Arroyo brushes aside criticism of her 2004 plans

New York (via PLDT) — President Arroyo stopped short of accusing her critics of blasphemy yesterday when they criticized her for relying on "Divine Guidance" for her decisions and for the persistent talk about her possible change of heart about not running in the 2004 elections.

Interviewed separately at her Waldorf Astoria suite here via video phone patch by "Unang Hirit" on GMA-7 and "Magandang Gabi" on ABS-CBN, the President jumped the gun on the programs’ emcees and declared: "Ako puro trabaho lang dito (I’m all work here)."

"Iyan ay bahagi ng discernment ko. Noon ko pa iyan ginagawa (It’s part of my discernment. I’ve been doing that before)," Mrs. Arroyo added.

This was amid questions regarding the perception that she is dropping her Dec. 30, 2002 declaration that she would not run in next year’s presidential race.

"My decision will be based on the common good. If I make a decision, I’ll announce it. Right now, trabaho lang ako," Mrs. Arroyo clarified.

"If I have a new decision, you will know. May panahon para sa pulitika, may panahon sa trabaho (There is a time for politics, there is a time for work)," she pointed out.

In an interview with her by the Philippine media delegation here, Mrs. Arroyo, however, refused to comment on the latest Pulse Asia Survey which showed that her popularity fell to 41 percent.

"My spokesman will be the one to reply to that," Mrs. Arroyo told reporters here.

Meanwhile, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye conceded that the controversial "Jose Pidal" money-laundering accusations against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was the principal factor that dragged Mrs. Arroyo’s popularity to its lowest level since she assumed office in January 2001.

"Our forecast is she (President) would recover because the opposition have thrown almost everything at her. But that’s all it did to her rating," Bunye said.

"We’re confident that the rating of the President will bounce back because of the good governance she has provided for our people. So in our views she would recover her rating," Bunye stressed.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople welcomed yesterday the decision of his former partymates at the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (Laban) to unite with other opposition parties and field a common presidential candidate in next year’s electoral contest.

"I think the opposition is right in wanting to unite behind one political party or group in a political party," Ople said here.

Ople is with the President as part of the official delegation to the 58th United Nations General Assembly.

Asked by The STAR if he thinks Mrs. Arroyo would indeed change her Dec. 30 decision, Ople wittily retorted: "I think that she (President) is still talking to God!"

The President herself wryly remarked that she has heard about the plans of her Lakas-CMD partymates to make a major announcement when the ruling party’s national executive directorate meets on Oct. 7.

She pointed out she will at that time be attending the 7th Informal Leaders’ Summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bali, Indonesia.