Critics’ SONA: Arroyo ‘guilty’ as charged of ‘high crimes’

(A Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo mascot behind bars. Photo by Joan Marfil.)

scenes and soudbytes from in and out of the Batasan

AT A MOCK trial of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last Monday on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City, about 5,000 rallyists from civil society groups braved heavy rains and meted out a guilty verdict on the Philippines 14^th president.

Arroyo, they judged, had committed serious “crimes,” not least of them theft of public funds, violation of human rights and the Constitution, and effete efforts to reduce poverty.

The rallyists unfurled a sea of anti-Arroyo placards and banners in front of the Commission on Human Rights building hours before the 9^th and presumably last state of the nation address of Arroyo.

On the bench at the mock trial, two former Arroyo senior officials – ex-Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman and former Civil Service Commission Chairperson Karina David – sat as mock justices.

Soliman and David ran down the following as the “crimes” Arroyo supposedly committed in her eight years as president: “pagyurak sa karapatang pantao (violation of human rights), pagnanakaw sa kaban ng bayan (theft of public funds) pagwasak ng mga institusyon ng demokrasya (damaging democratic institutions), paglabag sa Saligang Batas sa paulit-ulit na Constituent Assembly (evading the law through repeated attempts to convene a Constituent Assembly), at sa paglawak at pagtindi ng kahirapan (worsening poverty).”

“Guilty!” the crowd let out a lusty cheer as Soliman and David proclaimed the charges against Arroyo. At the close of the “trial,” an actor portraying Arroyo was hurled off to a makeshift prison cell across the stage.

Lawmakers witnessed the mock trial and delivered speeches that further fueled the protesters’ passions. Eleven of the 23 senators and eight members of the House of Representatives boycotted Arroyo’s SONA yesterday, the press reported.

“Instead of using her long period in office to improve the people’s living conditions and democratic rights, Mrs. Arroyo’s government and her long reign have instead become instruments (for) further impoverishment and increased democratic deficit,” remarked Akbayan party list Representative Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

A ballooning debt, graft-ridden projects funded by foreign loans, political scandals, election fraud and alleged attempts to extend her term are glaring examples of how Arroyo, according to Hontiveros, exacerbated the “country’s democratic, political and economic poverty.”

Later at the Batasang Pambansa building, Arroyo delivered a 54-minute SONA punctuated with at least 126 rounds of applause and there declared, “I have never expressed the desire to extend myself beyond my term.”

But to her critics, that is not assurance enough that Arroyo intends to relinquish her power by her term’s end in June 2010. That is not, to her critics, firm guarantee that she would halt all attempts to amend the Constitution to secure extended lease on power.

To political analyst Ramon Casiple, Arroyo’s ninth SONA did not sound like a valedictory address at all. “The SONA definitely is not a swan song, nor is it a unifying call, nor one of a legacy speech. It sounds like a campaign speech, a call to arms, or an act of throwing down a gauntlet,” Casiple wrote in his blog.

Casiple, who is also the executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER), noted that in her SONA, Arroyo fired broadsides in a series against those aspiring to run for president in May 2010. In doing so, Casiple said Arroyo in effect tossed her hat in the political ring as yet another possible candidate.

“Considering that she cannot run anymore in the 2010 elections, this leaves only the possibility for charter change. She hints in the SONA that she will contend for power with them, not necessarily through elections,” Casiple noted. “The not-so-subtle message of her full (fuchsia) gown is: GMA is ready to fight!”

Senator Mar Roxas was one of her critics that Arroyo rebuked in her SONA. At the mock trial of Arroyo before the speech, Roxas had told the rallyists: “Pagod na rin po ako sa pambobola na nangyayari… Pagod na rin ako madinig ‘yung mga statistika na pinaganda lamang pero sa katotohanan ay malayong-malayo sa realidad. (I’ve grown tired of her tall tales… I’ve grown tired of hearing embellished statistics that in truth defy reality).”

Months ago, too, at a rally against Charter change in Makati City, Roxas had let out a “p….. ina” expletive against Arroyo. On Monday in her final SONA, Arroyo served Roxas a sharp retort: “To those who want to be President, this advice: If you really want something done, just do it. Do it hard, do it well. Don’t pussyfoot. Don’t pander. And don’t say bad words in public.”

In a rush, Roxas responded within minutes via Twitter: “Gloria, I have to say bad words in public because of bad deeds done in secret.”

To Akbayan Representative Walden Bello, one thing positive has come of the eight years of Arroyo’s rule: “People have become more thirsty for change beyond the usual prescriptions provided by the elite and by the current yet highly discredited global economic development paradigm.”

Bello, a sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, said the Philippines today is a country in a “state of national anger,” which may lead to a “state of national advancement.”

For his part, Rodolfo Noel ‘Jun’ Lozada Jr., key Senate witness in the botched $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corporation, exhorted the rallyists to press on with protest actions until Arroyo is sent to jail, while still in office or aftewards.

“Kailangan natin siyang labanan dahil personal ko hong alam na inutusan niya si Romy Neri na gumawa ng isang krimen sa NBN-ZTE,” Lozada said. (We need to fight on because I personally know that she ordered (then economic planning Secretary) Romy Neri to commit a crime in the NBN-ZTE deal.) – PCIJ, 28 July 2009