Ex-CBCP head urges solons, leaders to give GMA a chance

Give President Arroyo a chance.

Former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Oscar Cruz made this appeal to senators and other political leaders of the country even as he urged them to immediately put an end to all political bickering.

In an interview yesterday on Radio Veritas’ weekly "CBCP on the Air," Cruz, archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, urged politicians to wait for the 2004 elections and give Mrs. Arroyo an opportunity to succeed in her duty as president.

Partisan politics, Cruz warned, will only push the country "down the drain" and in the end, it will be the Filipino people who will suffer.

He compared warring political leaders to two snarling dogs: "Kapag nag-aaway ang dalawang aso, ang damong kanilang natatapakan ang namamatay. Gaya rin iyan ng pag-aaway ng mga political leaders na tayo naman ang nahihirapan (If two dogs fight, it’s the grass they trample that dies. The same thing in a fight between political leaders, we are the ones who suffer)."

He said one year is not enough for the President to prove herself or to solve all the problems of the country. He thus appealed for cooperation, not finger-pointing: "Hindi dapat iyong attitude na ikaw mali, ako tama," he said.

"Never mind the Abu Sayyaf and the NPAs, but the legitimate NGOS and the political leaders should help the President cope with the recurring problems of the country," Cruz said.

He did not see why Mrs. Arroyo should be replaced, as her opponents would want to happen. "Who would replace her? How sure are we that her successor will succeed given the tremendous problems confronting the nation?"

He lamented that EDSA, to him a symbol of unity, had become the venue for discord and disunity.