SOME months ago, there was a front page picture in this paper of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo doing a ritual dance in ethnic costume with some indigenous people from the North. A few weeks later, she was again in tribal garb, this time with the natives of their ancestral domains in the South. There was recently a picture of her, also on the front page of the Inquirer, with her hand on her hip and her eyes on the camera and looking like a commercial model. And last Monday, La Gloria was featured again, on the front page, of course, praying with Mike Velarde before the massive El Shaddai audience gathered to felicitate their leader on the eve of his birth anniversary.
Joseph Estrada can no longer celebrate with him, but Velarde has a new well-wisher in the person of the present President. She will need his support in 2004, when she hopes to be President again, but in her own right by direct election of the people and not as mere constitutional successor to her disgraced predecessor. For this same reason, one can expect that she will pay similar tribute when Eraño Manalo celebrates his own birth anniversary or that of the Iglesia ni Cristo over which he exerts his own irresistible influence. (Somebody said obedience to him is part of his or her religious doctrine.) Naturally, Cardinal Sin will not be forgotten by the worshipful Ms. Macapagal, although his own flock is not as docile as Velarde’s or Manalo’s.
It is quite obvious, except only to the more obtuse among us, or to the most fanatical of her followers, that President Gloria is already on the campaign trail. Her political gimmickry is as plain as the poster of her carrying a rose and trying to look like Nora Aunor that was plastered all over the country in 1998 to attract the bakya crowd. Her television sessions exposing suspected criminals whom she has already convicted (although the Constitution presumes them innocent until the contrary is proved) and punishing them with “humiliation” have reportedly increased her approval rating although the objectivity of that survey is being questioned.
Although her political play-acting may be effective with the easily deceived, it is causing a lot of rancor or at least impatience among the responsible citizenry. President Gloria’s drive for the presidency in 2004 is patently premature at this time although she may claim to be only doing her duty to be president of all the people. Maybe her comparison to Margaret Thatcher has gone to her head. Wearing ethnic costumes in tribal dances and truckling to the bakya crowd for their electoral support will not make her the Iron Lady in these parts.
What the nation has not seen of her, or not much of it so far, is responsible leadership. This was not manifested in her active involvement in the recent Senate row, which should have been settled among the senators themselves as an internal problem of their chamber. The presidential enticement of Sen. Blas F. Ople from the opposition ranks was a reprise of her father’s raid on the Nacionalista Party to form the Allied Majority in 1961 and place the House of Representatives under the Liberal Party. Her treatment of Vice President Teofisto Guingona and former Secretary Raul Roco, her possible presidential rivals in 2004, was hardly statesmanlike and definitely discourteous.
Would things be different if President Macapagal were not seeking re-election as she undeniably is? Given her outstanding academic qualifications, I can imagine that she would devote her best efforts to seriously improving the state of the nation without thought of self-aggrandizement except to leave an honored name in the history of our country as a leader who worked for its welfare as her first and foremost goal.
There is much virtue in the rule prohibiting re-election, but it may also operate adversely. The rule may encourage the incumbent official to memorialize his tenure with outstanding achievements not motivated by a selfish desire to remain in office by the people’s will. But it may also induce the said official to make the most of his term by gratifying his own personal interests, knowing that he does not have to win the people’s confidence and accolade because he cannot be rewarded with another term.
Last Monday, a letter to the editor castigated Mayor Joey Marquez of Parañaque City for neglecting the problems of his constituency during his third and last term in his present position. As a resident of this city, I share reader Sonny C. Cuenco’s dismay over Marquez’s sins of commission and omission that have prejudiced even those who have elected him three times as their mayor. Indeed, many of our streets are in disrepair, traffic is getting worse, garbage is again piling up while our mayor is “playing golf in Cebu, or shooting a second-rate comedy abroad, or horsing around on prime-time television,” besides complicating his romantic life.
Would Mayor Marquez perform better if he could still run for another term? Ask President Gloria.
Justice Isagani A. Cruz 