Justice Cruz's Column

Separate Opinion : President Arroyo's Sona

Isagani Cruz
Inquirer News Service

THE State of the Nation Address (Sona) last Monday was a non-event. As drama, it was droll. As a political statement, it said nothing. As a confrontation with the issues of the day, it was a dud. I expected President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to say something significant, even challenging, but she was as tame as a kitten and no more presidential than a bureau director.

The affair was more of a fashion show, with the ladies resplendent in their colorful gowns and the gentlemen in their expensive barongs. Only former President Fidel V. Ramos came in coat and tie, as if to strike a different, superior mood. The military came in droves and in uniforms as austere as their faces. They were there to show that the Armed Forces were solidly behind their commander-in-chief.

The President had a well-orchestrated claque under the direction of Speaker Jose de Venecia. When he applauded, the members of his Rainbow Coalition also applauded. Where he was particularly pleased with what the President said, he did not merely applaud but rose to applaud. His obedient followers imitated him like so many robots because Big Sister was speaking and everybody had to cheer.

Well, not everybody because there was Senate President Franklin Drilon sitting glumly in his chair with not a sign of approval. He was a striking contrast to his co-presiding officer in the joint session who was beside himself with satisfaction. The two represented the opposite sides of the present political spectrum where several weeks ago they were an amiable twosome supporting President Arroyo.

The foreign guests, from the diplomatic corps and the business community who had come unavoidably to honor official invitation, courteously watched the charade of members of Congress, especially the House of Representatives, exhibiting their vassalage to Malacañang and their Speaker. The senators were more dignified and conceivably would not have followed their leader if Drilon had also risen to applaud.

There were those, of course, who sincerely admired the President and believed that what she was saying deserved their accolade. However, not many shared the sentiment of the small but valiant group that enthusiastically supported their idol.

How about the diehard opponents of President Arroyo who were even then already finalizing the machinery of impeachment against her? I suppose that they kept silent out of respect for the speaker where otherwise they would have responded with dismissive boos. I did not hear their disapproval as they sat peevishly like a captive audience. They were probably already preparing in their minds their adverse comments for delivery to the media.

There were reports that they had planned to boycott the Sona but except for a few stalwart oppositionists, they dutifully attended the unwelcome ordeal, also in fashionable attire like their majority colleagues but without their festive disposition. And they grimly stayed, like unwilling masochists until the President had finished her speech, without causing the threatened disturbance.

I imagine that there must have been a secret agreement among them to walk out as they had promised once President Arroyo mentioned some issue that would incite their displeasure.

Perhaps they had agreed to do this on signal from their leader for their dramatic withdrawal that would rate headlines the following day. But this expected move did not happen because it was not provoked but in fact tactically avoided by the cautious President.

They, and in fact the general public, expected Ms Arroyo to speak about such problems of her administration as corruption and election irregularities. She prudently chose not to discuss them. People wanted her to defend herself from the Garci tape charges and her alleged involvement in the "jueteng" illegal lottery scandal. She wisely declined to do so and correctly decided that these were not proper subjects in the Sona.

Instead she spoke with high praise of the accomplishments of her administration, which many did not believe. She pointed to our economic progress and even hopefully mentioned the peso-dollar exchange rate, which on that date was 55.89 pesos to one dollar. She cited 30,000 schoolrooms established under her rule, but not the lack of chairs and textbooks for the students. She also said that peace and order had improved and insurgency in the south had "abated."

The Sona was the shortest in presidential history. It was long in praise of the President's claimed accomplishments but short in the discussion of current problems and her recommendations for their solution. It was as if President Arroyo was simply making the motions to comply with tradition and the constitutional requirement. She looked quite relieved when she concluded her speech.

The true state of the nation was narrated more truthfully in the rallies outside Congress for and against President Arroyo. These were the citizens speaking without the pomp of power and the habiliments of authority in the bold exercise of their freedom of expression. They were celebrating, with placards and platitudes, their "liberty to utter and to argue freely, according to conscience, above all liberties."

