‘We should go back to regular elections, not people power 4’

Regular elections, not a people power 4, should install any new leader of the government, President Arroyo said yesterday, the eve of her first anniversary in office.

Mrs. Arroyo was catapulted to the presidency on Jan. 20 last year after four days of rallies on EDSA that booted out her predecessor Joseph Estrada.

The first people power revolution on EDSA, which took place in February 1986 and brought Corazon Aquino to power, and "EDSA II" happened because of "God’s will," Mrs. Arroyo said.

Regular elections, which will be held in May 2004, and not another divine intervention should decide the next president of the country, she said.

Speaking in her weekly radio/TV program "May Gloria ang Bukas Mo," Mrs. Arroyo scoffed at claims by some members of so-called civil society groups who participated in EDSA II that they should be credited for installing her in office and therefore should be consulted by her on affairs of state.

Mrs. Arroyo particularly lashed out at the "Resign Erap, Resign All" groups such as the left-leaning Ba-yan Muna and Sanlakas, which joined EDSA II.

"They did not place me in power. They removed Erap but they did not install me in office," the President snapped.

"How did I become president?" she asked. "Because I was vice president. And there were 13 million Filipinos who voted for me in 1998, and [there was] God who stirred EDSA II."

Quoting Bishop Socrates Villegas, parish priest of the EDSA Shrine in Mandalu-yong City who delivered a homily at a thanksgiving Mass on Wednesday, she said, "It was the Lord who supported our government. EDSA I and EDSA II — President Cory and I — both became president through the act of God."

Leaders of the EDSA II forces, who have scored the Arroyo administration for its alleged failure to live by its promise of good governance, have threatened to join moves to oust her from office through yet another EDSA-like mass action.

"Definitely not," Mrs. Arroyo said. "We should really return to regular elections." She was confident that no ouster moves against her could succeed and cited the failure of the Labor Day 2001 pre-dawn siege on Malacañang by pro-Estrada rallyists.

She gave her assurances, however, that she will institutionalize the regular consultation meetings with left-leaning forces which she started last week as part of her EDSA II anniversary activities.

The President also reaffirmed her desire to reconcile with all her estranged allies as well as with her harshest critics and leaders of the political opposition, a move which she also started last week when she had a breakfast meeting at Malacañang with the leaders of Bayan and a dinner meeting with Kompil.

Mrs. Arroyo noted with satisfaction that several leaders from the political opposition, like Senators Edgardo Angara and Tessie Aquino-Oreta, have come out with statements that they won’t support any EDSA 4 attempts and expressed their desire to help her administration’s anti-poverty program.

She cited in particular the suggestion of the two senators for the administration to link up with the opposition parties in drawing up a bipartisan anti-poverty program.

She also disclosed she had given Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., during their meeting at the Palace Thursday night, the go-signal to organize the "political summit" that the latter had proposed to conduct this year.

Meanwhile, the opposition in the House of Representatives said they would rather see the President to finish her term in 2004 than support a leadership born through extra-legal means.

House Minority Leader and Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it has been the stand of the House minority not to support any moves to oust the present administration before the 2004 elections, "especially when it is done violently or by military takeover."

He also said that he sees no need for the opposition to attend a planned Palace summit of political parties if the summit’s intention is to squelch coup attempts.

Mrs Arroyo, he said, is barking up the wrong tree if she thinks the opposition is behind rumors of coups. "The President’s men are the ones spreading these rumors," he said.

Padilla also said if the intention of the summit was to gag political parties from criticizing the administration, it would be against the basic tenets of a democratic society.

"Were it not for a vigilant opposition, the people would not know the other side of the picture," he stressed. — Marichu Villanueva, Charlie Lagasca