Presidents in Prison

A vision of two presidents

Inquirer News Service

ON TELEVISION, they appeared to be a bunch of battery-operated robots programmed to stand up and clap -- on cue from Speaker Jose de Venecia -- 30 times for Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as she delivered her State of the Nation Address. But there was nothing to applaud in a speech that was a cacophony of political and economic pretensions.

Ms Arroyo, obviously upon the prodding of her advisers, focused on the idea of amending the Constitution and changing our form of government. She did not say a bit about calls for her removal from office. His advisers must be adept in the sleight-of-hand trick of magicians. But they failed. Once again, her silence on the scandals surrounding her only reminded us that it is very hard to fool the people all the time. The people's clamor for Ms Arroyo's resignation even shifted to higher gear.

Pulse Asia's July 2-14 survey showed 73 percent of Filipinos want to see Ms Arroyo out of Malacañang either through resignation, impeachment, "snap elections" or even unconstitutional means.

What the Filipinos have in the Philippines right now is a president who has imposed herself on the nation and wants to rule without the consent of the governed. In a democracy, the governed, if extremely unhappy with their leaders, have the right to change the latter by whatever means possible.

The issue of Charter change in order to adopt a new form of government is not a solution to Arroyo's unpopular leadership. The best solution so far is for Arroyo to undergo a full examination of conscience as suggested by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and to "cut cleanly," Ferdinand Marcos-style.

When Ms Arroyo, acting in concert with Chief Justice Hilario Davide, grabbed the presidency from Joseph Estrada on Jan. 20, 2001 following protest demonstrations at the Edsa highway, she said, "The President has not only lost moral authority to govern, but now has no government." Fast forward to Jan. 20, 2006, another politician may utter similar statements and proclaim himself "the new commander-in-chief" of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. So the vision of two former Philippine presidents put behind bars is not a remote possibility.

GONZALO POLICARPIO (via e-mail)