No delicadeza

EDITORIAL

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12/02/2008

Of all the congressmen who are determined to push Charter change, to the point of getting other congressmen to sign up for the convening of a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass), it shouldn’t be Presidential son, Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo pushing Cha-cha.

If he had a shred of delicadeza in him, such moves shouldn’t come from him. But he — along with his parents --- doesn’t seem to have that word in their vocabulary.

It is his mother who is in power and position, and in the perception of majority of the Filipinos, Cha-cha is her means to perpetuate herself. So why should the son insist on pushing Cha-cha through a Con-ass then claim that this isn’t for her longevity in office?

Would it not be more credible if Mikey came up to say he is against Cha-cha, because this would give rise to speculations that his mother wants to stay in power longer, if not indefinitely?

So Mikey says his mother is against term extensions and that he himself is against term extensions, insisting that all he really wants in the Cha-cha moves is the removal of economic restrictions in the Constitution, which he said would bring in foreign investments.

That being the case, why then are he and Rep. Martin Romualdez moving for a different resolution that calls for a Con-ass when there is also that resolution from Speaker Prospero Nograles on Cha-cha but limited only to the economic provisions? And why, to this day, no copy of that resolution is being bared?

The answer obviously, is that he and his mother, along with their allies in Congress, are hatching up the plan to ensure Gloria Arroyo’s political longevity.

After all, without his mother in the Malacañang throne, neither he nor his brother stands a chance of having even a seat in the House of Representatives, let alone a seat in the Senate.

Would Mikey have become a vice governor, then a congressman all that time if his mother wasn’t in Malacañang?

And would his brother Dato, who ran for a seat in Camarines, have won, if his mother wasn’t president, albeit a bogus one? And where would they be when their mother is out of power, since they certainly can’t win a seat on their own steam?

She’s out, they’re out and well do they know it. Worse, more than their being out of power, they, especially their parents, will certainly have to start facing a lot of music that will blast their eardrums, which is why Gloria has this urgent need to stay in power longer and even indefinitely.

Mikey, as well as his parents, certainly know that a Con-ass, if and when convened, cannot be limited to economic provisions, even if there is a resolution calling for the scrapping of the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution. Anybody in Congress can propose any amendment, including term extensions, postponement of elections, as well as a shift from the presidential to the parliamentary system.

While it is probably accurate to state that there are a lot of Filipinos — even a vast majority — who are for Cha-cha, that change is also anchored on Cha-cha being tackled after Gloria ends her term, in 2010 because if Mikey still hasn’t gotten the message, the fact is that Filipinos want her out of Malacañang — the sooner the better.

And who ever said the word of an Arroyo is honored, or even deemed credible?

Before she grabbed power unconstitutionally, she told all and sundry that she would not support a candidacy for her son. That was the earliest political vow she made, and broken quickly, as she not only did not stop her son from running, but even campaigned actively for him in Pampanga.

Then, on the Monday that she stepped into Malacañang as president, she told the Palace employees during the flag-raising ceremony that she was not out to be a great president; only a “good” president. Yet on that same day, she, the avowed “good president” and her Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, already closed a deal with Impsa and got a bribe of $14 million for the sovereign guarantee.

The worst of course was the vow she made in December 2002, saying she would no longer seek the presidency in 2004. As everyone knows, she did.

Now she, her son and allies say that she is against term extensions, and they expect the Filipinos to buy that?

Their word and assurances are meaningless. Words always are meaningless, for those who are consumed with greed for continued power.

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