By Raissa Robles

Enrile

Arroyo

The political world has again turned upside down, with Senate President Juan Ponce  Enrile defending President Benigno Aquino III against criticisms from Senator Joker Arroyo. You see, Enrile jailed Noynoy Aquino’s dad, while Joker Arroyo was his dad’s long-time lawyer.

According to a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, Joker Arroyo bluntly told his late client’s son whom he used to see in short pants: “This is not a good beginning” for his presidency.

(more…)

Opinion

By Raissa Robles

Arroyo the Doomsayer

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accurately predicted her own political doom years before this happened.

On December 30, 2002, before the shrine of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal whose death we commemorated that day, Arroyo said that whoever would be elected president in 2004 would fail:

The government in place after 2004 may merely end up inheriting a country as deeply divided as ever. Consequently, we may end up stalling national growth for a few years more as a result of lost momentum.

In view of all these factors, I have decided not to run for President during the election of 2004.

Holy Moses! Do you remember her saying that?

By the  way,  I thought of writing this entry because today is Rizal’s birthday. (Happy Birthday, Doc. )

Anyway, eight years ago, Arroyo was right on the money about the 2004 elections when she said:

My reading on the political winds tells me that the 2004 election may well go down in history as among our most bitterly contested elections ever. This is because of the deep social and political division that we now have.

If this is true, then sincere efforts to launch programs will run the risk of being derailed by political fighting leading up to the elections.

She made a bold and accurate prediction:

The government in place after 2004 may merely end up inheriting a country as deeply divided as ever. Consequently, we may end up stalling national growth for a few years more as a result of lost momentum.

And then she swore  to the entire Filipino nation and to the spirit of Rizal:

In view of all these factors, I have decided not to run for President during the election of 2004.

If I were to run, it will require a major political effort on my part. But since I’m among the principal figures in the divisive national events for the last two or three years, my political efforts can only result in never-ending divisiveness.

Aside from not running, she made three other promises:

On the other hand, relieved of the burden of politics, I can devote the last year and half of my administration to the following:

1. First, strengthening economy; to create more jobs and to encourage business activities that is unhampered by corruption and red tape in government.
2. Second, healing the deep divisions within our society.
3. Third, working for clean and honest elections in 2004.

Did she really say “clean and honest elections in 2004″? Please punch me. I want to see if I’m awake.

She closed her speech by saying:

If we achieve these, my successor as President will be in a good position to lead the Philippines through the next decisive steps for the strong and modern society. United, we can see this dream come true within our lifetime.

Thus, I appeal to each Filipino to help in this endeavor. Following the example of Jose Rizal, let us think of country and not just of self.

Thank You and Happy New Year.

Happy New Year this  June 30, Mrs. President.

By Raissa Robles

How should Filipinos handle that awkward moment when a widely reviled president hands over power to a wildly popular president?

With the same pizzazz that the Filipino nation did 57 years ago when the defeated President Elpidio Quirino turned over the reins of power to President Ramon Magsaysay.

I scoured our books for a description of Magsaysay’s December 30, 1953 inauguration.

Photo by Raissa Robles

A 1956 pocketbook entitled “The Magsaysay Story”, written by Carlos P. Romulo and Marvin M. Gray yielded the following gem.

Just to put things in context, Magsaysay was Quirino’s defense secretary while Romulo was his foreign affairs secretary. Both men shocked and outraged Quirino by running against him in 1953.

But Romulo was forced to drop out of the race early on when his ghost-written acceptance speech was found to contain many passages lifted from a speech by American politician Adlai Stevenson.

Romulo found a way to bounce back politically, though, by writing about the highly popular Magsaysay.

In his book, Romulo wrote that on that fateful day of the inauguration, Magsaysay drove up the doors of Malacañang Palace to fetch Quirino in an open Ford convertible – then considered a “low-priced car” – instead of the Presidential Chrysler limo that Quirino was accustomed to.

“Quirino, a stickler for protocol, stood frozen with horror before the Palace doors, staring at the Ford,” Romulo wrote.

