Gonzales: I still enjoy Arroyo’s confidence

DAVAO CITY — "I am still with the President. I still enjoy her confidence."

Thus said Presidential Adviser on Special Concerns Norberto Gonzales whom President Arroyo has reprimanded for saying she would run in the 2004 presidential race.

Mrs. Arroyo, she said, is not the type of a person who fires her men because of a single blunder. "The President is not that kind who kicks out her people that way," he said.

The President did not hide her anger, phoning Gonzales after his pronouncement came out and telling him he had no right to announce her political plans.

Mrs. Arroyo has asserted that she was too busy running the country to be thinking about the 2004 elections.

Gonzales, who was part of the President’s entourage here last Wednesday, said the 2004 polls would only be a consequence of good governance by Mrs. Arroyo.

"If she governs well, then the elections would just be a consequence," he said. — Edith Regalado