan.
Failing in that, the reliable source told me that Plan B is to get as many of her allies as possible elected to House seats, so they can have the numbers if not to push the shift to a parliamentary system, then to blackmail whoever becomes the next president with impeachment.
If that weapon does not save GMA from prosecution for plunder, she or her allies can at least wangle certain concessions, possibly lucrative, from Malacañang.
These are the legacies of nine years under GMA.
The impeachment process has been turned into a farce, and a tool for political blackmail. At the opening of every session, some clown like Oliver Lozano will file an impeachment complaint, designed to be accepted by the House but dismissed, against the sitting president, to inoculate him or her from further complaints for one year.
The Office of the Ombudsman has become an extension of the Malacañang legal office.
Justice is for sale, with judges and justices kowtowing to Malacañang in hopes of getting a promotion. Even some Supreme Court justices are ready to obey Malacañang's whims in exchange for an appointment, to a diplomatic posting for example, upon their retirement.
GMA brought back GI Joe in exchange for US support for her presidency, and encouraged millions of Filipinos to go overseas for lack of decent job opportunities in their own land. She allowed runaway population growth, which made the best economic performance of her administration meaningless for the poor, in exchange for the support of the Catholic Church.
Following the leader, delicadeza in public service has disappeared, with every official hanging on to his or her post even when caught in a questionable activity or indicted for a criminal offense.
Since 2001, the country has steadily slid in all international surveys on competitiveness, transparency, quality of education and other human development indicators.
GMA will be remembered for lavish dinners, leaking breast implants and chasing Barack Obama.
Her final legacy is violence. Violence against media workers, 74 of whom have been killed under her watch, many at the hands of her political allies. Violence against militant activists, with the commander-in-chief heaping praise on military human rights violators and supporting the political career of the likes of Jovito Palparan. And violence against women, with the country's second female President refusing to even censure her deputy national security adviser even after he had bragged in public that he had beaten the mother of his children.
* * *
Now GMA wants Filipinos to have more of her, after nine years.
Not even the unimaginable horror of the Maguindanao massacre could make GMA rethink her game plan for her new path (she hopes) to perpetuate herself in power.
Clearly, this president is incapable of feeling the remotest responsibility for the slaughter of 57 people. No responsibility is felt for issuing an executive order in 2006 that effectively allowed political warlords to institutionalize, expand or create their private armies, in defiance of a constitutional ban, at taxpayers' expense.
No responsibility is felt for giving the Ampatuans carte blanche to run the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as they pleased, like private property, beyond the reach of the country's laws.
Tribal rules have long prevailed and clan feuds have simmered for a long time in the conflict areas of Mindanao. But coddling warlord clans in exchange for political support has worsened in the nine years under GMA, with the warlords engaging in organized crime and murdering opponents and critics with impunity.
The Maguindanao massacre was the worst manifestation of this impunity, this belief that one can expect to get away with butchering people.
The Ampatuans are accused of perpetrating the worst election-related violence in this country and the world's worst atrocity against journalists. But the President's spokeswoman, her distant relative, said the massacre was no reason for GMA to sever her friendship with her staunch allies the Ampatuans.
The massacre, perpetrated in the region of Lintang Bedol and Virgilio Garcillano, has given face to unspeakable evil. Coupled with the immoderate greed for power and all its perks, the projection of the 2010 race as a battle between good and evil will be sustained until May.
GMA will win; her Lubao town mates will see to that.
Her party's standard-bearer will lose. Gilbert Teodoro's message of "national healing" is coming off too much like forgive and forget, and the nation - except perhaps for GMA'S cabalens and the Ampatuans - are in no mood to forgive and forget.
By refusing to fade away graciously, GMA is making sure no one will forget the record of her administration, from Nani Perez and the alleged $2-million payoff during her first week in power up to last month's Maguindanao massacre. And there could be more cheating, stealing and killing before the 2010 votes are counted.
Charter change in the next administration, which the country can actually use, is bound to be another casualty of GMA's ambition. Post-June 30, 2010, Cha-cha will again be all about GMA if she wins, and having more of the same.
The Ampatuans are GMA's Frankenstein; she is ours.
By Ana Marie Pamintuan (The Philippine Star)
Updated December 02, 2009 12:00 AM
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is simply behaving true to form, so no one should be surprised that she hasn't had enough of power and is running for a seat in the House of Representatives. She is perfect for that house of iniquity and insatiable greed.
And the people of Lubao, Pampanga, many of them recipients of largesse from the family long associated (though never convicted of anything) with jueteng operations, the clan of Bong and Lilia Pineda, are expected to grant the President her wish for a continuation of her brand of public service.
