More information leaks out

From the Tribune:

US dissatisfied with GMA, stresses need for new leader
CLASSIFIED REPORT: GLORIA ‘PLANTED SEEDS OF DISORDER AND AT WORST, SOCIAL UPHEAVAL’

By Gerry Baldo
Monday, 10 31, 2005


While United States Embassy officials downplay alleged reports that they had prepared about the Arroyo administration, a political counselor at the American mission in Manila notes that “a discouraging (President Gloria) Macapagal-Arroyo” is a problem for the Bush administration.

A classified report dated Nov. 11, 2004, slammed Mrs. Arroyo for the economic mismanagement, vindictive judiciary, homegrown graft and investors' mistrust, among other serious ills, that resulted from the President's failure to show the skills of a strong leader and to face the challenges after ousting sitting President Joseph Estrada in 2001.

The report said these grave problems, not the alleged destabilzation moves of the political minority, cost Mrs. Arroyo dearly her vain attempt to move the country within distance of its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

In an apparent message that the US government wants the Philippine President out sooner than later, it talked of the need for a new leader.

The report indicated that the replacement of Mrs. Arroyo must stress that the justice system at present cannot be trusted and that her administration “has planted the seed of disorder and at worst, social upheaval.”

In the classified report, the US Embassy political adviser said prospects for a “bright and prosperous future” will not materialize under the Arroyo administration.

“Trained as an economist, who promised to bring about an economic recovery, before Estrada's ouster, the Philippines, recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, was considered to be having a bright and prosperous future,” the political counselor added.

But the US official said “reality has been different after Estrada's ouster” more than four years ago.

“Rather than moving ahead, the Philippines has lagged behind, not just behind Indonesia or Vietnam, but many of its Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors,” the classified report said.

According to the report, the per capita growth of the Philippines has averaged less than one percent annually.

It said the failure of Mrs. Arroyo to move the country forward was not due to alleged destabilization attempts by the political opposition but because of many factors, including “weakness of the rule of law - resulting in both a poor peace and order situation and endemic corruption.”

The President's “lack of mandate and sharp memories in the powers of the masa (masses) have made her tread carefully and eschew bold, possibly unpopular measures,” the report added.

“She has exhibited weak leadership skills and simply has not consistently risen to the challenges,” the political officer said.

The US Embassy report also talked of massive corruption even as the political counselor said foreign investors have been shunning the country due to massive corruption in the government.

“The corruption trail is long and shadowy, and appears to include family-contolled companies which do not shoulder their share of the tax burden, underpaid civil servants in revenue agencies who siphon off what money they collect, and members of Congress who expect to be paid for their support for legislation,” the report said.

It also noted that even the judiciary, the police and the military are also infested with corruption.

“Corruption also infests the judiciary, the police and the military, with direct economic effects: Businessmen and investors already here (in the Philippines) avoid the court system at all costs, and prefer to make their own arrangements for personal and corporate security, rather than rely on or call on the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP),” the political counselor said.

American investors, the report stated, routinely cite frivolous legal maneuverings as a major impediment to doing business in the country.

It said the US Embassy in the Philippines “regularly emphasizes the importance the USG (United States Government) places on the rule of law to high-level GRP (Government of the Republic of the Philippines) officials.”

The report added reform efforts have begun but are inching along at a snail's pace and are hampered by Philippine cultural factors.

It said the state of the country's judicial system concerns Washington for three reasons because the US “(has) a stake in the game.”

“US businesses in the Philippines can be subject to harassment under a justice system in which they generally lack confidence,” the report cited the first of the three concerns.

The second concern stated in the report says “any of the estimated 120,000 American citizens or tourists here could be caught in the tangled web of the Philippine justice system,” which could possibly result in “unwarranted detention, outright extortion and/or miscarriage of justice altogether.”

For the third concern, the report said “a reliable justice system and respect for the rule of law are prerequisites for a stable and peaceful society which can act as a strong partner in the region.”

“The lack of judicial reform is one of the several factors that fuels public resentment - as in the case of ongoing trial of (ousted) President Joseph Estrada,” it pointed out.

“In considering the prospects for true reform, reality dictates that significant change must occur,” the report said.

It added “paternalistic and favor-trading” ways, which are inherent in the Filipino culture, could be blamed for current mess in the judiciary.

The last paragraph of the report talked of the need for a new leader.

It said the problem has reached the “highest levels of the GRP” and that reform would not be implemented or completed in the near term unless the new leader brings everyone (judiciary, Congress, the executive, the citizens, non-government organizations and international donors) to the table.

The report added the new leader “must emphasize that there is a mistrust in the justice system and that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration has planted the seed of disorder and at worst, social upheaval.”

“The international community, as well, as the USG would need to see a major, long-term reshuffling, before anyone would have confidence in the integrity of the game,” it concluded.