Yearender: Unpopular President does the unthinkable

MANILA, Philippines - Damning critics and political opponents, President Arroyo did the unthinkable in the remaining months of her nine-year rule: declare martial law and run for congresswoman, reportedly with hopes of one day serving as prime minister.

Ending months of speculation on her political plans for 2010, Mrs. Arroyo on Nov. 30 announced in a government radio interview that she was running for a congressional seat in Pampanga because public service is “emblazoned” in her genes.

Her move, though the subject of much speculation and media reports, still surprised the public and triggered a torrent of criticism.

Her political opponents said her decision was proof of her lust for power.

“Serving the public is a sacred job,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “At a very young age it is emblazoned in my DNA.”

“While I’m very much looking forward to stepping down at the end of my term, I have been mulling different ways to stay involved,” she said.

The President dismissed allegations that it was all part of efforts to keep herself immune from lawsuits after her term as president.

“She (Mrs. Arroyo) keeps everybody guessing, and she showed that we cannot dismiss her as a lame duck (president) even on her way out,” Roel Landingin, chief of the Manila office of the London-based Financial Times, said.

“She’s trying to show she’s still in charge of the country, in the overall scheme of things. These are the last attempts of a monarch trying to keep herself in power up to the very last day,” political analyst Tony Gatmaitan said.

In her last State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 27, Mrs. Arroyo came out swinging against her critics, defending her style of governance and vowing to continue to “fight” for the welfare of ordinary Filipinos and the economy up to the last day of her term in June 2010.

She defended her strong moves to quell various destabilization and coup attempts since 2001, saying she was able to resolve the crises “with the ordinary powers of my office.”

“But I never declared martial law, though they are running scared as if I did. In truth, what they are really afraid of is their weakness in the face of this self-imagined threat,” she said.

Less than five months later, she did declare martial law - though limited in scope and duration - to quell a reported rebellion in Maguindanao allegedly staged by the powerful Ampatuan clan, whose members were then trying to resist arrest for the massacre of 57 people in the province on Nov. 23.

But before the joint session of Congress could vote against her declaration, she lifted it on Dec. 12.

Landingin shared the view of other political observers that Mrs. Arroyo works well and thrives in crises, but said she was also practically always on survival mode.

“She stumbles into moves like (oil) price controls even if she was most likely aware of the potential damage it may have in the long term. For a while it may help, especially with the public but it created some uncertainty for investors,” Landingin said.

Mrs. Arroyo ordered a freeze on oil prices following the devastation brought by storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.”

Despite opportunities to improve her ratings, Mrs. Arroyo chose to damn public opinion with her refusal to address issues hurled against her, Landingin said.

“She always says she is more concerned with performance than perception but she is reaping the whirlwind of that attitude. The issues against her continue to linger,” he said.

Controversial SC appointments

Malacañang also battled accusations that Mrs. Arroyo was filling vacancies in the Supreme Court (SC) with sympathetic justices, possibly in preparation for nasty lawsuits.

Seven Supreme Court associate justices retired this year upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. As of this writing, only one vacancy remains in the SC.

“We should refrain from those speculations because we weaken the integrity of the judicial system,” then Press Secretary Jesus Dureza said.

In January, she appointed Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta to the bench and this month, named insider Jose Perez to the High Court.

Mrs. Arroyo also named former Philippine National Police chief Arturo Lomibao to head the Land Transportation Office, to replace LTO chief Alberto Suansing, who was appointed chairman of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board. Thomas Lantion, the current LTFRB head, and retired police general Reynaldo Berroya were appointed as DOTC undersecretary and executive director of MRT Line 3, respectively.

In June, she appointed former Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera as secretary of justice to replace Raul Gonzalez, who requested a “less strenuous” post of chief presidential legal counsel.

In April, Mrs. Arroyo lost members of her official family in a chopper crash in Baguio City.

