The signs are getting ominous

Some newly-released one hundred peso bills may end up being worth so much more than their face value as collector's items. That is because these bills have the name of President Arroyo misspelled as Arrovo.

Central Bank officials say the bills were printed by a London printing company and were rushed to meet the Christmas demand. They insist no malice was intended either for the president or for the Filipino people.

We believe no malice was intended. And we believe that, even for such a very important and sensitive matter as legal tender, where no mistakes ought to be tolerated, errors can still happen. Why, Jesus himself missed a step and fell.

But the mistake is not really the point of this article. It is the hidden signal in it that I am beginning to see and which makes me wonder if, perhaps, President Arroyo herself should not be starting to look out for them.

Many people have continuously mistaken my stand with regard to the president, so at the risk of being repetitious, allow me to restate it again: I am neither a fan nor a defender of President Arroyo. The truth of the matter is, I have always hated what she has instead of balls.

My low regard for her began when, as a senator, she jumped the gun on everyone for the presidency, then humiliated herself by settling for the vice presidency when she got plastered after prematurely exposing her head as the only target.

I despised her even more for lying later to the Filipino people about not running for the presidency anymore. Nevertheless, I am still too much of a practical man to realize that, however I may feel, I am still part of a nation and as such have certain obligations to fulfill.

Among these is the need to dutifully cast my ballot as a citizen even if I have long lost faith in our elections and their ability to produce the kind of leadership this country needs to reinvent itself.

So, as always, I voted in the last election. And as practical as ever, too, I voted for Arroyo, the irony wounding my heart even to this day. I voted for Arroyo because no one among the choices presented were, to my mind, any better than her.

When her victory was questioned, with the question being centered on Cebu because of the one million it delivered for her, I unwittingly ended up defending her in my unqualified defense of the Cebu vote.

I am a Cebuano and fiercely proud of it. Cebuanos have always been known to be among the wisest and most intelligent of voters. Cebuanos voted for Arroyo not because they love her but because they also thought her better than the other candidates.

If there was any cheating in the last election, it must have happened elsewhere but not in Cebu. Cebu is home to one of the most vibrant and alert journalists in the country. I do not believe all hell would not break loose if the Cebu media noticed any hanky-panky at the polls.

Having said that, I say President Arroyo legitimately won her mandate and should be allowed to finish her term. That is, until this latest brouhaha about the misspelled name, in which case I am now beginning to wonder if, in fact, Arroyo is not really star-crossed.

All those controversies that the opposition whipped up against her were clearly motivated by nothing else but politics. To even fairly discerning Filipinos, that malicious fact diluted whatever shred of truth the accusations may have with them.

Truth is strong only to the extent that it is undiluted by malice. Hence, Arroyo has been able to survive not on the strength of her own truth but because of the inherent weakness of the truth pandered by her enemies.

In law as in real life, the burden of proof still lies with the accuser. Arroyo may be undesirable. But she has the mandate. And her accusers do not have the goods. Sometimes, though, the signs can be ominous. Is a misspelled name a sign of divine intervention?