MANILA, 30 July 2005 — The days of “people power” uprisings to remove Philippine leaders are over, scandal-plagued President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday, reiterating that only a shift to a parliamentary system can stop the country’s democracy from sliding into anarchy.
In a third day of interviews with local media, Arroyo — facing impeachment — lamented being subjected to trial by media over charges that she rigged last year’s election and that her family took bribes.
“If we do not address this finally, our politics will deteriorate,” she told DZRH radio. “Imagine if we have president after president being toppled, president after president being tried by publicity, president after president being impeached.”
In her state of the nation address on Monday, Arroyo signaled the start of “the great debate on charter change” to shift to a parliamentary system. Such a move would fuse the legislative and executive branches of government and help stop gridlocks caused by quarrels between the president and the US-style bicameral Congress, Arroyo said.
“While Myanmar is trying to strengthen its democracy, our democracy is weakening and turning into anarchy,” she said. “We have to strengthen our democracy. In the past it was said that something is wrong with the system. But now it has become so wrong that the system itself is wrong.”
Arroyo is embroiled in her worst political crisis since taking power after massive protests ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001. In 1986, a “people power” revolt toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
She has apologized for speaking to an election official before she was declared the winner of the May 2004 ballot, but denied manipulating the count. She said she’s ready to face an impeachment trial.
Some members of her own Cabinet, business groups, activist organizations, the political opposition and ex-President Corazon Aquino, a former ally, have demanded her resignation. Tens of thousands have joined street protests, but the crowds have only been a fraction of the size of those in 1986 and 2001.
Opposition lawmakers on Monday filed an impeachment complaint against Arroyo for allegedly violating the constitution, betraying public trust, corruption and bribery.
Arroyo earlier asked her husband and son to leave the country after they were both accused of receiving illegal gambling payoffs, along with her brother-in-law.
She said her 37th wedding anniversary on Tuesday would be sad without her husband.
“I did not become a president to enjoy,” she said. “You must be prepared to suffer if necessary.”
Despite her recent political upsets, Arroyo has still managed to impress on the international stage — she was named the world’s fourth most powerful woman by Forbes’ magazine yesterday. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice topped the list.
Not Laws But People
In Iloilo City, the incoming president of the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines questioned the president’s call for constitutional amendments, called “Cha-Cha,” to pave the way for changes in the political system.
“We doubt whether Cha-cha at this time will solve our country’s serious problems on poverty, education, ecology, graft and corruption, the problems of credibility, honesty and integrity in governance,” said Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo in a statement.
But Lagdameo said it is not laws that the country lacks “but people with sincerity, accountability and transparency in governance.”
Lagdameo said Arroyo’s call for decentralization of power “has been made time and again by other presidents before her. I hope that the movement will not simply be from Sona to Sona, but will truly be from Sona to determined and focused action. Go ahead; it’s late already!”
‘Federal Added Tax’
In Congress, House Deputy Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano warned governors and mayors supporting Charter change that their constituents would be facing more taxes in a parliamentary-federal system.
“If the federal states will keep the bulk of their taxes as they propose, who will pay the nation’s P6 trillion debt? So the federal government is likely to impose another tax to service local and foreign debt,” Cayetano told a press conference.
Cayetano called it the “federal added tax,” or the FAT, alluding to the unpopular expanded value-added tax which was passed by Congress but temporarily stopped by the Supreme Court.
He said Malaca?ang would again poise the bogey of economic crisis and “potential disintegration of the federated states” to push for the FAT.
He warned the local government executives who gave Arroyo five standing ovations during her State of the Nation Address not to be “easily swayed by her tricks.”
“In the short term, GMA will be the one who will immensely benefit from this. She knew that Cha-cha is dead on arrival in the Senate. But she and Malaca?ang officials want to abort the fetus of impeachment. That’s why they created this issue to abort the impeachment fetus before it reaches the Senate and take a life of its own,” said Cayetano.
“I’m not saying that the flaws of the federal system will not be cured. Having a federal government is good. But the question is the timing. We must seriously study this through unemotional debates,” he said.