President Magsaysay wanted President Quirino to board a Ford on his inauguration

Quirino had not at all wanted to join Magsaysay “in his triumphal journey to the Luneta” and did so “with the greatest reluctance,” Romulo added.

Quirino’s aides were deathly afraid that when the car bearing both men inched its way through the thick crowd that lined all the streets to Luneta, people would boo Quirino.

They need not have feared, Romulo said,  because “Magsaysay had circulated warnings against any demonstrations of disrespect against the outgoing president of the Republic.”

But Quirino politely refused to get into the Ford, pointing out to Magsaysay that only the official Chrysler  limo would do for such an “epochal ceremony.”

A 1953 four-door Chrysler limousine

Magsaysay gave in to his request.

Before they drove to Luneta together, the ritual included a ceremonial gesture from Quirino of ushering Magsaysay into the Palace, with all the reporters and photographers trotting after both men to record every action and every word.

Graciously, Quirino brought Magsaysay into his office, gestured toward the presidential chair and invited Magsaysay to “try it on for size.”  This scene was frozen in time by a photographer who snapped the photo below:

Try this chair for size, President Quiriino tells his successor, President Magsaysay - Photo from "The Magsaysay Story"

The gesture broke the awkwardness and, Romulo claimed,  “the affection Magsaysay
had once felt for Quirino, like that of a son might feel for a parent”  returned long enough to enable both politicians to endure the long awkward ride to Luneta.

This June 30, it is not yet certain if Arroyo will accompany in the same car the student whom she once  gave a grade of B+ in her economics class, especially after he reiterated that he would make her face all the corruption scandals she had successfully dodged since 2005.

The Luneta ride will be part of the beginning of her Calvary since it will herald his triumph and her utter defeat.

A democracy requires its leaders and people to set aside rancor during such a power transition.

Besides, the wild exultant cheers for a beloved leader is the most resounding rebuke of all against a  disgraced politician.

By Raissa Robles

Even before stepping down, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is frantically rewriting
the history of her presidency.

Even though she detests ABS-CBN, she recently gave the TV network an interview, where she     declared that she had fulfilled her promise to the Filipino people to right the economy:

When I became president, I set out to focus on the economy, and I believe I’ve put the economy at the primacy of the country, and that includes the need for education. And it’s important we focus and work hard to keep our sights on the future. And the focus on economy is there, and I think it should remain there.

That, of course, is not what she promised the nation that momentous day of January 20,2001 when the presidency fell on her lap and she said:

To ensure that our gains are not dissipated through corruption, we must improve moral standards. As we do so, we create fertile ground for good governance based on a sound moral foundation, a philosophy of transparency, and an ethic of effective implementation.

Personally, as a Filipino citizen, I would judge Arroyo according to what she set out to do when she was first sworn into office.

And so I am reprinting below her inaugural speech on January 20, 2001, to serve as the yardstick for determining whether or not she fulfilled her promises to you and to me,  to our children and our children’s children.

Interestingly, this speech is not on the Malacañang Palace website. Perhaps she wants us to forget  she ever said these things:

In all humility, I accept the presidency of the Republic.

I do so with both trepidation and a sense of awe.

Trepidation, because it is now, as the good book says, a time to heal and a time to build. The task is formidable, and so I pray that we will all be one, one in our priorities, one in our values and commitments and one because of Edsa 2001.

Sense of awe, because the Filipino has done it again on the hallowed ground of
Edsa.

People power and the “one-ness” of will and vision have made a new beginning
possible. I cannot, therefore, at this point, but recall Ninoy Aquino’s words:

“I have carefully weighed the virtues and the faults of the Filipino, and I have come to the conclusion that he is worth dying for.”

As we break from the past in our quest for a new Philippines, the unity, the Filipino’s sense of history, and his unshakable faith in the Almighty that prevailed in Edsa ’86 and Edsa 2001 will continue to guide and inspire us.

I am certain that Filipinos of unborn generations will look back with pride to Edsa 2001, just as we look back with pride to Mactan, the Katipunan and other revolts, Bataan and Corregidor, Edsa ’86 and Edsa 2001.

