GMA admits criticisms can hurt, but shrugs them off

It may be an occupational hazard, but it hurts her, too.

President Arroyo rued yesterday that it pains her to be at the receiving end of "wild accusations" coming from political opponents as well as leaders of the so-called civil society that helped sweep her into power last January.

She said while before the target was her husband, First Gentleman Miguel Arroyo, now the critics are aiming at her.

Mrs. Arroyo poured her heart out before leaders and members of civil society at the third National Congress of the Caucus Development NGO networks (CODE-NGO) held yesterday at the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City.

Digressing from her prepared speech, the President noted with dismay how her husband had become the "favorite whipping boy" of the political opposition when it cashed in on bribery allegations involving two telecom franchise bills.

"Now the target is no longer my husband, but I myself," Mrs. Arroyo rued.

Although she did not go into specifics, the President was obviously referring to the charges aired by businessman Pacifico Marcelo who accused her of demanding majority shares in his two telecom firms whose Congress-approved franchise bills she had vetoed.

Mrs. Arroyo was also lately linked to alleged attempts of her husband and older brother, Diosdado Macapagal Jr., to earn commissions to facilitate the settlement of the coco levy case.

The allegations were made by Linda Montayre, secretary general of the Philippine Consultative Assembly (PCA), one of the first civic groups that supported her last January during EDSA people power II.

The President categorically denied Marcelo’s charges and also dismissed Montayre’s accusations, saying the PCA "does not mean anything" to her.

"But I can say to you with a clear conscience that I’m still what I was before when you knew me. I’m still as honest and a person of integrity as my father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal was, and raised me to be," she said.

The President took the occasion to allay concerns and criticisms from the civil society about her earlier announcement that she would seek her own mandate for the presidency in 2004.

"I am not making decisions to gain votes in the year 2004. I believe the presidency is a matter of destiny. How can I not believe that? Was it not destiny that made me president on Jan. 20," Mrs. Arroyo rhetorically asked.

"And so therefore my agenda is to ensure that we will end this administration with major accomplishments of fundamental and historic value in terms of nation building, in terms of the welfare of the people," she reassured the civil society group.

The Chief Executive reiterated the public statements she made on Day One of her administration.

"All I wish as I said in my first working day at Malacañang is to be a good public servant and a good president," she said, adding: "In my heart of hearts and in my conscience, I feel that I’m beholden to no one except to God and to the people as a whole."

She reiterated her policy concerning graft allegations involving members of the First Family: all of these will be examined in the proper forum with "objectivity and transparency."

On the whole, however, she said that "we do not need wild accusations which serve to demoralize the civil service."