Arroyo’s birthday wish: Peace and unity

LUBAO, Pampanga — President Arroyo celebrated her 57th birthday here in her hometown yesterday, wishing for "peace and unity" in the country and appealing for the "spirit of sacrifice" in observance of Holy Week.

After a concelebrated Mass led by San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, government dignitaries and national and local candidates of the administration K-4 (Koalisyon ng Katapatan at Karanasan sa Kinabukasan) coalition literally brushed elbows with simple local folk who shared a late breakfast at the patio of the San Agustin Church.

The First Family and former presidents Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino were among those present during the Mass.

Mrs. Aquino told reporters her presence wasn’t an endorsement but said she wished Mrs. Arroyo, who is seeking a full six-year term on May 10, "all the best."

"I also wish her good health, success, and I hope she will receive whatever blessings she is asking for," she added.

In her brief remarks at the altar after the Mass, the President thanked everybody who greeted her on her birthday, especially her provincemates.

"Thank you my fellow Capampangans for the support you are giving to the second child of Pampanga to become president. There can be no equal to the desire of a person to give the best service to her country. My father, President Diosdado Macapagal, has served as my example in these times of difficulties worldwide," she said in Capampangan.

"Many have been asking me what my birthday wish is. I ask for nothing more this day than peace and unity for our countrymen. We are commemorating Holy Week, and we must do so in the spirit of sacrifice, forgiveness and caring for each other," she added.

She asked Filipinos to use the Holy Week to look beyond the "trials, harshness and uncertainties" to the "blessings God has showered upon us."

"Sacrifice is needed especially at this time of our history that calls for the manifestation of the true Filipino character," she said.

Led by her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, as well as their three children, two daughters-in-law and their granddaughter, the President’s family arrived earlier than her. Mrs. Arroyo flew in by helicopter from Clark Field, where she had stayed overnight after a visit to Pangasinan last Sunday.

Mr. Arroyo said he had given the President 57 dozen red roses, each dozen accentuated by a white rose.

"I gave her 57 dozen because she is now 57 years old," he said.

Mr. Arroyo said that his birthday wish for the President was for her and the Filipino people to be "happy." Pointing out the need for her to continue with her programs, he expressed the hope that his wife would win in the May polls.

Evangelina "Lulu" Arroyo, the first couple’s only daughter, also wished her mother an election victory. But she was shy about what precisely was her birthday gift to her mother.

"Sa aming dalawa na lang ‘yon (it’s just between the two of us)," she said.

The young Arroyo praised her mother’s ability to be both president and mother.

"Every now and then she asks us what we have been doing, whether we’re all okay. It really amazes me that she can still find the time to be a mother," she said.

Mrs. Arroyo’s running mate Sen. Noli de Castro asked voters to defer their birthday gift and instead deliver it in the form of votes for the President and the other candidates of the K-4 coalition on May 10.

During his sermon, Aniceto had a somber message for the politicians in attendance.

"Do not use the poor for ulterior motives," he said. "The poor are sacred."

At the church patio, a caterer from Angeles City had set up tents over round tables formally arranged with flowers, a basket full of balut (boiled duck egg), fruits, assorted pastries, stemmed glasses and silverware. Breakfast consisted of several dishes, including pork tocino, paksiw na lechon, fried sausages, atchara and fried rice.

Ordinary people were not barred from the celebration. Half an hour after breakfast was served, they were to be seen helping themselves to the food, prompting the waiters to immediately retrieve the precious silverware and stemmed glasses.

An atmosphere that was part fiesta and part political rally soon developed as the K-4 senatorial candidates took turns on stage wishing the President well.

Not among the well-wishers was the Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM). The group was quick to criticize the President for her "pharisaical" stance.

The FPJPM, led by national president Boots Cadsawan, blasted the President yesterday for showing her hypocritical side when she complained of her rivals not heeding her call for an end to black propaganda.

The group insisted that it was the President’s camp that had been vigorously resorting to "demolition jobs" to undermine the campaigns of her political foes, especially opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr.

Cadsawan claimed to be in possession of reports showing that it was Mrs. Arroyo and her legal counsel and campaign strategist Avelino Cruz that engineered the failed disqualification bid against Poe before the Commission on Elections and the Supreme Court.