Malacañang scoffs at GMA detractors for ‘raising signals of doom’

Malacañang scoffed at some senators and other detractors for "raising signals of doom and trouble" in the coming year rather than coming up with their own plan to move the nation forward.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said all these detractors want is "to make trouble for the people who are already suffering from the brunt of high oil prices, calamities and the lack of jobs."

But resident Arroyo has not only taken the "barbs without flinching" but has stuck to her economic plan with steadfastness, Bunye said.

"The result? Greater confidence, increased remittances, fiscal stability, more investments, jobs and infrastructure," he said. "The Filipino is a winner and will not go with losers whose only business is to gripe and bicker."

Bunye emphasized that the country is already "on the runway towards economic takeoff" and should no longer be pulled down. "We call on the opposition to get on board if they do not want to be left behind," he said.

Some senators have said the President’s woes were far from over though she survived her worst political crisis this year.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said the allegations that the President cheated in the May 2004 polls were not resolved, despite the reappearance of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, the man believed to have conspired with Mrs. Arroyo in rigging the elections.

Pimentel also predicted that the political and economic situation would get worse with the impending implementation of the second round of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT).

"With her tough talk that she wants to add two percent to the VAT, she’s asking for trouble. The political and economic situation is not going to be any better," Pimentel said.

Finance officials had announced that the additional tax would take effect Feb. 1, provided certain conditions, such as a marked improvement in the tax collection efficiency, are met.

Pimentel also twitted Bunye for claiming that Mrs. Arroyo restored the country’s fiscal health and turned the economy around this year.

"There’s no economic turnaround, no new investments and no expansion. Bunye is dreaming as usual," he said. "Just the same, if the Christmas season saw some consumer-oriented activities perk up, that’s not because of Gloria. That’s because of OFW (overseas Filipino workers’) remittances, which peaked during the Christmas season."

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz also said that he sees no economic relief under the Arroyo administration as it is simply impossible for the country to move from a year of crises to a much-improved condition in the next.

"How I wish to say that next year would be peaceful and prosperous," he said in Filipino.

Carl Ala, spokesperson for the leftist Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), said the next six months would be decisive and would determine whether Mrs. Arroyo would be ousted.

He said that the KMP and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the main force behind most of the protest actions this year, would again be at the forefront of the oust-Arroyo campaign next year.

Ala disclosed that the campaign would kick off with a huge demonstration in January to commemorate the Mendiola Massacre two decades ago when police fired at picketing farmers and killed 13.

The fifth anniversary of the EDSA II uprising that ousted President Joseph Estrada will also be celebrated in January.

The group said toppling Mrs. Arroyo from power would be more difficult after the first half of 2006 because by then, the election fever for the 2007 elections would have started to creep in.

In an e-mail, the KMP spelled out the reasons why the first half of next year would be favorable to the anti-Arroyo movement. — Aurea Calica