Panel to be formed to pursue GMA’s unity bid

President Arroyo said yesterday that she intends to form a reconciliation committee under her reorganized Values Formation Council to pursue her bid for unity and reconciliation with her former opponents in the May 10 elections and with the rest of the country’s political opposition leaders.

The President said the prospective members of this committee are the same religious leaders she is inviting to join the Values Formation Council, which she created out of the original Values Formation Commission.

"I really feel blessed that church leaders believe in reconciliation," she said. "It’s an effort and we leave it to God."

Now entering the second month of her full six-year term, the President said she has not given up hope of bringing about national unity and reconciliation and of reconciling with her four challengers for the presidency and their respective political camps.

Although she did not mention them by name, Mrs. Arroyo was referring to Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP) presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former education secretary Raul Roco of the Alyansa ng Pag-Asa and evangelist Eddie Villanueva of the Bangon Pilipinas Movement (BPM).

"Church leaders must take the lead in reconciliation." she said. "I’m letting them take the lead because we need to build a consensus as a starting point to build reconciliation and they are very willing to do it."

The President said influential Catholic Church leaders, like Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Vidal and Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla and Protestant Bishop Hilario Gomez Jr., will be asked to join the reconciliation committee.

Responding to questions about the progress of her reconciliation attempts with her former political rivals, the President said "I don’t like to talk about it because it might be presumptuous of me to speak for them."

She earlier mended fences with Roco, Lacson and Villanueva, who conceded to her May 10 victory.

Poe has rejected the unity feelers of the Arroyo administration and has filed protest and recount petitions before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) along with his running mate, former Sen. Loren Legarda.

Poe and Legarda insisted on filing an electoral protest against the President and Vice President Noli de Castro for alleged massive electoral fraud and cheating. The candidacies of Poe and Legarda were backed by ousted President Joseph Estrada.

However, lawyers from the administration’s Koalisyon ng Karanasan at Katapatan para sa Kinabukasan (K-4) vehemently denied these accusations as they filed a counter-protest against Poe and Legarda before the PET.

While there has been an exchange of election protests between the KNP and the K-4, the President has given strong indications that she has not given up on her desire to reach out to the Poe camp.

Though she did not describe the process in detail, the President said she has asked influential Church leaders to help her administration to "heal the wounds" inflicted by the three EDSA revolts, which is one of the priorities outlined in her 10-point legacy program.

The President has designated of the Department of Education (DepEd) as co-chairman of the Values Formation Council, since this department supervises basic education in the country. She has tasked the council with inculcating moral values in Filipinos through the public school system to prepare young Filipinos for good citizenship.

She further decided to recast the Values Formation Council into a mere "ad hoc body" through a council-type organizational structure because the private sector - especially representatives of the religious sector - are reluctant to join this body, which is perceived as a government entity.

She fist created the Values Formation Council through Executive Order 314, which she signed on April 30.

She empowered the Values Formation Council to serve as the lead agency through which the government can work hand-in-hand with civil society and the private sector to establish a strong foundation for value formation in the bureaucracy as a long-term measure for fighting graft and corruption in government.

In a separate development, the President has canceled her scheduled attendance at the El Shaddai meeting last night because the conjunctivitis infection she contracted in Cebu worsened.