It won’t be until noon of June 30 that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will exit Malacanang, but I can’t wait to bid her farewell. Goodbye Gloria, but no thanks for the bad memories. You said you will just fade away after that day, but I assure you that you will not be forgotten.
Infamy awaits you at the exit from Malacanang, and just like other hated leaders, you will always be remembered because you shall leave a legacy of corruption, cheating, deceit, disrespect for democratic institutions, divisive politics, and human rights abuses, among other things.
In a speech before diplomats during a reception to celebrate the 112th anniversary of Philippine independence, Arroyo said she would leave behind an economically robust and politically stable country.
Arroyo boasted that the country posted 37 quarters of growth during her nine-year administration, and yet surveys have consistently shown that almost half of Filipino household rate themselves poor and that 21.2 percent or some four million households have experienced having nothing to eat in the last three months.
In fact, the National Census and Statistics Board (NCSB) said in its latest poverty survey that the number of “poor” Filipinos grew from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006.
The survey also concluded that average family income fell by 2.7% over the period from 2003 to 2006 and the number of “food-poor” individuals – those who cannot regularly afford to buy even basic foodstuffs – jumped 14% over the same period.
While it is true that the country has posted modest growth every year, the inconvenient truth is that the prosperity claimed by Arroyo seems to be experienced only by the richest 20% of Filipino families (3.5 million), who accounted for 52.8% of total family income, while the poorest 80% (13.9 million) had to share the remaining 47.3 percent, according to the IBON Foundation. The income of the richest 10% of Filipino households was equivalent to 19 times that of the poorest 10 percent, the think tank group added.
The IBON Foundation also revealed that real wages in the country (taking inflation into account with 2000 as the base year) have actually fallen from P340.80 in 2001 to P141.97 in 2007. Even worse, the daily minimum wage in the NCR of P362 is just 40% of the estimated family living wage of P806 (as of December 2007). Further, according to the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the country’s poorest families (some 13.9 million) found themselves with less income than in 2001.
Amid these glaring statistics, Arroyo didn’t twitch an eyelid in saying she was turning over to a new government “a new Philippines, one that is ready for the challenges of bringing the nation to the verge of first world in 20 years.”
She also boasted of a politically stable country, conveniently forgetting that during her reign, disgruntled military officers staged four coup attempts and that in the middle of her tenure, her administration was in the verge of collapse as massive protests nearly led to another People Power revolt following the “Hello Garci” expose.
Arroyo had the support of the Filipino people at the start of her term, and yet within a few months of her term, she almost instantly became a hated leader. What happened?
When she was thrust into the presidency, she was backed by a coalition of forces that gathered at EDSA to help bring down the corrupt and decadent administration of Joseph Estrada. In a matter of months, she had lost the support of half of them, including the influential so-called civil society, a group composed of society’s elite — the businessmen, the intellectuals and civic leaders — because of her failure to implement a reform agenda.
Instead of reassuring them, Arroyo decided to make them her enemies. She dressed the leaders down in her speeches and press conferences, and even accused them of sabotaging her administration. Not content with this, Arroyo even linked several of them to alleged plots to destabilize her government.
Arroyo created ghosts because she apparently feared that the movement led by these sectors that brought down her predecessor and catapulted her to power would also be cast against her. Arroyo never made any effort to win them back. To her, they were her enemies and they should be crushed.
Arroyo loved to play divisive politics. She brought her divisive politics to the military. She sacked officers whom she perceived to be her enemies, thereby dividing senior military officers into pro-Arroyo and anti-Arroyo factions. Those she perceived to be loyal to deposed President Estrada were put in the freezer and constantly placed under suspicion, while those who professed absolute loyalty to her got juicy positions.
Even members of her own administration coalition were constantly checked for loyalty. Her constant suspicions on the loyalty of people around her borders on paranoia.
Arroyo had no regard for human rights. She paraded suspects before the media as if they had already been convicted. Once, in her rush to present a corruption suspect before the media, she paraded the accuser as a suspect and even dressed her down publicly. Not willing to admit her mistake, she insisted the whistleblower was also involved and allowed the NBI to harass the hapless woman.
Arroyo will exit with the worst human rights record since the Marcos dictatorship. In its 2009 yearend report, human rights group KARAPATAN stated that there were a total of 1,188 victims of extrajudicial killings, including judges and several media members; 205 forcibly disappeared and are still missing under Arroyo’s term.
In addition, Arroyo mocked democratic institutions and processes. She declared a state of emergency in 2005 and ordered her troops to raid media offices and to arrest opposition leaders. She virtually banned rallies by ordering a Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) against demonstrators. She blocked efforts by the Senate to probe corruption and human rights charges by signing Executive Order 464 that effectively prohibited government officials from testifying in congressional probes.
Arroyo will be most remembered for the allegations of cheating in the 2004 presidential elections, as evidenced by the “Hello Garci” scandal in which she was taped talking to Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and seeking assurance that she would win by at least a million votes over the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.
Before that, she deceived the people by saying she would not run in 2004, in an effort to stop her diving popularity rating. She did run and cheated.
Arroyo will also leave behind a legacy of corruption, of numerous unresolved corruption scandals that directly linked her and her husband Mike Arroyo, foremost of which were the $329-million NBN-ZTE broadband contract, the P728-million fertilizer scam, and numerous other agriculture scandals.
Arroyo will also be remembered for her shameless attempts to hold on to power through proposed charter changes (cha-cha) that would shift the form of government from presidential to parliamentary, which would enable her to circumvent term limits and become prime minister for an indefinite period.
During her term, Arroyo waged all kinds of wars but did not win a single battle. She waged war on the communist rebels, the Muslim rebels, on terrorism, against corruption, against criminals, against poverty, and against every conceivable enemy. She waged these wars in the media, but apparently did nothing else because the communist rebels continue to hound the countrysides; the Muslim rebels continue their decades-old war for secession; the corrupt continue to suck the country dry; the kidnappers, drug lords, gambling lords and other criminals continue to sow terror on the people; the terrorists remain scot-free; more and more people have fallen into the quicksand of poverty; and the people remain as hopeless as ever.
In short, President Arroyo failed the Filipino people, who are only happy to see her go on June 30. Goodbye Gloria, and please don’t forget to take Mike with you.