Accents
By Julia Carreon-Lagoc

“Lapse in judgment”?

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the so-called “Garci tapes” was a “lapse in judgment.” The lamest excuse ever from a head of state, and we don't buy it. The action shows her true color—an astute politician who would leave no stone unturned to cling to power. Calling up a Comelec official to influence election results to insure her victory—nothing could be more unethical. Bespeaks of a person who won't honor a level playing field.

The plain and simple truth is that we do not have in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a person of integrity and decency. Nowhere is a person with fairness and honesty in mind, humble enough to accept the true will of the people be it victory or defeat. Sadly bereft of the spirit of sportsmanship.

Who is, what is the real Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? As her track record shows, it is not surprising why she is one to commit a “Gloriagate.” If to be recalled, there was once a butterfly who fluttered from her own political party Kampi to Lakas-NUCD. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dropped her Kampi supporters like hot, blighted pieces of potato when Lakas-NUCD made her their standard bearer for the presidency. Then, how easily she slid to the vice presidency slot knowing full well that as a candidate for president she would be drowned by the popularity of one Joseph Estrada. Estrada then was the dazzling movie star slaying all comers – the likes of Roco, De Venecia, Lito Osmeña, and Renato de Villa. The rest was history, so to speak, with GMA safely ensconced as Vice President.

At the height of the call for Joseph Estrada's resignation, I gathered three key words from the GMA pronouncements: propriety, stability, progress. Could the constitutional heir-apparent to the presidency bring about propriety, stability, and progress to a country deep in the pits? Could we count on GMA to bring propriety in the highest office in the land (no more drunken sessions late into the night), and carry the country forward to stability and progress? Even as we believed Erap should resign, we harbored misgivings as to GMA's being helmswoman of our ship of state. We gave her the benefit of the doubt by supporting EDSA II. Most probably she could turn around the economy, lift it up gradually. With Estrada, the country had hit rock bottom, and the only way was up. With GMA, it's not jumping from the frying pan to the fire, or so we believed. Yes, no way to go but up, or so we hoped.

GMA has the intellectual competence utterly wanting in Pres. Estrada. We thought her doctorate degree in economics would be a key to a better tomorrow. Remember how she prided herself as being in league with Bill Clinton in the brains department when they were classmates. Classmate Clinton had not only balanced the budget deficit of Bush Sr.'s administration, he also brought about the biggest surplus funds for the United States and created millions of jobs for the unemployed. We had high hopes that GMA could duplicate his achievement. The result: blasted hopes.

Further into the campaign trail for the vice presidency, GMA strongly denied being another “anak ng jueteng.” (Her son Mikey and brother-in-law Iggy remain to be seen whether they belong to this category.) Her connection to Pineda, the jueteng lord, still has to see the light of day, having been sidelined by more scandalous affairs in the government.

Herself a traditional politician or trapo to use a very apt derogatory term , Gloria catered to the audience's desire for her to dance on stage. Pedigreed Gloria must know that the dignity of the office diminishes when candidates resort to clownish entertainment numbers instead of focusing on their platforms. Doing the cha-cha is the easier way to lure voters, or so trapos think. How we would have wanted Gloria to separate herself from that pack, to stand head and shoulder above the rest, albeit figuratively, and explain how she could take the country out of the economic quagmire, she who was a prominent sponsor of the General Agreement on Tariff & Trade. GATT pitted the Philippine David to the Goliaths of world trade that pushed our country deeper into misery. Could GMA, she with her economics doctorate degree, pull us out of the quagmire that was partly of her own making? Nay! Three years into her presidency, the great masses of our people continue to live in poverty.

Let's put GMA a little longer on the gridiron. In the long months that she cozily cottoned to the Estrada administration as Social Welfare Secretary, have we heard of any outstanding performance? Nay! Has she advanced striking ideas to curb the dole-out mentality? Another resounding Nay! Her DSSD duties were photo-ops and s.o.p.'s, the kind that could be relegated easily to minor bureaucrats. In fact, when she stuck to the Estrada Cabinet despite her supporters' call to jump ship, people thought she would embrace LAMP as assurance to becoming Estrada's anointed to the presidency until Erap's plunder case change the course of history. From Kampi to Lakas-NUCD to LAMP – what difference do they make? GMA can flutter like the rest of the trapos. In the choice of political parties, we see the absence of iron-clad principles by which she abides.

On the Visiting Forces Agreement: Did she account herself when the VFA was under heated discussion? Always the astute politician playing it safe, she kept mum on the matter, and into her presidency, welcomed the encroachment of the country's sovereignty by the armed forces of the U.S. of A.

Then the big lie: On Rizal Day in 2003, she announced her not running for the presidency. She turned her back on her statement, and the ensuing question was deafening: Are you going to vote for a liar? Had she proved true to her word, she would have exited in dignity albeit without glory.

A trapo through and through, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is totally consumed by self-interest. Well, that's you, Gloria. You can't help it. It's hard to deny your true color—whether in the silence of your room or in the public confession of an election anomaly. (Comments to juliaclagoc@yahoo.com )