"This nation is at a crossroads. Quite simply, it must reform or perish," the President told some 700 foreign diplomats, top legislators and magistrates as well as government, military and police officials at the traditional vin d’honneur at Malacañang.
Financial markets had awaited the President’s first public statement since announcing she would not run for president in 2004 but lamented that her speech was "short on specifics."
The President said that "starting tomorrow and in the weeks to come" she would unveil "a series of programs I believe needs to be embraced if this nation is to succeed."
"There can be no falling back," she said. "Only the vested interests have something to fall back on, though not for long. Either this country moves forward or dies."
Mrs. Arroyo lamented that she had made "many powerful enemies" because of her "many good reform-oriented decisions" over the past 20 months. But she did not name her supposed enemies.
She specifically mentioned her decisions on the tax shares of local government units, land reform, the new passenger terminal of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the corruption scandal at the Public Estates Authority (PEA), the multibillion-peso refund of the Manila Electric Co. and urban housing.
"I shall do everything in my power to succeed — and trust me, that liberated power is considerable. Relieved of the burden of political ambition, this office has the power to make and unmake," the President said.
Although the speech was expected to contain substantive policy pronouncements, including key changes in her Cabinet, the President instead presented "the vision that guides my administration."
"I see a country liberated from the grip and greed of the past. I see this happening through a revolution in the way we think and in the way we do politics and economics," she said.
In the speech, which drew much interest after Mrs. Arroyo declared on Dec. 30 she would no longer run for president in May 2004, she simply outlined the broad strokes of reform, particularly economic and electoral reforms as well as the settlement of the communist and Muslim separatist insurgencies.
"I hope to oversee the further strengthening of the economy, the creation of more jobs, the encouragement of more business activity, unhampered by corruption and red tape, supported when needed by fiscal and trade policy to promote industrial development," Mrs. Arroyo said.
"I shall work to heal the deep divisions in our country, and hope to make major progress in the solution to the communist insurgency, and in the final integration of the Muslim component of our society," she said.
"And I expect to see the cleanest and most orderly elections at the end of my term. During that election period, the time I would have wasted on political debate if I were a candidate will instead be spent on continuing our programs of reform and recovery up to the last minute of my presidency," she added.
The President again defended her decision not to run for the presidency in 2004 and claimed she could now command more support for her development programs.
"By stepping off the political stage in 2004, I take a step higher in the office I still keep and thereby command a wider allegiance to the policies and projects needed to improve our country," she said.
"It will profit me nothing if I succeed. But my successor will inherit a better positioned country, a country better positioned to complete its rebuilding.
"I sow, my successor reaps. This is the majesty of democracy," the President added.
The President complained that her unnamed enemies vilified her when she distributed local government units’ internal revenue allotment (IRA) without regard to their political affiliations.
"I deprived myself of the billions of patronage funds that used to come from withholding a percentage of the IRA. Yet, I was accused of ambition," she said.
She also lamented that although she "pursued land reform, most extensively in Negros Occidental, including the land of my husband’s family," she was accused of greed.
Mrs. Arroyo also complained of the criticisms thrown at her because of her decisions on the allegedly onerous contract with the Philippine International Air Terminal Co. (Piatco), the corruption scandal at PEA which she has since abolished, implementation of a court ruling on the P28-billion refund from Meralco and urban land reform.
Despite her detractors’ criticism, however, she maintained she kept inflation under control, raised exports and made inroads against crime and corruption.
"We have established ourselves as major players in the region, successfully integrating trade policy with development. We have turned around our image abroad, and stepped up our obligations as global citizens to combat terrorism," she said.
"The measure of an administration’s success is not its length but its achievements," she said.
"A true leader of this country cannot afford to play politics anymore and ignore the spreading and paralyzing climate of cynicism," the President added.
"This nation has been rent by political division, self-interest and unfulfilled potential. We take one bold step forward, only to find ourselves two steps back.
"But... I don’t want the unity of blind submission. I want the unity of conscious cooperation," she stressed. – With Efren Danao