Babe's Eye View article

By this time next year, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would have stepped down from the presidency. Perhaps as a private citizen or a congresswoman of Pampanga, we don’t really know. It’s been a roller coaster ride for GMA in terms of the number of times people have tried to pull her down from the seat of power, starting in May 2001 or just a few months after she took over with pro-Joseph Estrada followers trying to storm Malacañang in their own version of “people power.”

GMA has been through a number of coup attempts starting in July 2003 with the Oakwood mutiny which lasted for 18 hours. No doubt it was a serious test that GMA and her administration faced, judging from the haggard look on her face when she finally faced the cameras, both hands raised in victory to announce that the rebellion is over. But in February 2006, authorities discovered a plot to topple the government, supposedly headed by Brig. Gen. Danny Lim.

This was followed by the infamous Manila Pen siege in November 2007 where Lim, Antonio Trillanes and other Magdalo soldiers walked out of their hearing and marched to the Manila Peninsula hotel, joined by a number of politicians and civilians. Every year since 2005, GMA has had to face impeachment complaints filed by the opposition and groups associated with the left. But every time they did, her allies in Congress always managed to tamp down such attempts.

No doubt GMA has been through quite a lot and has faced a situation similar to that of the country’s first female president, Cory Aquino, who faced several coup attempts with the bloodiest in 1989 that resulted in the death of a hundred people. The political turbulence marking the term of both Mrs. Aquino and GMA have prompted some people to ask, will we ever have another woman president again?

Who knows? But somehow, it seems the two female presidents took over just when people’s emotions seemed ready to burst in revolt as seen in EDSA I and EDSA 2.

Looking back, the two lady presidents shared similarities in the sense that both of them were able to withstand the numerous coup attempts against their administrations. In the case of Mrs. Aquino, there were seven coup attempts while GMA went through three.

But all this talk about her needing to categorically announce that she is stepping down in 2010 is pointless. In the first place, she already admitted that her term ends next year, and the way she said “thank you” to the Filipinos for giving her the opportunity to serve as president sounded pretty much like “farewell” to a lot of people. Besides, it’s quite clear—as Mar Roxas said—that she has to step down in June 2010 whether she likes it or not because the Constitution says so. Unless for some miracle the Constitution changes overnight.

Obviously, GMA is having fun at the expense of her critics, laughing at the way they get agitated by her refusal to pander to their demands, getting a lot of amusement at the fact that these people are getting so antsy and irritated by her seeming ability to ignore her critics. In her last SONA, she said, “At the end of my speech, I will step down from this stage—but not from the presidency”—in an obvious taunt to her critics.

Another thing, that open letter written by some politicians regarding GMA’s meeting with Barack Obama was absurd. In the first place, a new US president usually invites as many world leaders as possible in his first year in office, and GMA was invited, not because she is Gloria Arroyo, but because she happens to be president of the Philippines—one of the staunchest allies of the US in Asia.

After all, the Philippines is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, a critical issue for the United States, which is why Obama had US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA chief Leon Panetta visit the Philippines one after the other.

No one will argue that we are an important ally in this war versus terrorists, particularly with concerns that Mindanao is being used as a training ground for international terrorists and extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The meeting between GMA and Obama was good for the country, with the US president recognizing the importance we play as an ally. He named the Philippines as the coordinating country between US relations with ASEAN, praising the nation by saying that although it is not the largest of countries, “it punches above its weight in the international arena.” The underlying message in that meeting was clear: The US wants elections to take place in 2010, so critics of GMA should not put any more meaning other than that.

When all is said and done, whatever GMA decides to do after her presidency is really her call, whether she will run for Congress or not. But one thing is sure: she would have survived nine years as president, and like a cat, she seems to have nine lives.

I finished this column Friday evening, and I received the news early yesterday morning that former president Cory Aquino had passed away.

As repeatedly said by so many people, history will remember Mrs. Aquino as the icon of democracy in the Philippines. And I might add, she remained steadfast and strong, and withstood so many attempts to derail the democratic system that we have today.

My condolences to the family of the late president.