Arroyo: I'm best person to lead

**explorer** · February 22nd, 2006 03:40 AM

Arroyo: I'm best person to lead
President sees no need to cut short her term

First posted 00:44am (Mla time) Feb 22, 2006
By Christine Avendano
Inquirer

Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Feb. 22, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

COUP ATTEMPTS and "sham" people power will be a thing of the past should the country shift to the parliamentary system, according to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and by her own reckoning she is the best person to lead the transition.

Speaking yesterday before the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap), the President also said she did not believe that once the parliamentary system of government was adopted, she would have to cut short her term.

She again raised the need to amend the 1987 Constitution, saying that doing so would "create greater political certainty" in the country.

Ms Arroyo expressed the belief that like the tough economic reforms she had been carrying out, amending the Charter would "unchain our society and allow it to grow and prosper."

There will be no need for "coups and sham people power" in a parliamentary government, and as Charter change gets under way, she would continue to focus on the economy and implement her reforms, she said.

"And let me also make clear: I believe I am the best person to lead this nation through this transition," she said.

But at an earlier forum, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona warned of "guerrilla warfare" from groups "being pushed to the limits" by Ms Arroyo's continued stay in office.

Guingona said the guerrilla warfare would be similar to the struggle against martial law, and even to the Filipino resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II.

"[The authorities] will have the momentum at the beginning, but the resistance will continue," Guingona said. "That will be tantamount to civil war, and we don't like that. It's not the right solution."

Honoring EDSA I

Ms Arroyo, who is being criticized for choosing to mark the 20th anniversary of EDSA I with a low-key commemoration, said Filipinos should "honor the struggle of EDSA by continuing to reform our political system," among other things.

"The world embraced EDSA I in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA II in 2001," she said in a speech at the Focap forum at the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.

"The world will not forgive an EDSA III but instead will condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable, and the Filipinos as among the finest people in the world but who manage to shoot themselves in the foot," the President said.

She warned that under an EDSA III, the country would neither be able to court investments from abroad nor bring social justice to the people.

'Nothing'

Asked what it would take her to resign, Ms Arroyo said: "Nothing."

"If I remember right, President [Corazon] Aquino had her share of [resignation] calls, and there were bloody coup [attempts during her term], but she did not resign," Ms Arroyo said of her former ally, who has also called on her to step down.

She added: "I have a mandate from the people. I have been proclaimed. The Supreme Court has not overturned my proclamation, and so therefore I have a term until 2010 and I intend to serve out that term."

Ms Arroyo also said she was elected to make difficult decisions, and had indeed made them.

"Not without mistakes on my part and certainly without significant criticism," she said, adding:

"But I have the experience of hindsight and I aim to fulfill my term with a steady hand on the helm."

Palace officials had earlier said that should the Charter change process call for the President to cut her term short if parliamentary elections were held in 2007, she would comply.

But when asked yesterday to comment on the matter, Ms Arroyo said: "I don't think Charter change would result in that."

The sooner, the better

The President said she hoped the country would have a new Constitution and a new system of government soon.

"The sooner this happens, the sooner we would be able to move the country forward," she said.

She also said reforming the "poisoned political system" was one of two measures that would address the continuing rifts in society.

"The divisiveness in our country that came about with the two EDSAs has not yet been solved," she said, adding that this was why the country continued to have "rogue elements."

According to Ms Arroyo, the government needs to provide the people with services they deserve "because poverty is the most important recruitment ground for any destabilization."

"It is not the coups that we are concerned about. What we should address are the destabilizers," she said.

Ms Arroyo said the rogue elements would not succeed, and reiterated her "great faith and trust in the loyalty" of the military and the police.

She cited the arrest yesterday of the fugitive mutineer Lieutenant Lawrence San Juan at a checkpoint in Batangas province.

Bully in schoolyard

Asked what she had been doing to unite the forces of the two EDSAs, the President said she had called for unity "many times before."

"And I am still open to unity for those who are willing to accept an invitation," she said. "But really, I have stopped chasing the bully around the schoolyard, and I am working for fundamental political reforms so that divisive elements in our system will be a thing of the past."