More Glo Allies

Posted by Luz Rimban 
PCIJ

IF Speaker Jose de Venecia can't defeat impeachment moves against President Arroyo in the House of Representative, then the Palace will have to send in reinforcement. And the reinforcement could come in the form of new congressmen and congresswomen from party-list groups that are certified pro-Arroyo.

There has been talk going around that the Commission on Election will be proclaiming this coming week three new members of Congress from among the party-list groups still waiting for the final party list canvass. They will reportedly be brought in for a purpose and that is to raise the total number of House members from 236 to 239, so that opposition members will need 80 and not 79 signatories to endorse the impeachment complaint. Although it does not seem much, one vote short in an impeachment complaint spells the end of it.

The names and party-list groups being mentioned, however, are not exactly those who are due for proclamation. Those who are waiting in line, meantime, will have to wait longer. Based on the number of votes won, there are four party-list groups whose nominees should have been proclaimed way back June: Citizens' Battle against Corruption (CIBAC), Partido Manggagawa, Gabriela and Luzon Farmers' Party (BUTIL). But given the anti-Arroyo positions that some of these groups have taken, they might just have to prepare for a longer wait.

Meanwhile, the House leadership is said to be busy helping draft the President's State of the Nation Address on Monday. According to one party-list representative, de Venecia has been going around asking members: "What would you like the President to include in her SONA?" That being the case, expect President Arroyo's SONA to be a mishmash of issues and advocacies close to the hearts of those who have the power to make her reign or fall.

DepEd Stands Tall

Posted by Yvonne Chua
PCIJ

DROWNED out in the battle of manifestos on the ongoing political crisis is a statement released late last week by top and mid-level officials of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The statement, which appeared as a full-page ad in several national newspapers, underscored the need to keep the education system "nonpartisan and insulated from politics."

Saying that "quality education must be a path out of this crisis," the DepEd also sought a bigger budget — an 8 to 9 percent rise in its annual budget over the next five years — and the use of the Special Education Fund (SEF) of local governments solely for basic education.

A DepEd insider said education officials were constrained to issue the statement amid fears that national and local politicos who have pledged their support to the embattled Arroyo presidency would again try to meddle in the education sector, and that the president would be hard-pressed to refuse their requests given how heavily compromised she has become.

Many politicians are known to lobby for fat supply contracts and appointments of superintendents and other school officials. Their attempts, however, have been frustrated by the recent crop of DepEd officials.

By issuing last week's statement, the insider said DepEd officials are also emphasizing to whoever becomes the new education secretary—politician or otherwise—that he or she should embrace the ongoing reform agenda started under Secretary Edilberto de Jesus.

"We are setting the terms of reference. We are a professionally run organization and need to stay the course. We can't have a new secretary changing the reform agenda that took us years to craft," the insider said.

The statement was signed by all the DepEd undersecretaries and assistant secretaries, as well as nearly all its 184 schools superintendents.

Education Secretary Florencio Abad was one of the seven Cabinet members who resigned and called for President Arroyo's resignation last July 8. Arroyo has not named his replacement, but has put Undersecretary Ramon Bacani as officer-in-charge.

The appointments of several new Cabinet members are perceived to be part of the political accommodation Arroyo has been forced to make after veteran politicians like Speaker Jose de Venecia and former president Fidel V. Ramos rallied behind her amid the escalating clamor for her resignation.

Budget Secretary Romulo Neri, for example, was for a long time head of the Congressional Planning and Budget Office during De Venecia's extended speakership. He is a known JDV guy.

Some of the resigned Cabinet members have said the Arroyo administration is set to release soon the pork-barrel allocations of legislators despite the huge budget deficit to earn their support.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila was head of the Philippine National Bank during the Ramos era, when it was still in government hands, and was responsible for, among other things giving a hefty $14-million "behest" loan to businessman-rocker Ramon "RJ" Jacinto so the latter could buy PNB-owned property on Buendia Avenue in Makati in the mid-1990s.

