President Arroyo is not the only official in Malacañang today whom a majority of Filipinos distrust. Her spouse, First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and her aides, among them her chief aide, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Press Secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor, Defense chief Avelino “Nonong” Cruz and Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes are all heavily distrusted by the Filipino people.
With the Pulse Asia survey showing that 65 percent of the respondents nationwide want her to resign for the good of the nation, resignation calls as well as calls for snap presidential polls mounted.
FVR: Military remains restive.
Says ‘stability’ claimed by Palace is temporary, artificial
Malaya Editorial: Malacanang's resolve
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye yesterday said the Palace will meet constitutional challenges to the presidency with the same resolve that it showed in facing the purported coup timed with the anniversary of Edsa 1 last month. He said Gloria Arroyo will not be pushed around either by impeachers or coup plotters.
Does Bunye mean that the police will start bashing skulls of protesters, arresting political enemies without warrants and threatening to shutdown media when another impeachment complaint is filed against Arroyo?
That’s the only sense we can make of this Palace’s expression of "resolve" in meeting the expected revival of the impeachment complaint that was blocked through technicality by Arroyo allies in the House last year. The previous impeachment complaint was scuttled mainly through the outright buying of the support of congressmen. We do not expect the transactional government of Arroyo to abandon this route. So why threaten "impeachers" with unspecified resolute actions when paying off non-impeachers will do?
Is it perhaps because Arroyo is not sure this time that the old tactics will work?
House members are facing an election in 2007. They also have to worry about their political survival. If the current overwhelming public sentiment that Gloria should go persists, not a few of erstwhile supporters would throw their lot with the pro-impeachment bloc.
plus this:
When all fails, the Arroyo administration can round up the more strident critics in the House.
Take the case of the six members of the House who have been ordered arrested for rebellion. Crispin Beltran is now under detention. It’s only a matter of time before the Department of Justice under Raul Gonzalez of lapdog loyalty to Gloria hands down an indictment against the five others. Since rebellion is a non-bailable offense, that’s already six votes that are literally locked up. If the numbers are still threatening to Arroyo, trumped up indictments also for rebellion against a dozen more House members can always be filed by the ever-loyal Gonzalez.
Speculation? Yes, but we only have to recall the post-war case of the members of the House from the Democratic Alliance. They were tagged as communist-supported election cheats. They were expelled. The hurdle was cleared for the passage of the Parity Rights amendment to the Constitution.
Drilon allies expel Atienza, Defensor from Liberal Party
Malacañang yesterday suffered a major blow as its apparent underhanded tactics to raid the ranks of one of the country’s oldest political groups, the Liberal Party (LP), crumbled as its national officials and members had decided to stand firm on its position, disowning those who supposedly connived with the Palace in attempting to oust their leader, Senate President Drilon, from being associated with them.
Exactly two weeks after the holding of the so-called rump convention allegedly staged by the Palace at the Manila Hotel that saw Manila Mayor Joselito “Lito” Atienza replacing Drilon, LP leaders and members turned the tables, this time, declaring the “ouster” of the Manila mayor along with Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor from their party.
More here.
Ninez Cacho Olivarez turns the tables on Ignacio Bunye.
Situation alarming, says US think tank
AN American think tank finds the political situation "alarming" and expects it to worsen if Gloria Arroyo continues to hold on to power.
In a roundtable assessment of the situation in Southeast Asia organized by BrooksBowerAsia held in Washington D.C. yesterday, Ernie Z. Bower said if he were to advise Arroyo, he would tell her that at this point, "she has to take care of her legacy and how she will be remembered in history," a source who attended the meeting said.
Bower, former president of the US-Asean Business Council, is a partner of BrooksBowerAsia, a top advisory firm for multinational companies in the United States.
The source, who asked not to be named, said the US is watching closely the Philippines and Thailand. Bower’s assessment, the source said, is that Thailand has a stabilizing element in the Thai monarchy.
"The assessment on the Philippines that I got was that the situation in Manila is much more volatile. They feel that Arroyo has nowhere to go. She is finished but they expect her to dig in. That’s why they are alarmed because things could get bloody," the source said.
Bowers’ "alarming" assessment is a departure from his July 2005 reading of the Philippines when the "Hello Garci" controversy was just beginning. Apparently sympathetic to the Arroyo administration, Bowers then said the Philippines "risks scaring off foreign investors, not just American investors, if it continues to question its elections after the fact."
"For the near term, it’s fair to say following the constitutional process should be the top priority in Philippine competitiveness," Bower said then.
The source said the problem of a viable alternative to Arroyo was also raised during the discussion. He said the name of Sen. Mar Roxas was mentioned.
Last March 3, Arroyo lifted her week-old declaration of the state of national emergency following a visit by Christopher Hill, assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs in the US State Department.
UPDATE: Ernest Bower corrects Ellen on her report.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment