The Edsa Dos Revisionism Continues

There's a new book in town called " ... So Help Us God" by J. Eduardo Malaya and Jonathan E. Malaya.

The book is about the inaugural speeches of all 14 presidents of the Philippines from Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo to Mrs. Arroyo. It also contains background information on all the presidents.

Not surprisingly, Civil Society types are all excited about this one, but Ellen Tordesillas of Malaya had some "serious reservations" about the book because of one innaccuracy she noticed.

In the chapter on President Arroyo, the authors chose to print the "cleaned" version of her inaugural speech on January 21, 2001 following EDSA Dos. It's the version that started with "In all humility, I accept the presidency of the Republic."

I listened to that speech and I remember clearly Arroyo saying, "In all humility, I accept the privilege and responsibility to act as President of the Republic." I have the tape of that speech.

That opening sentence especially the phrase "to act as President of the Republic" was significant because of how Arroyo ascended to the presidency. Although the Supreme Court later decided to legitimize Arroyo's illegitimate presidency, the speech indicated that at the time she took her oath past noon of January 21, 2001, she herself was unsure of her legal status.

In their introduction, the authors said, "This book aims to put readers into direct contact with the original words spoken at the inaugurations of the fourteen Philippine presidents to date, well aware that many of these stirring words have been misconstrued, if not all together lost to today's generation."

Given the controversy over the legitimacy of the Arroyo first and, even the second, administrations, I can imagine the dilemma of the authors on how to treat the issue of the opening sentence of Arroyo's first inaugural speech. I'm disappointed that they sacrificed accuracy to be politically safe.

"This book aims to put readers into direct contact with the original words spoken... well aware that many of these stirring words have been misconstrued...", so said the authors of this bood.

Well, aren't they the ones "misconstruing" the original words of Gloria Arroyo to revise history and "legitimize" her in the eyes of the public and history? If I were a book buyer, I'm passing up this piece of propaganda crap by Eduardo and Jonathan Malaya.