The PCIJ wrote about this deal in 1998. What happened was PNB lent money to Jacinto so he could buy the property at a recordbreaking price of P3.7 billion. Then Jacinto offset his loans to another of his company with payments made on the property. In other words, a clever manipulation of the books that got Jacinto off the hook.  Both Favila and Jacinto can be described as Ramos boys.

Favila is also a nephew of Ramos-era Central Bank Gov. Gabriel Singson, also known to be close to Ramos.

Zamzamin Ampatuan, the new chief of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, comes from a politically influential and controversial clan in Maguindanao, with strong links to the De Venecia faction of Lakas.

One of the Ampatuans, Andal, is Maguindanao governor. As another Maguindanaoan politico revealed, Arroyo defeated Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004 with the statistically improbabale margin of 99.83 percent to 0.17 percent in seven Maguindanao towns where the mayors are all members of the Ampatuan clan.

Alexander Arevalo, the officer-in-charge at the Bureau of Customs, was a Ramos aide.  During Ramos's time, he was one of three young military officers, all graduates of the Philippine Military Academy, who served as the then president's personal assistants. A techno buff, he was largely responsible for the state-of-the art computerized back room or workroom in Malacanang, next to the Rizal Room where Ramos often received guests.

DepEd's statement in full:

A STATEMENT TO OUR LEADERS, TEACHERS, PARENTS AND COMMUNITIES

Quality Education must be a Path out of this Crisis.

We believe that quality education must be a path out of this crisis. Genuine democracies the world over succeed only where: 

• Teaching is valued by society as a time-honored profession; 
• Education is an endeavor where the whole community is involved; and
• Education system is non-partisan and insulated from politics.

The political events of these times are important to the future of the country. The running of the schools and education for all, especially our young children, however, are concerns of the present.

General Statement to the Public

The Department has put in place reforms to improve the quality of education over the past three years. These include academic reforms:

• New grading system
• Bridge program to prepare elementary graduates for high school
• Every Child a Reader program
• English, Science and Math proficiency
• Revisions to the Basic Education Curriculum
• Textbook policy (including a new, more stringent textbook content evaluation process); and
• Expansion of the Madrasah education system for young Muslim Filipinos
• Alternative Learning System for out-of-school children, youth and adults

and financial reforms:

• Decentralization of the payroll system to the regions
• Clean-up of the automatic payroll deduction system (APDS) to protect teachers from usurious lenders
• Professionalization of the Department's provident fund for teachers and non-teaching personnel
• Tightening of qualification standards in the hiring of teachers and principals
• Direct-release system and the electronic NGAS (New Government Accounting System)
• Government procurement reforms (school buildings, furniture, textbooks, instructional materials)

Over the past three years, our Department has worked hard to create and maintain a corruption-free environment with emphasis on cleaning up anomalies in hiring, procurement and finance. We are today a professionally-managed organization of educators.

Started under Secretary Edilberto C. de Jesus as the 12-Point Agenda (later the Education Roadmap), Secretary Florencio B. Abad expanded and refined these reforms as the Schools First Initiative.

To all our publics, the Department will stay the course with the Schools First Initiative that puts in place the plans for the decentralization of education down to the schools and to involve local school boards, parents and communities in taking responsibility and ownership for the achievement and performance of students under their watch.

Despite the ongoing political developments, the career professionals in the field down to our school heads and teachers assure parents that the delivery of quality education through our schools and alternative learning systems will stay focused on the Schools First Initiative. We are committed to the education of our children.

To our Leaders

Stay focused on education reforms. We need a peaceful, orderly and quick resolution to this crisis to help us focus on the task-at-hand for ourselves (quality education) and for the nation (growth and stability). Support the education reforms by significantly increasing the necessary resources to allow us to deliver on these.

To our Teachers

Stay focused on teaching. We encourage school discussion of issues to promote better understanding of the situation. But we will not tolerate mass actions that disrupt our schools. Legitimate issues should be handled within available mechanisms. We assure our teachers that the Department is working to raise the necessary resources for education, including improving teacher welfare and a salary increase.

