And this too.
And from Ninez. You don't have to agree with everything she says about Erap, but Ninez's article is spot on re Fidel Tabako Ramos.
To this day, Fidel Ramos, a virtual political has-been, continues to style himself as a “savior” of society without whose support an entire government would collapse.
He has had his time — all six years of power and position in Malacañang — to do what he, as the then sitting President, wanted to do, including handing out sovereign guarantees to the independent power producers and getting the Filipino people to pay for higher electric power that has never been generated or consumed, along with technically malversing the funds earmarked for the military's modernization by illegally transferring these tens of millions from a non-transferable special fund to the general fund, for him to freely dip his fingers into.
His time was over, and the Filipino people, in the cleanest presidential election ever, placed Joseph Estrada in Malacañang.
Ramos, refusing to stay in the background, not only assailed the sitting President for not following his policies. He always put him down. He was so unstatesmanlike, even to the point of publicly giving Estrada an ultimatum to reform and follow the Ramos dictates, or else he gets ousted.
Ramos was, at the time, already in cahoots with the coup plotters led by Gloria Arroyo to mount a coup against the constitutional President...
But there Ramos was again, feeling powerful with his anointed government in place, and having the clout to get his people appointed in high government positions.
But no matter how he and Aquino tried to sell Gloria as the better President, and no matter how they demonized Estrada, it was Estrada whom the masses wanted, and identified with. And as the years rolled, there was no longer any denying that Estrada, for all their demonization, for all the elite's mockery of him as a leader, not only was a better President, but that he also had a top-notch Cabinet that was moreover clean.
To this day, close to five years after his ouster, and with Gloria in Malacañang, there has not been any document that shows any irregularity committed by Estrada and his team. There were never any sovereign guarantees granted...
Today, Ramos, perhaps sensing the shift in the political winds, now claims that the support he extended Gloria in July, for which he reveled in, as he portrayed himself as her savior when she was near being toppled, is merely secondary due to the absence of alternatives, and that she has to reform herself first.
Who is he to say who should be the alternative? He is not the people. He is a nobody.
He was again pushing Charter changes, where Gloria could be made to cut her term and where he can install himself, or his surrogate, Jose de Venecia, as the prime minister. Gloria should go, but why should it be through Charter change?
He speaks of Charter change and the parliamentary system as the solution to the national problems when it is no solution at all, but a means for him to gain power and influence all over again.
Why should a parliamentary system be the solution? It will be the same congressmen on the take in parliament, the same corruption, the same violations of the law, and the same leader for years or end because even under a no-confidence vote rule, there would be none passed. The murder of the impeachment against Gloria by congressmen proved it.
Ramos is too full of himself. He should be cut down to size — and that's size is small.
Malaya Editorial: Ramos in a bind
Every time, President Fidel Ramos opens his mouth, everybody’s wondering what hidden agenda he is pushing. Speaking before a group of businessmen the other day, he called on President Arroyo to agree to cut short her term so a shift to a parliamentary system can be installed in 2007.
The immediate reaction is that Eddie is up to another of his tricks, spewing words of high patriotism while his hands are manipulating the players on the political board so they can arrange for his accession as prime minister. It’s a result of Ramos’ bad rep as a manipulator and as a psy-war expert, which is unfortunate because Ramos is much less devious than you-know-who. Compared to her, Ramos was a regular straight-shooter when he was in Malacañang.
On July 8, Gloria Arroyo was tottering on the edge after 10 Cabinet members and key revenue officials called for her resignation, a call supported by President Corazon Aquino.
Ramos’ dramatic intervention carried the day. Scarce notice was paid to a formula for ending the leadership crisis he presented to the Manila Rotary Club a few days before. The Ramos proposal calls for the formation of a council of elders that will effectively take over the reins from Gloria, charter change to carry out the change to the parliamentary system and general elections in 2007.
The formula was reiterated by Ramos during his July 8 press conference where he threw his support behind Gloria. Palace officials, who very well knew they barely scraped by that time, said in so many words that Gloria was amenable to Ramos’ proposal.
Now, the word from the Palace is that cutting Gloria’s term is an issue that can be discussed later. She is too busy running the government to discuss Ramos’ formula to end the leadership crisis.
That’s gratitude for you, Gloria-style.
Ramos probably is too grizzled a player to have entertained the illusion that that debt of gratitude will allow him to dictate on Gloria. But it is this very keen sense of politics of Ramos that should make the Palace listen to what he is saying.
Ramos personifies the belief that whatever the sins and crimes of Gloria, there is no alternative to her at the moment. The ranks of these hesitant Gloria supporters are thinning day by day. The reason is not difficult to see. Reforms have taken a backseat to Gloria’s survival at all cost.
So the dwindling supporters of Gloria, Ramos included, are in a bind. They are propping up a discredited administration because there is perceived to be no alternative. This perception, however, has made Gloria even more intransigent.
A lose-lose situation. Ramos should know when to fold and call for a new deck.
At may secret deal ba si Ramos at GMA?
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