I am certain that pride will reign supreme as they recall the heroism and sacrifices and prayers of Jaime Cardinal Sin, former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, the legislators who fought the good fight in Congress, the leaders whose principles were beyond negotiation, the witnesses in the impeachment trial who did not count the cost of testifying, the generals in the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police, and the Filipino out there who stood up to be counted in these troubled times.

The Filipino, crises and all, is truly worth living and dying for.

But pray, where do we go from here?

Jose Rizal, the first to articulate self-determination in a free society, provides the answer.

Rizal counseled the Filipino to lead a life of commitment. He must think national, go beyond self.

A stone is worthless, Rizal wrote, if it is not part of an edifice.

We are the stones, and the Philippines is our edifice.

On many occasions I have given my views on what our program of government
should be. This is not the time or place to repeat them all. However, I can tell you that they converge on four core beliefs.

1. We must be bold in our national ambitions, so that our challenge must be
that within this decade, we will win the fight against poverty.

2. We must improve moral standards in government and society, in order to
provide a strong foundation for good governance.

3. We must change the character of our politics, in order to create fertile
ground for true reforms. Our politics of personality and patronage must give way to a new politics of party programs and process of dialogue with the people.

4. Finally, I believe in leadership be example. We should promote solid traits such as work ethic and a dignified lifestyle, matching action to rhetoric, performing rather than grandstanding.

The first of my core beliefs pertains to the elimination of (poverty). This is our unfinished business from the past. It dates back to the creation of our Republic, whose seeds were sown in the revolution launched in 1896 by the plebeian Andres Bonifacio. It was an unfinished revolution, for to this day poverty remains our national problem. We need to complete “what Andres Bonifacio began. The ultimate solution to poverty has both a political and an economic aspect. Let me first talk about the political aspect.

In doing so, I will refer to one of my core beliefs, that of the need for new politics. Politics and political power as traditionally practiced and used in the Philippines are among the roots of the social and economic inequities that characterize our national problems. Thus, to achieve true reforms, we need to outgrow our traditional brand of politics based on patronage and personality.

Traditional politics is the politics of the status quo. It is a structural part of our problem.

We need to promote a new politics of true party programs and platforms, of an
institutional process of dialogue with our citizenry. This new politics is the politics of genuine reform. It is a structural part of the solution.

We have long accepted the need to level the paying field in business and economics. Now, we must accept the need to level the playing field in politics as
well. We have long aspired to be a world class economy. Now, we must also aspire
to develop world class political system, one in tune with the 21st century.

The world of the 21st century that our youth will inherit is truly a new economy, where relentless forces such as capital market flows and advances in information and communications technology create both peril and opportunity.

To tap the opportunities, we need an economic philosophy of transparency and
private enterprise, for these are the catalysts that (nurture) the entrepreneurial
spirit to be globally competitive.

To extend the opportunities to our rural countryside, we must create a modernized and socially equitable agricultural sector.

To address the perils, we must give a social bias to balance our economic development, and these are embodied in safety nets for sectors affected by globalization, and safeguards for our environment.

To ensure that our gains are not dissipated through corruption, we must improve (moral standards). As we do so,’ we create fertile ground for good governance based on a sound moral foundation, a philosophy of transparency, and an ethic of effective implementation.

Considering the divisions of today, our commitment will entail a lot of sacrifices among us all, as work to restore the dignity and pre-eminence of the Filipino.

Join me therefore as we begin to tear down the walls that divide. Let us build
an edifice of peace, progress and economic stability.

People power has dramatized the Filipino’s capacity for greatness.

I ask for your support and prayers. Together, we will light the healing and cleansing flame.

This we owe to the Philippines. This we owe to every Filipino.

Thank you and may the good Lord bless us all.

Exclusive

By Raissa Robles

By tomorrow Monday, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will barely have any cabinet secretaries left to convene a cabinet meeting and will no longer have her favorite, favorite general Delfin Bangit at her official beck and call.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is right. General Bangit’s term of office as Armed forces Chief-of-Staff has just lapsed. Enrile said Bangit is now considered bypassed because he failed to get the nod of the Commission on Appointments (CA).

Enrile should know what he’s talking about. The Constitution designates the Senate President as the ex-officio Chairman of the CA. Its members consists of 12 other senators and 12 congressmen.  The CA is the Constitutional check on the president’s appointing powers.