To our Parents

Be actively involved in your children's education. Get involved with your school. This period provides us with an opportunity to clarify and affirm the values important to our society such as truth, justice, accountability, citizenship and love of country.

A Statement to All

Education is important to the future of this country. Let us spend more on public education. To our leaders, both national and local, as well as our major publics – parents, local business sector and our immediate communities – this is what we must do:

1. Raise the annual budget of the Department of Education by at least 8-9% per year over the next five years. This yearly increase of P9-10 Billion will allow us to catch up with the shortages and to provide quality inputs to keep our children engaged in the school system.
2. Focus the Special Education Fund (SEF) of local governments soely on basic education, including the education for out-of-school children, youth and adults, and on our schools. Let us minimize the use of the SEF on non-basic-education-related matters.
3. Ensure that the Department of Public Works and Highways turns over only completely-constructed school buildings. Local leaders must make sure that DPWH-constructed school buildings are complete and to specifications.
4. Depoliticize education policy. Let us not be afraid to provide an additional year of education to better prepare our children for their future. Let only properly trained pre-school teachers teach pre-school. Let us expand high school to better prepare our graduates for university or to gain more competitive skills needed for the world of work. Let us support electoral reforms that will free teachers from mandatory poll duties.

The education of our children is too important to leave to Government alone. All of us have a collective responsibility to make our education system reform. We ask all Filipinos to join us in this undertaking.

Gloria's Fighting Words

(Text of Pres. Arroyo's Nationwide TV/Radio Address on July 7, 2005)

 

Mga Minamahal kong kababayan.

When I was young and my late father Diosdado Macapagal was president of our country, I thought of him as the "good guy" and his political opponents on the other side were the "bad guys".

Because of my father's influence, I had always thought of myself as on the side of the good. Thus, it is very painful for me to know that among many of our countrymen today, I have been demonized as the "bad guy." This is unfair, but it is a cross that God in His wisdom has given me to bear, so I will bear it. I have never questioned God's ways before, and I will not do so now.

When I first entered politics in 1992, little did I know that within a decade, I would become president of our country. And little did I expect that within another five years, there would be calls from civil society for my resignation from office or for the formation of a "Truth Commission" regarding some of my political actuations.

When I spoke before the nation some two weeks ago, I did so against the advice of my legal counsel. But I thought that speaking before you, the Filipino people, was the right thing to do. Shameless people have peddled the lie that I confessed to cheating. What I disclosed was that I talked to an election official. But that this had taken place after the certificates of canvas had already been used to proclaim the winning senators, and it was those same certificates of canvass that showed that I won by around a million votes. That is the truth.

Indeed, it is right for our country to confront the truth, but if we do so, let's confront the biggest, most painful political truth. The big truth that we are aware of deep in our hearts, but that we collectively sweep under the rug. The big truth whose debilitating effects on our country, year after year, decade after decade, have developed into feelings of disgust, hopelessness and even despair among large segments of our society.

The truth that I discovered from my beginnings as a neophyte politician in 1992, rising to become a veteran politician through the years, is this: over the years, our political system has degenerated to such an extent that it is very difficult to live within the system with hands totally untainted. That is the truth. In addition, our system has degenerated to such an extent that more often than not, it is political agenda first, and national interest last. For example, we have endless investigations and scandals in aid of political and media projection, rather than in aid of legislation or executive action. That is the truth. Because of this system of politics, our country has been left behind by other countries in the region, and our best and brightest, the cream of our youth, are voting with their feet to leave the country. That is the truth.

I do not blame any individual or political block for this sad state of affairs. It is simply the truth that the political system that I am part of has degenerated to the point that it needs fundamental change. We are collectively to blame, so we must collectively be the solution. Let he who is without sin, cast the stone. To those who feel that they cannot cast the first stone, I invite you to help in the solution.

My proposed approach to reform our system of politics and governance is something that I had wanted to bring forth during the upcoming state of the nation address. However, because our country is hungry for a resolution to the political uncertainties that have plagued us these past few weeks, I will bring it up now.

