LuisTeodoro.com

Unity’s the theme of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inauguration, and its companion, reconciliation, the mantra of the new-old administration.

Although these are buzzwords rarely meant, the call for both is nevertheless meaningful. It implies recognition of a state of division serious enough to worry the Arroyo administration, and which it hopes it can paper over to prevent the destabilization that’s widely predicted could happen in the aftermath of the May 10 elections. »

Congress in joint session proclaimed Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de Castro President and Vice President of the Philippines at dawn the other day. It was the end of a process whose outcome, for all the debate that went on in the last three weeks, was anyway predestined by the overwhelming numbers of the administration coalition.

Not all is over except the shouting, however. There is little proof of fraud vast enough to affect the outcome of the presidential and vice presidential elections. But Mrs. Arroyo and de Castro will nevertheless take their seats under a cloud of doubt as to their mandate. Unless Mrs. Arroyo plays her cards right, any hope for stability in the next six years will be futile. »

Borrowed from the term favored by the United States to describe its capacity to incinerate the world several times over, “overkill” was aptly used to describe how Ferdinand Marcos campaigned for reelection in 1969.

The very same term could be used today — except that it would apply not only to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign for the presidency. It would equally apply to the vast amounts of political muscle, intimidation, and — some say — money expended to have her finally proclaimed. »

George W. Bush, says a New York Times editorial, should apologize to the American people for making them believe that Saddam Hussein had links with the terrorist network Al Qaeda, which the United States says was responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

As if the rest of the world didn’t already know it, this was dishonest of Bush, said the Times. But “it’s not just a matter of the President’s diminishing credibility.” What the Times finds more disturbing is that “the war on terror has actually suffered as the conflict in Iraq has diverted military and intelligence resources from places like Afghanistan, where there could really be Al Qaeda forces, including Mr. (Osama) bin Laden.” »

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s claim that the May 10 elections have restored the power of the ballot as an instrument of democratic change, in contrast to the “power of the street,” was as specious and wishful as her claim that the same elections would lead to unity, poverty alleviation, and progress.

What is more likely is that what happened in the May elections has not only undermined the ballot as the major instrument of regime change in this country. It might have also strengthened faith not only in People Power but also in other extra-constitutional options including coups, uprisings, riots and the like. These possibilities seriously undermine the possibility of the unity, much less the progress, Mrs. Arroyo alluded to in her Independence Day speech last Saturday. »

Independence day comes at a critical time this year.

It’s not just because the country still doesn’t have a president-elect thirty-one days after the elections, and is unlikely to have one when Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo’s term—actually Estrada’s unfinished, 1998 mandate—ends on June 30.

Filipinos are also reeling from the steady spiral of oil-product prices, which, besides making transport more expensive, is also fueling an inflation rate, already accelerating because of election spending, that’s the highest in three years. »

Someone should be, or should have been, advising the leaders of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the fine arts of public relations.

Since the week after the May 10 elections, both have been talking about “destabilization plots” and even coup attempts involving—of course—the usual suspects in the opposition, the protest groups and even the New People’s Army. »