MANILA, July 15 — Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday won an important endorsement from Philippine Roman Catholic bishops, who said there was no credible alternative despite her declining popaularity.
Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), cautioned church members to be wary of attempts to organize a “people power” uprising aimed at toppling the incumbent government.
A group of former Arroyo political allies led by the Council for Philippine Affairs (Copa) are planning an anti-government street protest in Manila today.
“I do not see the church supporting any artificially-created people power trying to raise the banner of a contrived and artificially created national crisis,” Quevedo said in a statement.
Commenting on the planned protests, Arroyo spokesman Silvestre Afable said: “This government has taken the initiative (with) a lot of political, social and economic reforms, and there is no possibility that another (regime-changing uprising) will happen under this administration.”
Arroyo came to power in a church- and military-backed bloodless popular revolt that toppled predecessor Joseph Estrada in January 2001. Estrada is now on trial for corruption.
“Right now, it would seem to me that the best option for the country is for President Arroyo to finish her term and be allowed to succeed without nitpicking by the opposition and by some sectors of media, and without needless political infighting,” Archbishop Quevedo said.
Without a realistic alternative, “why should we continue to raise petty issues about her personality, her political mistakes, as if she were Superwoman?”
Arroyo has faced rising dissent and eroding popularity over a wave of kidnappings as well as her pledge to honor power supply contracts predecessor governments had signed with private power producers which have driven up electricity tariffs.
Her public approval rating slipped to 42.6 percent last month, compared to 48 percent in March.
Quevedo said the church would pursue its “critical solidarity” stance with Arroyo. There are more than 50 million Catholics in the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago of 80 million people.
“I do not see any grave national crisis that would seriously destabilize the Arroyo administration,” the church leader added.
While supporting Edsa II, which ousted Estrada in January 2001, the CBCP has also taken issue with some of the Arroyo administration’s policies, including its decision to apply the death penalty.
Quevedo blamed the opposition for starting a political problem by grabbing power in the Senate, causing what he called a “weird arrangement” in the upper chamber. This gridlock has led to the political compromises that the administration was compelled to make, he said.
The CBCP also scored leftist groups and some “small but vocal” civil society organizations for fanning the political problem to make it appear as if it were a national crisis and not just a political dilemma.
Quevedo said the falling out between the militant left and some civil society groups with the administration was also due to their different agenda.
He mentioned the Copa, “whose allegiance to the ... administration from the very beginning has always been suspect since they have their own agenda.”
Last week, Copa secretary-general Pastor Saycon broke off his ties with the president, claiming that Arroyo has been sleeping with the enemy to advance her political objectives. He has since sounded a more conciliatory note.
“By and large, the people lay the blame at the door not of President Arroyo but at the door of the members of the political opposition in the Senate,” Quevedo said.
“They are perceived, as in the impeachment case, as craving to assert and establish their power without regard for the common good,” he added.
Quevedo admitted that there was widespread dissatisfaction in the country because of economic problems, but said that the dissatisfaction and hopelessness were not caused by the Arroyo administration alone.
He said the despair was the result of unfulfilled promises and expectations since the Marcos era, although the abuses and corruption during Estrada’s term had stirred public outrage. “I do not see any grave national crisis that would seriously destabilize the Arroyo administration,” Quevedo said.
In the Senate, the opposition leader behind the controversial takeover in the upper chamber last month said the opposition will not support any “extra-constitutional” means to topple the Arroyo administration.
“We will not allow an extra-constitutional route of removing a president,” Sen. Edgardo Angara said.