First of all, I am not resigning my office. To do so under circumstances that connote an EDSA 3 would condemn any successor to the possibility of an EDSA 4, then an EDSA 5, and so on, unless our political system were first reformed to make it more responsive to the people's will, such that changes in leadership come about in an orderly and stable manner.

The world embraced EDSA 1 in 1986. The world tolerated EDSA 2 in 2001. The world will not forgive an EDSA 3 in 2005, but would instead condemn the Philippines as a country whose political system is hopelessly unstable. And the Filipinos as among the finest people in the world, but who always shoot themselves in the foot. Under those circumstances, who would invest money in the Philippines? How would we weather the difficulties arising from the price of crude oil being at its highest in history?

What I intend to do is to work with legislators and civil groups who believe that changes in the fundamental law of the land are necessary in order to confront such basic issues as federalism, the character of our legislative process, reducing red tape in government processes, running for public office under a true party system and with less need to raise campaign funds, modernizing the economic provisions of our constitution, and so forth.

At the same time, I will restructure and strengthen the cabinet, giving it a free hand to meanwhile reform and manage our day to day governance with as little political interference as possible, even from me.

This is how we will proceed.

First, I'm asking my entire cabinet to tender their resignation in order to give the executive a free hand to reorganize itself. I'll ask our sectors to give me the names of candidates that we can invite to replace those who will not return to the cabinet, or even to help out at other levels of the executive.

Second, the cabinet will be given a free hand on governance, while I focus on the fundamental changes that we need to put in place.

Third, I will begin to reach out to the political and civil sectors that have an interest in the various advocacies that are relevant to our constitution. Federalism, for example, is an advocacy that I had espoused long ago.

This is neither political ploy nor gimmick. I believe that this process will quickly lay the foundation for deep reforms in our society, including reforms in our political way of life. This would be a legacy that our generation of politicians and citizens could collectively be proud of. I now have grand children to play with and to help bring up. Like all of you, I want our children to grow up in a better Philippines. I have prayed on this, and I hope that I have discerned God's will properly.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat.

Electoral Fraud

Posted by Vinia Datinguinoo
PCIJ

THE Congressional canvass that declared Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to have won the presidency in 2004 showed her to have beaten Fernando Poe Jr. by 1,123,576 votes. A study published in Kasarinlan, a journal of UP's Third World Studies Center, says this could not be so. The paper, written by new media pioneer Roberto Verzola, asserts that Arroyo did not win the May elections by 1.1 million votes. It was a very close contest, Verzola says, with "the most probable results" ranging from a GMA win of around 156,000 votes or less, to an FPJ win of around 84,000 votes or less.

Verzola analyzed both the Namfrel tally—that used election returns (ERs)—and the parallel official count by Congress of provincial Certificates of Canvass (COCs). He dissected not only the numbers but how the tally itself progressed.

Verzola first made his findings public just over a month after the elections, in a shorter piece published June 20 last year in the Inquirer.

View Verzola's full report here.

 

Posted by Yvonne Chua
PCIJ

FIFTY-NINE percent of the respondents of a Social Weather Stations' telephone survey in Metro Manila believe President Arroyo told then Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to cheat in the May 10, 2004 elections and that she was not just trying "to protect her votes."

The June 28-30 survey, which the SWS said was "conducted on its own initiative as a public service" after Arroyo's June 27 admission that she had called a Comelec official, showed that only 29 percent believe she called to protect her votes.

Other highlights of the survey:

• 68 percent heard Arroyo's June 27 address over TV or radio, or read it in newspapers.
• 94 percent were aware of the Garci tapes.
• 32 percent had listened to the tapes, and 40 percent had either listened to or at least read a transcript of the tapes.
• 84 percent support the full airing of the tapes to the public.
• Only 20 percent agreed with Arroyo's statement that the chapter on the Garci tapes should be closed; 77 percent wanted some things done, including an investigation (26 percent) and Arroyo's resignation (18 percent).
• 48 percent said Vice President Noli de Castro was capable of running the government in case Arroyo resigned or were removed.
• Arroyo has a -31 net trust rating and the Comelec, -27.