Aboard the ill-fated chopper were Mrs. Arroyo’s senior military assistant, Brig. Gen. Carlos Clet, Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia, Undersecretary for Presidential Engagements and Appointments Malou Frostrom, Assistant Secretary Perlita Bandayanon, Clet’s aide Quarter Master 3rd Class Demelyn Reyno, and crewman Sgt. Rohegem Perez and the chopper’s two pilots Maj. Rolando Sacatani and Capt. Alvin Alegata.

Trips, classy dinners

On April 10, Mrs. Arroyo left for Thailand to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asian Summits.

From Pattaya, Thailand, she proceeded to Dubai for an official trip related to investments and overseas Filipino welfare issues.

This was followed by visits to Egypt and Syria in May. That month, she left for Manado, Indonesia to attend the Coral Triangle Leaders’ meeting.

Before the end of the month, she left for Jeju, South Korea to attend the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit.

In June, she attended the Global Economic Forum in St. Petersburg in Russia as the speaker for emerging economies. That month she also went on a three-nation swing to Japan, Brazil and Hong Kong.

On July 31, she visited the White House for her first one-on-one meeting with President Barack Obama. 

But whatever gains she had achieved from those trips were tarnished by reports that one of her close congressional allies, Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, hosted a $15,000 dinner at a popular steak house in Washington DC, and another congressional ally, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, hosted a $20,000 dinner at a posh restaurant in New York for her and members of her delegation.

The Palace shrugged off criticisms and said the US trip alone netted $6.2 billion in investments, aid and trade benefits for the country.

Amid widespread criticism, she cut short her trip to return home to pay her last respects to the late President Corazon Aquino and declared a national day of mourning.

Before the year ended, the President participated in the heated deliberations among nations hammering out a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Muscle flexing

Mrs. Arroyo also steered the merger of the Lakas-Christian and Muslim Democrats and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) in May amid strong opposition from Lakas stalwarts led by no less than former President Fidel Ramos and former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

“Cynics and detractors love to paint grim scenarios about the cancellation of the 2010 elections. Let this merger of Lakas and Kampi be tangible proof of the administration’s readiness, nay determination, to help ensure the elections will push through,” the President said.

Health issues

The President made at least three trips to hospitals this year, including her controversial confinement at the Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa in July where she reportedly underwent a procedure to replace leaking implants in her breast placed decades ago following a treatment of a breast ailment. The details of the hospital visit were not released and officials maintained the check-up was part of quarantine procedures for the A(H1N1) virus until The STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc wrote about it.

Palace officials did not deny the report but appealed to the media not to feast on the issue, it being a personal and sensitive matter.

Nature’s wrath

In response to the devastations caused by Ondoy and Pepeng in 2009 and “Frank” in 2008, Mrs. Arroyo created a special national public-private reconstruction commission to oversee the rehabilitation of affected areas.

A few days after Ondoy struck in late September, Mrs. Arroyo placed Metro Manila and other areas of Luzon under a state of calamity.

The decision was meant to allow local government units to tap their calamity funds for the relief and rehabilitation works and to provide the national government with the power to impose price controls on basic goods and commodities.

However, the prices of oil in the local market continued to go up on a weekly basis as the government hesitated to include the commodity under price control because the industry was already deregulated.

On Oct. 23, she issued Executive Order 839 directing the country’s oil industry players to freeze the prices of all petroleum products at Oct. 15 levels while the state of calamity was in effect.

Consumers lauded the order while industry players raised protests.

On Nov. 16, the President lifted the EO after the oil industry companies committed to implement staggered price increases and only if this was dictated by market forces.

Laws enacted

Although besieged by controversies and intrigues, Mrs. Arroyo managed to sign into law this year several landmark pieces of legislation covering a wide range of issues.

One of the enacted measures was Republic Act 9729 or the Climate Change Act of 2009, which defined the policy direction of the country on the issue.

RA 9077 amended the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law to extend the land acquisition and distribution program of the government for another five years.

The law also sought to empower the farmer recipients of agricultural lands by encouraging them to become entrepreneurs.

The President also signed RA 9576 amending the charter of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. and raising the coverage of deposit insurance from P250,000 to P500,000.