But let me digress a bit to explain how President Arroyo has found herself in this strange mess of her own making, where at least 14 of her cabinet secretaries are now suddenly jobless:

1. Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral
2. Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales
3. Justice Secretary Alberto Agra
4. Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla
5. Budget Secretary Joaquin C. Lagonera Sr.
6. Education secretary Mona Valisno
7. Energy Secretary Jose Ibazeta
8. Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos
9. Public Works Secretary Victor Asis Domingo
10. Social Welfare Secretary Celia C. Yangco
11. Trade Secretary Thomas G. Aquino
12. Transport Secretary Anneli R. Lontoc
13. Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos
14. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque

[I would have added the Press Secretary but I've lost track who he or she is  since Cerge Remonde died. I'm also not very familiar which military generals, besides the military chief, have lapsed appointments. Someone will have to help figure this out. Maybe reporters Butch Fernandez or Fel Maragay can since they've covered Senate for a long time.]

Only the following cabinet secretaries can show up for any cabinet meeting since they have previously been confirmed for their current positions:

1. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves
2. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo
3. Local Governments Secretary Ronnie Puno
4. Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman
5. Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro
6. Tourism Secretary Joseph Durano

If the 14 cabinet ministers who have not been confirmed insist on continuing in office, they could be charged with usurpation of authority, graft and corruption (because they would be spending government money while discharging cabinet functions, using government vehicles – you get the drift). Any contract they enter into would be void.

How this came to pass

For years, whenever Congress went on recess, Mrs Arroyo always issued what is called “ad-interim appointments.” Whenever the CA bypasses an appointed official, the appointment would lapse the moment Congress went on another recess. During the recess, Mrs Arroyo would simply reappoint the same official to the same post.

This became so blatantly routine that in 2007, Senator Benigno Aquino III proposed a law to stop this disrespect of Congress. [Presidents were supposed to take the hint that any official bypassed so many times should be replaced by someone else.]

Then Senator Aquino noted in his Senate Bill 1719 that:

In fact, a Cabinet official who has been successively by-passed for fifteen (15) times in a span of three (3) years have been re-appointed by the President and allowed to continue performing the functions reserved only to those officials whose nominations have been confirmed by the CA.

To read a copy of Senator Aquino’s bill, click on this.

He proposed that anyone bypassed thrice by the CA should be considered “ineligible” for that post. His bill was naturally tabled by Arroyo’s Senate allies.

So Pres. Arroyo went on doing it. Last year, when quite a number of cabinet secretaries resigned to run for office or to get more plum and tenured posts extending beyond her presidency, Arroyo again started shifting cabinet secretaries around much like a decorator rearranges  furniture.

When March 10,2010 came, the 14 cabinet secretaries I mentioned had not been
confirmed for their CURRENT POSITIONS by the CA. For instance, Dr. Cabral was earlier confirmed as Social Welfare Secretary but not as Health Secretary.

March 10 ushered a situation that happens only once every six years during a presidential election.

March 10 was when the ban on presidential appointments came into effect for the just-ended campaign period. The Constitution’s Article VII Section 15 on the Executive Department states that:

Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.

Mrs Arroyo skirted this ban by antedating appointments, including General Bangit’s, before March 10.

However, there is another Constitutional provision that President Arroyo and her presidential palace minions apparently forgot until it was too late. That was why her congressional allies were frantically trying to convene the Commission on Appointments recently.

Paragraph 2,  Section 16 of the same Article VII of the Constitution clearly states:

The President shall have the power to make appointments during the recess of the Congress, whether voluntary or compulsory, but such appointments shall be effective only until disapproval by the Commission on Appointment or until the next adjournment of the Congress [italics mine].

Lemme see. This means the designation of 14 cabinet secretaries as well as that of General Bangit – whose appointment papers were all signed while Congress was on recess or during the campaign period – all these designations lapsed the moment Congress adjourned once again.

And Congress adjourned last Friday. Sorry, President-elect Aquino, there is barely an Arroyo cabinet to meet with your cabinet secretary-designates for the transition.

Oops.