After resigning from her Cabinet post last week, Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday offered to unify the opposition against President Estrada whose administration is being battered by allegations of payoffs from illegal gambling lords.
"They (Estrada’s critics) are looking for a united opposition," she told a news conference after arriving from a trip to Europe and the Middle East. "In their call to action, I shall not disappoint them."
Arroyo said she quit her post as social welfare secretary "to join the true Cabinet of the people" and has gathered the support of key opposition politicians to form a "united front" against Mr. Estrada. "The first order of the day is unity," she said. "Our people have responded in turn (and) they are looking for a united opposition."
Arroyo said Filipinos "must now begin the process to restore business and civil confidence."
Arroyo said she would reach out to different parties and sectors to forge "an alternative national agenda" which would bring "sobriety, stability and progress" back to the country.
"This means uniting with other elements of the opposition who are like myself and have similar ideologies," she said, citing former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa and former Cebu Gov. Lito Osmeña.
Arroyo also warned the public against elements who might take advantage of the crisis and seize power. "We must be vigilant against this, and we must not allow ourselves to be misled," she said.
Asked if she was calling on the President to resign, Arroyo reiterated that since she was next in line for succession, it would be "improper" for her to comment.
Without directly criticizing Mr. Estrada, Arroyo said, "I do not associate with (gambling bosses). I do not drink with them, I do not play mah-jongg with them."
She was referring to reports that Mr. Estrada held late-night drinking sessions and high-stakes mah-jongg games with a shadowy group of cronies.
"I believe in leadership by example. We should promote solid traits as work ethic and a dignified lifestyle, matching action with rhetoric, performing rather than grandstanding," Arroyo said.
What surprised many reporters in the press conference was the presence of embassy officials from various foreign diplomatic missions, including US Embassy press attaché Tom Skipper.
Some of the officials said they were there only as "observers." "We are here to pay courtesy to the Vice President upon her arrival. It’s a regular thing," Skipper said.
Malacañang was also suspicious over the presence of foreign diplomats at Arroyo’s press conference.
"I would like to look at it as a normal duty of the diplomatic corps of monitoring and listening to what is happening in the country where they are posted," said National Security Adviser Alexander Aguirre.
"I do not think, from what I know, that this was a statement of any kind," said Press Secretary Ricardo Puno Jr.
However, Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon Jr. revealed that opposition politicians have been calling up foreign embassies and campaigning against Mr. Estrada.
After the press conference held at the Philippine Village Hotel near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Arroyo motored to the EDSA Shrine to join former President Corazon Aquino and Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin for a "Mass for National Enlightenment."
Arroyo resigned from the Cabinet shortly after Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson accused Mr. Estrada on Oct. 4 of receiving over P400 million in bribes from jueteng operators.
She admitted yesterday after the Mass that Aquino and Sin urged her to resign after the scandal broke and thanked them for their "wise counsel."
Arroyo’s offer to unify opposition against Mr. Estrada signals her break with the administration.
Although her KAMPI party is allied with the opposition party Lakas-NUCD of former President Fidel Ramos, Mr. Estrada’s predecessor, Arroyo had refused to criticize Mr. Estrada in earlier scandals and refused to lead the political opposition.
She explained that as a Cabinet member, it was her job to be a team player. She repeatedly said that she would stick with Mr. Estrada until the end of his term in 2004.
But her refusal to take a stand against Mr. Estrada on certain issues earned her the tag of opportunist.
Her erstwhile loyalty earned her enough trust from Mr. Estrada to consider her as his successor – but under the banner of his LAMP ruling coalition.
When the jueteng scandal erupted, opposition Sen. Raul Roco said Mr. Estrada and Arroyo should both resign because they share the responsibility of running the country. Arroyo said she would not resign. – With Marichu Villanueva, Christina Mendez, wire reports