The 'Palakpakan Brigade'

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's State of the Nation Address on Monday was remarkable not for what she said, but what she left unsaid. No mention was made of the impeachment case filed against her earlier in the day for her alleged rigging of the presidential election last year, or of the alleged payoffs of money from "jueteng" illegal lottery operators to Commission on Elections officials, to her son and to her brother-in-law.

To some foreign observers the President's State of the Nation Address (SONA) may have seemed like a resounding success, considering how many times she was interrupted by vigorous clapping. But a closer inspection of the whole event shows that only die-hard administration supporters clapped like mad, while Senate President Franklin Drilon sat silently, looking uncomfortable and skeptical. House Speaker Jose de Venecia, who it seems is responsible (along with former President Fidel Ramos) for momentarily saving President Arroyo's skin, clapped like mad, often standing up to do so.

This show of over-enthusiastic clapping by die-hard Arroyo supporters was the classic definition of the "'Palakpakan' [Clapping] Brigade." President Arroyo looked extremely pale and had huge eye bags, testament to the sleepless nights she must be having in Malacañang while she burns the midnight oil worrying about her political future. De Venecia and Ramos have tried to engineer the political survival of Arroyo at least until the Constitution can be amended to change the country's political system to a parliamentary one from the current presidential one.

This supposed need for political change was the core of Arroyo's SONA, which at 23 minutes was the shortest one ever delivered in Philippine history. But most congressmen and senators did not buy it, saying afterwards that the impeachment case against the President would have to be dealt with thoroughly before any discussion of charter change could ever take place.

Supporters of Charter change keep harping on the fact that a parliamentary system is based more on policies and issues, unlike the presidential system, which often degenerates into a popularity contest. Countless Charter change supporters were heard on television this past week extolling the virtues of a parliamentary system, stressing that a government under that system could be easily changed with a no-confidence vote rather than another long drawn out series of "people power" rallies on the EDSA highway.

While that may be true, one just has to look at Italy, which is ruled by a parliamentary system, and which for a while in the 1990s went through a long series of different governments as each was brought down one after the other by yet another no-confidence vote, to see how that system can also be inherently unstable.

But back to those pesky corruption allegations, which are growing in number every day, which President Arroyo seems to believe that by just shutting her eyes and humming loudly she will be able to make them go away. The latest proof of this was her disastrous press conference on Wednesday, in which reporters had to present their questions in advance, and which the foreign press was excluded from attending.

Taking a page from that of US President George W. Bush's press conferences, reporters from state-controlled press outlets were given preference to ask such soft questions as "Where do you find the inner strength to cope with the crisis?" Arroyo's answer: "From the Lord. From praying." What nonsense! The Philippines has a long tradition of a free and vigorous press. It will hardly be fooled or deterred by such a stage-managed press conference.

The latest sleaze allegation comes from Archbishop Oscar Cruz who claims that each of the Commission on Elections' 13 regional directors were summoned to Manila a few weeks before the election in May 2004 and given two million pesos each by Lilia Pineda, the wife of Pampanga gambling lord Bong Pineda. President Arroyo was allegedly present at the occasion, which is plausible because she is a close friend of Lilia's.

While only 42 congressmen have signed the impeachment case against Arroyo so far, Representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio said the opposition had won the support of 67 lawmakers, and that their identities would be kept under wraps until the 79 required signatures were gathered.

If I were President Arroyo, I wouldn't count on being in Malacañang for much longer and I would start preparing for the many criminal charges that I will be facing soon enough.

The President has hinted that she shouldn't be held to such high standards of moral conduct, implying that a little cheating to win an election is standard practice in Philippine political life. But the problem is that Arroyo set herself to higher standards of conduct when she joined the EDSA People Power II revolution and denounced her former political ally, former president Joseph Estrada, for alleged corruption. It now is clear that the same corruption charges leveled against Estrada are the same as the ones being leveled against her.

Why should Arroyo be allowed to stay on, while Estrada was not? Just because most Filipinos are embarrassed that they elected a political lightweight in the form of Vice President Noli de Castro and couldn't bear to see him become president? I don't think so. You just don't vote for someone and then suddenly say you've changed your mind afterwards by claiming that he is too stupid or naïve to rule. Democracy doesn't work that way.

President Arroyo should have resigned weeks ago, not just out of "delicadeza" [sense of propriety], but out of shame from not living up to the high standards of conduct that she herself promised to uphold and which the electorate expected her to honor.

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Bon voyage, Taha Guinomla

THE ADMINISTRATIVE officer at the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, Taha Guinomla, is leaving the Kingdom today after completing his six-year tour of duty here.

He is returning to Davao City, where he will be assigned at the regional office of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

I will miss Taha as he proved to be always accommodating and helpful whenever I called him up for information or to get help for Filipino workers.

Good luck, Taha, and have a safe journey home!

Comments or questions? E-mail me at rasheed@arabnews.com.