Msgr. Achilles Dakay, spokesman of the Cebu Archdiocese, said Mrs. Arroyo’s plea for forgiveness can only be accorded to her if she seeks penance and is willing to face the penalty of her shortcomings.
"Forgiveness is given but justice was done, dili mi makatugot kung mo saylo lang (we cannot allow it to just go by); penance and penalty should go with it," Dakay said.
Meanwhile, city officials called for a concerted effort to back Mrs. Arroyo, saying she deserves support for her candidness and humility when she apologized to the people.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama said the controversy is something that we should learn from and it is time to stop harping.
Meanwhile, Cebu first district Rep. Eduardo Gullas praised Mrs. Arroyo for her humility in owning up to and apologizing for her "lapse in judgment."
"It may have been long in coming, but her apology is nevertheless welcome and should put an end to this sorry episode," Gullas said, adding that pursuing the matter any further would not serve any useful purpose.
It was in Cebu where Mrs. Arroyo defeated the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. by over a million votes in the May 2004 presidential race.
In Cebu City, Mrs. Arroyo garnered 220,060 votes as against Poe’s 58,591 votes. In Cebu province, the President got 965,630 votes versus Poe’s 125,099.
Alex Tolentino, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Cebu City chapter, believes that Mrs. Arroyo’s confession is an admission of guilt in criminal law, although he said she still has a chance to present evidence proving she did not cheat in the polls.
Former Gov. Pablo Garcia, an ally of Mrs. Arroyo, said her admission does not have any legal implications and it does not prove anything, except that she is sorry she took so long to comment on the controversy.
Garcia, an acknowledged constitutionalist, said the "Gloriagate" tapes do not prove that Mrs. Arroyo ordered the rigging of the elections.
He supports the move to stop the ongoing House investigation into the wiretapped conversations, saying that Congress is not the proper venue for the inquiry because some congressmen may use it for grandstanding. — Freeman News Service