Macapagal's heritage grades
By Antonio J. Montalvan

MY fearless forecast is that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will lose the election. And it is not only because of a winnability problem over Fernando Poe Jr., but partly because of the image she has brought upon herself in her presidency. The picture we get of the President is that of a scheming wheeler-dealer who will sacrifice principles for the sake of the only thing that appears to matter to her: ambition. In other words, she wants another turn in Malacañang so badly no matter how much she denies it, and no matter what it takes. That is why the Jose Pidal issue appears credible to many. Her only consolation is that it was opened by the credibility-deficient and current kulelat Ping Lacson.

Word of honor is still a virtue that appears to be valued by many Filipinos. It is amazing that with her vaunted intellectual capabilities and serious working style, not to mention a postgraduate degree, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cannot seem to read the public mind over her turnabouts.

My own take on her is that ambition has made her so callous as to disparage the signs of the times which are written all over the wall. On the way to 2004, it will probably help her to recall the thwarted expectations she has brought about, and one of these is in the area of Filipino cultural heritage. If I were her teacher, I would not hesitate to give her a flat F.

Recall that in the controversy over the Mehan Gardens, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's intervention was sought. The Heritage Conservation Society of Manila alarm was met with stony silence. The absence of any action from her only made clear what was more important to her: the political ties with Lito Atienza. Even at that point, Ms Macapagal already had her eyes on 2004.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's modus operandi, in fact, speaks volumes of her unblushing use of political accommodation. She attempted to put Letty Shahani in as chair of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts despite Shahani's conspicuous lack of qualifications for the post. Obviously, the President meant to pay her political debts to Shahani's brother, Fidel Ramos.

What is more dismal than Ms Macapagal's cultural heritage record was her stance on the Huluga heritage site destruction in Mindanao. An article I had written as an open letter to her caught her attention eons after the issue erupted. And only when it caught national media attention did she move posthaste, sending the Cabinet officer for northern Mindanao, agriculture's Cito Lorenzo, to talk to us about the issue.

"The President wants to know what she can do about the issue" was Lorenzo's opening line to me. I had no doubts about Lorenzo, an old friend, who I know has a very good personal praxis of Filipino cultural heritage appreciation. But the buck does not stop with him. It certainly stops with the President. And on the second time that Lorenzo asked us for a meeting, a local Presidential aide substituting for Lorenzo who was in the middle of an Islamic wedding, flatly told us that the President cannot afford to imperil political ties with Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Vicente Emano. Then I recalled Atienza, and shades of Mehan Garden entered my mind. Everything became clear as crystal. Right then and there I knew that this President cared for nothing but 2004.

In a second, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's Strong Republic crumbled for me. Just days before, in fact, Emano was found guilty by the administrative court hearing the Huluga issue as having destroyed the heritage site and was meted out, among other penalties, a fine of 50,000 pesos, which to this day he has not bothered to pay. For Ms Macapagal to close her eyes on that blatant violation of cultural laws by a city mayor she perceives can deliver masa votes for her in 2004 was just the final proof of where her heart lies.

Well, I have bad news for her. She will not win even in Emano's turf, who is known for his despotic bent in Cagayan de Oro and whose melodramatic radio antics in two of his favorite radio stations has become the butt of jokes. To me, the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo + Emano equation is nothing but equal to heritage destruction. And I strongly recommend to all who understand the social capital value of cultural heritage that these are people who do not deserve our votes.

Strange how the convergence of the planets can configure so that two officials with such abysmal disregard for our heritage can keep up a false front and prey on the gullibility of voters. On the day before Emano defied the law to proceed with the inauguration of the bridge built on the Huluga heritage site area, the President was thousands of miles away, in Paris delivering a speech at the 32nd General Session of the Unesco.

In her speech, the President was effusive in her praise to the Unesco for helping cultural preservation in the Philippines. The President's speech was in fact punctuated by concepts such as cultural diversity, multi-ethnic society, ancestor sophistication, cultural traditions, knowledge society, etc. Nothing wrong with that, except for the irony of it. Little did those Unesco people know that this was an abettor of cultural terrorism who was speaking before them. Little did they know that this was a person who had a very poor grasp of cultural heritage governance. Little did they know that this was somebody who once told the Spanish ambassador to Manila not to fund historical restorations anymore because she prefers roads and bridges instead. A President who does not see the tandem role of development and cultural heritage is one for the archaic books and therefore has no business mouthing platitudes that, like her protégé Emano, keep up a false front.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not get my vote in 2004.

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