Church dares GMA to prove worth

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is facing a great challenge to convince the public that she is a deserving president, said the Cebu Archdiose in it’s editorial in the latest issue of Bag-ong Lungsoranon, the archdiocese official publication.

The editorial was drawn from the president’s recent State of the Nation Address, which the church said had received both praises, from her supporters, and criticism, from her detractors.

The church acknowledged the opinions of the supporters and critics of Arroyo but it believed that the only measure of veracity of her SONA is herself to prove to the people that what her administration has been doing and is about to do from hereon are for their own welfare.

The Lungsoranon editorial did not criticize the contents of the SONA itself but it conveyed the importance of acknowledging how “Juan de la Cruz,” or the common people, actually feel or experience in this tough economic situation of the country.

Words or statistics are not enough to convince people of bright times ahead, especially if they are still in long queues just to buy the cheapest rice, forced to walk just to save on high jeepney fares due to high fuel prices, among other trying ways to cope with the hardships.

“Walay pulong ug pasalig ni bisan kinsa, lakip ug labi na sa presidente, nga makapatuo sa mga tawo nga maayo ug lig-on ang atong estado (no words or promises from any one, including and more so from the president, which can convince the people that our situation is good and strong),” said the editorial.

The editorial also said that any extensive and scholarly studies on economics or financial administration, which are usually presented in statistics, can convince the people who, the church said, had their own measure or parameter in looking at the true condition of the country.

Not even the communist rebels or the sectors, tagged as political destabilizers or power grabbers, are the biggest threat to Arroyo’s administration but the poor and hungry people who are walking through the paved roads that she had been building through the tough times of her government, the church said.

Citing the challenge that Arroyo is now facing, the church encouraged the people to tell the government and urge her to fulfill her vows to improve the situation of the country for the betterment of all.

This is the only way for Arroyo to convince the people that she is a deserving president, said Lungsoranon. — Jessica Ann Pareja/RAE