EDITORIAL - Divided opposition

It has been more than a month since the opposition raised hell over the existence of the "Hello Garci" tapes and called for President Arroyo to resign. A number of rallies have been staged supposedly to scare the president out of office. But the hullabaloo has amounted to nothing. At least for now. Gloria Arroyo is still very much the president of the Republic and although there are protest actions against her, these are also matched by expressions of support. Where did the opposition go wrong?

The biggest mistake of the opposition is that it is not united. They may be one in calling for Arroyo to resign but their plans if ever she did relinquish the presidency are in total disarray. For starters, their plans on who should take over the presidency are not in synch. Some want Noli, others want Erap while there are also those who want FPJ's widow Susan to be president. There are also groups calling for Arroyo's resignation who want the establishment of a transition government because they do not like any of those being supported by other groups.

Those calling for the president to resign should realize that they will never get the sympathy of the majority of the Filipino people if they do not get their acts together. Why should the public support their call for Arroyo to resign when they themselves cannot decide on who will replace her?

These people should remember that the country stood as one during those times when it fought against leaders. In all those occasions, there was a definite replacement for the leader that we wanted to boot out of office. During Marcos' time, we had a Cory Aquino. During Erap's time, we had a Gloria Arroyo. Who do we have now as a possible replacement for Arroyo? Quite a number of characters! They should have thought of these things first before going public with their call for Arroyo to resign.

Actions that are well planned almost always yield positive results while those that are immediately executed without planning end up in disaster. It will not be surprising if the calls for Aroyo to resign will eventually die down. This is inevitable if the groups calling for the president to step down do not get their acts together soon. Instead of showing force against the president, they are just giving the public an idea of how divided the opposition is.