Asked if the bully she had stopped chasing was a reference to former President Aquino, Ms Arroyo replied curtly: "I don't want to speak about personalities. One of the things that we must reform in our system is, we must have a new politics of policies rather than personalities."

In her speech, the President vowed to pursue political reform to ensure "greater stability" and to "diminish the political effect on the Philippine economy."

"Political maneuvering has become our most active industry," she lamented, citing "people who parlayed their presence in EDSA a long time ago into a lifetime franchise of working against governments whose leaders do not curtsy before them."

Civil disobedience

Guingona, who served as Ms Arroyo's vice president from 2001 to 2004, spoke on Monday night at the forum "What's Next...?" sponsored by the Concerned Men for a Better Philippines at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.

He said the Arroyo administration's plans to shift to the parliamentary system and its proposed antiterrorism bill were fueling public agitation.

If these are pushed through, "the challenge will no longer be peaceful ... but of guerrilla warfare in the days to come," he said.

Guingona said "civil disobedience" was another option being studied.

He said civil disobedience could be expressed through the nonpayment of taxes or withdrawal of support from the government by the bureaucracy, and even by students going on a weeklong vacation with the consent of their parents and their school administrations.

Muslims' support

At the open forum, Nikki Hayudeni, secretary general of the Muslim organization Assalam, said his group would back civil disobedience in Mindanao.

"We will lead in the nonpayment of taxes in the Muslim areas in Mindanao," Hayudeni said.

Stickers calling for civil disobedience were distributed to those who attended the forum.

The stickers bore the pictures of San Juan and other escaped mutineers – Captain Nathaniel Rabonza and 1st Lieutenants Patricio Bumidang and Sonny Sarmiento.

The mutineers have also called for civil disobedience to bring down the Arroyo administration.

**Flagg** · February 22nd, 2006 05:36 AM

Sad thing is its's true. Sino po ang pamalit sa kanya? Sana the opposition would get its act together and push for a change in the proper way. Instead, palagi sila nauunahan sa impeachment ng lawyer na yun whose filings seem to be messed up on purpose. Tapos wala silang clear candidate to serve as a rallying point.

Tama na po yung destabilization, both Chacha & insurrection. May minor economic recovery now, let's not destroy this new chance. We missed out in '89, missed out again nung '97, sana po we don't miss out on '06.

**explorer** · February 22nd, 2006 06:32 AM

Originally Posted by flagg

Sad thing is its's true. Sino po ang pamalit sa kanya? Sana the opposition would get its act together and push for a change in the proper way. Instead, palagi sila nauunahan sa impeachment ng lawyer na yun whose filings seem to be messed up on purpose. Tapos wala silang clear candidate to serve as a rallying point.

Tama na po yung destabilization, both Chacha & insurrection. May minor economic recovery now, let's not destroy this new chance. We missed out in '89, missed out again nung '97, sana po we don't miss out on '06.

so only GMA is the best and the rest of the 85 millions are id!ots?

**onat_1** · February 22nd, 2006 06:38 AM

sya ang the best to lead sa dayaan ng mga boto ng tao!

**margaux** · February 22nd, 2006 07:12 AM

Well, I hate political issues but there's only 1 question on my mind.... how the heck does she keep on holding on to that position??? Or why is she still there????

**Altis6453** · February 22nd, 2006 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by margaux

Well, I hate political issues but there's only 1 question on my mind.... how the heck does she keep on holding on to that position??? Or why is she still there????

Simple and sad fact. The AFP and her alliance with FVR is what's keeping her in power.

On the matter of her being the "best person" to lead this country, what good is that if she can't be transparent?

**Karding** · February 22nd, 2006 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by explorer

so only GMA is the best and the rest of the 85 millions are id!ots?

hindi naman siguro idiots, unelectable lang kahit na more qualified than GMA.

**baiskee** · February 22nd, 2006 09:19 AM

i think constitutionally speaking...

hindi naman kasi pwedeng basta...basta papasok ibang tao eh. gulo talaga mangyayari.

siguro sinasabi nya yan kung ang pagpipilian eh sya o si kabayang VP.

pero sira na kredibilidad ni GMA dito sa pilipinas eh...