GMA throws political system askew

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo unleashed a political bombshell that left the country’s already chaotic politics askew. Nothing could have been better calculated to put both her party mates and the opposition in complete disarray and confusion.

For the moment, everyone is singing hosannas to her. And hailing her gesture as heroic and self-sacrificing. Which it is. No one in Philippine political history has given up on seeking the top position – the Presidency.

There’s quite a difference between public pronouncements and private talks. And politicians are adept practitioners of double-talk. They pay public tribute to the heroic act of the President. In private, the talk veers toward "what’s in store for me?, how do I benefit from this move?"

Even now, however, speculations are starting to run riot. Contrary to what the President had intended – to promote unity.

Thus, there are already various ideas about the possibility of former President Fidel V. Ramos running again for the top post. And the rigodon is being bruited about. Former Education Secretary Raul Roco, Senator Juan Flavier, Senator Panfilo Lacson, down to Senator Edgardo Angara, etc. The talks center on who could be the best positioned to run for the presidency, in both the opposition and the party in power.

The confusion is just as serious among the presidential party-mates. And in Negros Occidental, the talk centered mostly on whether brother-in-law Ignacio Arroyo would go through with his plan to run for the 5th District. So with the mayoralty ambitions of former Bacolod Councilor Ricardo Tan.

Of course, the majority coalition – the Negros Alliance – remains unfazed by the confusing signals. Confusing from the partisan point of view.

Speculations ran that Ignacio may have to give up his ambition to run for the seat currently held by Rep. Apolinario Lozada (5th). Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) had earlier played the role of mediator between the two during the Christmas holidays.

Local politics is certainly more or less divorced from the national. But in the case of Arroyo, it is something that will be much more directly influenced by the President’s decision not to vie for Malacañang in 2004.

Suspicions were raised that Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Franklin Fuentebella may have known more than what he had owned. He resigned his position, contending that he preferred to remain in the private sector.

But the worst affected are presidential cronies and allies. Now, they can’t be sure that the President won’t run after them as she has vowed to cleanse the country of corruption. Of course, these are the usual name-droppers. They pose like they were given the imprimatur to use the names of the power-that-be.

The rules of the game have changed. The President no longer have to please power centers. She just will have to do what she thinks is right and damn the torpedoes.

That’s an unprecedented posture. So far, people are watching with bated breath what she will do next. Meanwhile the game will continue to unravel as they had already been unleashed in the past.

One thing sure, though, now that she had given Justice Secretary Hernani Perez the heave ho, the people are watching carefully how she is going to handle the many exposes against some of her subalterns and allies.

But there is no gainsaying that La Gloria, despite skepticism by some, will still confound the country when she acts the role of the non-political head of state.

She should not be a lameduck president. But there are those who contend otherwise. That’ a story that bears watching.

But, whether her revolutionary message spells the difference or not, she will go down in history as the President who gave up all for the sake of the country. One can’t expect more from a lady-President.

Cha-Cha

For Senator John Osmena, however, that presidential pledge should provide the best opportunity to push through with charter change.

He vowed to work for the amendment of the Constitution for the entire year. That argument for federalism is that this is not a homogenous country. We do not have the same problems throughout the country," was how Osmena point it out.

This was echoed by Rep. Puentevella who said that Congress will be busy the first three months on constitutional change, pointing out that the President’s announcement will hasten the proposed amendment of the charter.

Osmena for his part, said that the downside to the president’s position is that it may be bad for business. Businessmen, he pointed out, do not like uncertainty. Investment in the country may slow down.

Her also describe the possibility of a mad scramble for people who want to become president.

"Even if they may privately not believe her, they will certainty act as if they believe her because that will bear their way of promoting their interests," was how Osmeña described the potential scenario.

Firecrackers casualty

In some areas of the country, there may have been premature rejoicing with the reported decrease in the number of firecracker victims. Not so in Negros Occidental where the 55 persons listed so far represented an increase of 55 percent over last year’s 36.

But the worst incident was the shooting of Senior Inspector Rodrigo Posadas of Pulupandan by his deputy SPO4 Antonio Grande.

Grande who yielded to Senior Supt. Vicente Ponteras, provincial PNP chief, was immediately disarmed and restricted to Camp Alfredo Montelibano Sr.

Posadas survived the incident. Except for the Pulupandan incident there has been no reported event involving policemen, Ponteras disclosed.

It so happened I was in Manila when Greenbelt III held its fireworks spectacular. Thousands crowded the balconies overlooking the mini park. It was a brief presentation, but it awed the crowd. Many includes the elite of Makati.

Later, I learned that the same spectacle was sponsored by the Talisay City government. That helped reduce the number of firecracker casualties. The people simply flocked to the fireworks display.

Perhaps, as in Davao City, that’s a matter that local government units should sponsor yearly. That’s the only way to reduce the number of casualties from illegal pyrotechnics, since local government units can’t seem to enforce the rules and regulations, the best approach is to come up with spectaculars like those of Davao City and Manila.