Long live the Queen?

EDITORIAL

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11/22/2008

Gloria Arroyo, along with her spouse, never gives up on her quest for political longevity.

Even as she and her aides claim she is definitely stepping down in 2010, as the Constitution says, there she and her congressmen were, launching her term extension through a Charter change (Cha-cha) via the Constituent Assembly (Con-ass) last Saturday, at the Forbes Park home of Rep. Martin Romualdez.

A little over nine years just aren’t enough to satisfy her lust and greed for power and position.

Yet she knows she is hated by the Filipino people, who not only distrust her but also see her as the most corrupt president the nation has ever had and knows as well that she would never win in an honest election as President. She already had to cheat in 2004, just to retain her usurped power. And to get around the ban on her reelection, along with her nil chances of winning a national election, Gloria, tapping her congressmen allies who also look forward to staying in power forever without term limits, goes into the Charter change mode, through the Con-ass style, for a shift in government systems, such as a parliamentary system under a federal form of government.

Under a parliamentary system, Gloria will now be eligible to run in 2010, on a district level as an assemblyman who will end up as prime minister. It should be a cakewalk in getting the top post under the new system, and cheaper too, since she only has to buy off, with public funds too, a majority of the assemblymen, who are used to being paid off anyway as it will be the same congressmen that will be the elected assemblymen.

And as she always says, she doesn’t care if the surveys show her to be the most unpopular and corrupt leader who is most distrusted by the Filipinos. Why should she care, when she can always get what she wants through hundreds of millions — nay, billions — payoffs, whether in Congress, or in the judiciary, or even in media.

Yet even as her plans for political longevity are exposed, she and her aides continue to claim that she will be out by 2010, and that all she wants is to focus on the economy to ensure that she would hand her successor a prosperous economy.

Her chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, even had he gumption to say that Gloria’s word is as good as gold. Perhaps so, but only when she starts distributing the gold to her congressional allies — to get what she wants from them, which is to ensure for her and her kin and cronies power and position for years and years to come.

Why should anyone believe Gloria or her aides, especially when it comes to Gloria’s word, which is absolutely bereft of honor?

When Press Secretary Jesus Dureza came up with that prayer for Gloria to reign beyond 2010, Gloria made it appear that she was “dismayed,” while Dureza followed it up with another lie, such as the rest of his prayer having been drowned out, then saying that Gloria and the Cabinet had a good laugh over it, only to come up with yet another lie, which was that he got a scolding from Gloria and that she was really mad at him for coming up with that beyond 2010 prayer.

She was so mad that she and her spouse were reportedly grinning from ear to ear as Romualdez and some 80 congressmen were fed with “bon-bons” and pledged their signatures for her term extension as Cha-cha was launched?

One is reminded of Gloria’s vow in December 2002, when she claimed she would no longer seek the presidency in 2004 because she was a major cause for the nation’s disunity.

It didn’t take long for First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo to come up with a petition for Gloria to run in 2004, as it was bared by the Tribune that Arroyo was seen getting tax-drivers to sign up, in exchange for accident insurance policies plus their cola and balut. And this faked clamor for Gloria to run went on and on, courtesy of her local executives who were well-fed too by the Arroyos.

This time around, even as she claims not to want to stay longer than 2010 in Malacañang, there went her son, Rep. Mikey Arroyo and Rep. Martin Romualdez, getting the congressmen to sign up for the Con-ass to change the Charter.

Never trust the word of Gloria or her kin. They grabbed power in 2001 through foul means. They aren’t letting anyone take that power from them ever.

But as they say in monarchies, “The Queen is dead. Long live the King!”

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