Gov’t braces for ‘Chapter Two’ from opposition

Malacañang expects the political opposition to step up calls for President Arroyo’s resignation after she owned up to improperly calling an election official during the 2004 presidential vote count.

Environment Secretary Michael Defensor, a special adviser to Mrs. Arroyo on the elections, agreed that while the public could forgive her for making such phone calls to the still unidentified election official, the opposition would not.

"It will be acceptable to the people but I am sure that the opposition would have a Chapter Two to this issue. Those who want to topple her will make a new drama out of all this," Defensor told reporters.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., on the other hand, assured Mrs. Arroyo yesterday the full support of the administration coalition in the House of Representatives.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Mrs. Arroyo’s spokesman, asked the public to forgive Mrs. Arroyo, who apologized last Monday for her "lapse in judgment" in calling the official in what she described as a clumsy bid to protect her vote amid a slow count.

"If God can forgive, why not us? Only Satan does not know how to forgive," Bunye said.

He said the Palace would prefer that "we just end all discussions on the issue."

"We believe the President came out stronger after this and we should now have a closure and move on...The President will be given a new chance to continue with her reforms," Bunye said.

Still, the Arroyo administration is bracing for stepped-up attacks from "groups, whether politicians or not, who will keep on riding on issues to push for their own interests," Bunye added.

"The President admitted a lapse in judgment but there is no cause for impeachment because she did nothing illegal. We believe that our fellowmen, on the whole, are reasonable and ready to forgive. Many of them can set this issue aside and face the bigger problems that we have right now," he told reporters.

Calling an official of the Commission on Elections, Bunye justified, was "something that all candidates do because if there are problems in an election, there is no other way but to bring it up to the Comelec."

Bunye stressed that the President did not give any instructions to rig the polls.

Mrs. Arroyo did not say in her four-minute address last Monday if she was indeed speaking to Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who was believed to be the official heard on the recordings.

Asked why Mrs. Arroyo did not identify Garcillano in her apology, Bunye said: "It doesn’t really matter because we know who is being referred to." Garcillano, however, earlier denied it was he.

"The important thing is the President acknowledged that she did talk to a (Comelec) commissioner and this is now a matter of record."

Mrs. Arroyo was "strong and confident and truthful" in addressing the issue –her three-week silence notwithstanding –and "should be credited for taking responsibility," Bunye said, and that Mrs. Arroyo has also been receiving expressions of support from the international community following her televised address.

While pledging full support the President, De Venecia said he and other Arroyo allies were looking forward to Mrs. Arroyo’s pledge to "accelerate the administration’s good governance reforms and to focus on the creation of more jobs and economic development for the people."

"Our full trust, confidence and support remain with our President who we helped to attain a clear and clean victory in the 2004 polls, whose results were validated by a host of international observers led by the 100 observers from the United States, and even by the respected National Movement for Free Elections," De Venecia said in a statement from Europe, where he is representing Manila on matters of state.

"We agree with her assessment that all must redouble their efforts to shake off the ill effects of soaring world oil prices, invest in more government resources in the people, and speed up and broaden the program for cleaner and better governance. We will be with her and share in her success as she fulfills her mandate until 2010 as a humble servant of the Filipino people."

The scandal was sparked three weeks ago by the release of a supposedly wiretapped telephone conversation in which a woman who sounds like Mrs. Arroyo beseeches an unidentified election official to ensure that her lead in the vote count stayed intact.

The situation was compounded by allegations that Mrs. Arroyo’s husband, son and brother-in-law took payoffs from illegal gambling syndicates.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, an Arroyo ally, said her apology "could be one step towards repairing the damaged capacity to govern. The final outcome, however, will depend on how she will fare in the court of public opinion."

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said Mrs. Arroyo’s apology was welcome but "should not be looked at as an end to the controversy but must be transformed by the President into a beginning of more effective and accountable governance."

House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said the opposition bloc was considering calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s impeachment.

However it would be better if she stepped down of her own accord to avoid subjecting the country to the "trauma" of another impeachment, like the inconclusive impeachment trial of her predecessor Joseph Estrada late 2000 for alleged corruption, he said.

Estrada was ousted in a military-backed popular revolt in January 2001 after his impeachment trial became bogged down over a quarrel on the admissibility of evidence.

"She should not allow things to reach that stage," Escudero said on dzBB radio. "She should ask herself is she still has the moral authority to lead the country."

Hours before Mrs. Arroyo’s address Monday, Manila lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment complaint against the President demanding that Congress oust her for "betrayal of public trust," one of several grounds for impeachment cited by the Constitution.

After her apology, leftist groups announced a series of rallies to demand Mrs. Arroyo resign and the Comelec launched its own inquiry.

The head of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison, said in a statement from his self-imposed exile in the Netherlands that Mrs. Arroyo’s apology was "insincere and worthless because it is not accompanied by her resignation."

Sison, whose Maoist guerrillas have been waging a three-decade-long campaign to seize power, charged that Mrs. Arroyo’s statement "cannot exculpate her from the grave crime of massive electoral fraud."

"This is not a minor lapse in judgment but a serious crime that must be thoroughly investigated and tried," he said.

Bunye earlier brushed off the threats and criticism.

"There is nothing illegal here. Every lawyer knows the President’s conversations weren’t illegal. There is no crime here," he said.

Senate President and Arroyo ally Franklin Drilon poured cold water on efforts to oust her, saying they did not have public support, but said a plain apology would not be enough.

Drilon urged the nation to "all get back to work to bring back peace and quiet." — With Marvin Sy, AFP