Grovelling Gloria

And to think na 2-3 months ago, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was still playing the "China card" against the U.S.

Tsk tsk.

From Ellen Tordesillas:

FOR the first time in her more than four years as president, Gloria Arroyo attended the United States Independence Day celebration at the US embassy last Monday.

Presidents usually do not attend national day receptions due to some diplomatic complexities. For one, the Philippines has diplomatic relations with more than a hundred countries. Some 60 of them have embassies in Manila. If the President makes it a practice to attend national day receptions, she would have to go to all the receptions so as not to be seen as discriminating against other countries.

There is also the complication if the reception is held in an embassy just like what happened last Monday because the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations specifies that an embassy is considered sovereign territory. The host country has no jurisdiction within the four walls of the embassy.

As head of state, the President’s visit to an embassy is considered a state visit.

But those are matters of protocol and diplomatic practice that can be breached for a greater consideration. Especially if it means a president’s political survival.

Many of those at the reception thought Arroyo’s brief presence was more of a photo opportunity to tell the public that she has the support of George W. Bush, which is important as she desperately clings to the presidency amidst growing calls for her to resign over allegations of rigging last year’s election caught in a taped conversation between her and former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Another view was that her presence was a plea for support. "She’s on all fours. She’s groveling," former Sen. Francisco Tatad said.

It didn’t help that Joseph A. Mussomeli, chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy, in his toast, recalled the restive days after the 1986 snap elections before the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos. He did not relate the 1986 crisis to the current controversy on 2004 election fraud but it didn’t prevent some guests from connecting the two.

When Mussomeli offered the toast to the health of President Gloria Arroyo and prosperity of the Filipino people, many around me raised their glasses halfway to signify agreement to the second wish and protest on the first.

As is the protocol in national day receptions, it was Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo who offered the toast for President George W, Bush’s health and prosperity of the American people. Arroyo and Noli de Castro just witnessed the ceremonies and had themselves photographed. They left immediately after formalities.

Earlier during the day, US Embassy personnel were concerned how they would handle a media-explosive situation of having Arroyo and Susan Roces, widow of Fernando Poe, Jr. in the same room.

Sources said Roces had accepted the invitation more than a week ago. Malacañang called up just Monday morning to say that Arroyo would be attending the reception. There were speculations that Malacañang learned about Roces’ attendance and they were worried about the impression it would convey to the public if media played up her presence in a US embassy event. What if some naughty media would spin it that Roces’ is the new niña bonita of the US and Arroyo, a discarded rag?

Roces also learned about Arroyo’s last-minute decision to attend and she decided to send her daughter, Mary Grace Llamanzares, instead. Mary Grace, with FPJ lawyer Harriet Demetriou, together with other guests stayed at the covered patio while Arroyo was at the ballroom.

How long Arroyo would last was the favorite topic. There were some GMA sympathizers who believed she could ride out the crisis because of the disunity of the opposition and the lack of a viable alternative. The anti-GMAs, of course, said it is doubtful if she would be able to deliver her State of the Nation address on July 25.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Cipriano Jaraula, GMA’s ally being a member of the Lakas-CMD, said he was going to recommend to Arroyo that the process of Charter change through a Constituent Assembly be started immediately so that a referendum on a new Constitution could be undertaken next year and a new system of government, most probably parliamentary, be in place by 2007. That would have the effect of cutting Arroyo’s term to three years.

Jaraula said Arroyo should be barred from running for an elective position under the new form of government.

"That’s the only way to save her," he said, noting that it took five months, from September 2000 to January 2001, for Joseph Estrada to be ousted. "In GMA’s case, the tape controversy has only been a month, and she is so weakened."

Coming from an ally, the assessment should worry Arroyo.