GMA's relatives must have told her what a "rewarding" experience it can be. The 13th Congress has four presidential relatives feeding from the House trough: GMA sons Mikey and Dato, brother-in-law Iggy and Kasangga party-list Rep. Ma. Lourdes Arroyo.
As an "honorable" member of Congress, GMA won't be immune from criminal prosecution for offenses committed during her incumbency.
But a House seat will make her one step closer to the realization of her post-presidency game plan, as related by a reliable source: to vie for the speaker's post, then shepherd Charter change and a shift to a parliamentary system, under which she could try to become prime minister.
There are too many unpredictable factors in that game plan.
Failing in that, the reliable source told me that Plan B is to get as many of her allies as possible elected to House seats, so they can have the numbers if not to push the shift to a parliamentary system, then to blackmail whoever becomes the next president with impeachment.
If that weapon does not save GMA from prosecution for plunder, she or her allies can at least wangle certain concessions, possibly lucrative, from Malacañang.
These are the legacies of nine years under GMA.
The impeachment process has been turned into a farce, and a tool for political blackmail. At the opening of every session, some clown like Oliver Lozano will file an impeachment complaint, designed to be accepted by the House but dismissed, against the sitting president, to inoculate him or her from further complaints for one year.
The Office of the Ombudsman has become an extension of the Malacañang legal office.
Justice is for sale, with judges and justices kowtowing to Malacañang in hopes of getting a promotion. Even some Supreme Court justices are ready to obey Malacañang's whims in exchange for an appointment, to a diplomatic posting for example, upon their retirement.
GMA brought back GI Joe in exchange for US support for her presidency, and encouraged millions of Filipinos to go overseas for lack of decent job opportunities in their own land. She allowed runaway population growth, which made the best economic performance of her administration meaningless for the poor, in exchange for the support of the Catholic Church.
Following the leader, delicadeza in public service has disappeared, with every official hanging on to his or her post even when caught in a questionable activity or indicted for a criminal offense.
Since 2001, the country has steadily slid in all international surveys on competitiveness, transparency, quality of education and other human development indicators.
GMA will be remembered for lavish dinners, leaking breast implants and chasing Barack Obama.
Her final legacy is violence. Violence against media workers, 74 of whom have been killed under her watch, many at the hands of her political allies. Violence against militant activists, with the commander-in-chief heaping praise on military human rights violators and supporting the political career of the likes of Jovito Palparan. And violence against women, with the country's second female President refusing to even censure her deputy national security adviser even after he had bragged in public that he had beaten the mother of his children.
* * *
Now GMA wants Filipinos to have more of her, after nine years.
Not even the unimaginable horror of the Maguindanao massacre could make GMA rethink her game plan for her new path (she hopes) to perpetuate herself in power.
Clearly, this president is incapable of feeling the remotest responsibility for the slaughter of 57 people. No responsibility is felt for issuing an executive order in 2006 that effectively allowed political warlords to institutionalize, expand or create their private armies, in defiance of a constitutional ban, at taxpayers' expense.
No responsibility is felt for giving the Ampatuans carte blanche to run the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as they pleased, like private property, beyond the reach of the country's laws.
Tribal rules have long prevailed and clan feuds have simmered for a long time in the conflict areas of Mindanao. But coddling warlord clans in exchange for political support has worsened in the nine years under GMA, with the warlords engaging in organized crime and murdering opponents and critics with impunity.
The Maguindanao massacre was the worst manifestation of this impunity, this belief that one can expect to get away with butchering people.
The Ampatuans are accused of perpetrating the worst election-related violence in this country and the world's worst atrocity against journalists. But the President's spokeswoman, her distant relative, said the massacre was no reason for GMA to sever her friendship with her staunch allies the Ampatuans.
The massacre, perpetrated in the region of Lintang Bedol and Virgilio Garcillano, has given face to unspeakable evil. Coupled with the immoderate greed for power and all its perks, the projection of the 2010 race as a battle between good and evil will be sustained until May.
GMA will win; her Lubao town mates will see to that.
Her party's standard-bearer will lose. Gilbert Teodoro's message of "national healing" is coming off too much like forgive and forget, and the nation - except perhaps for GMA'S cabalens and the Ampatuans - are in no mood to forgive and forget.
By refusing to fade away graciously, GMA is making sure no one will forget the record of her administration, from Nani Perez and the alleged $2-million payoff during her first week in power up to last month's Maguindanao massacre. And there could be more cheating, stealing and killing before the 2010 votes are counted.
Charter change in the next administration, which the country can actually use, is bound to be another casualty of GMA's ambition. Post-June 30, 2010, Cha-cha will again be all about GMA if she wins, and having more of the same.
The Ampatuans are GMA's Frankenstein; she is ours.
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