The faces of women in a political crisis

Last week, at the height of our political crisis, Filipinos saw the faces of three women. First we saw the blank face of an emotionless President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) who apologized to the nation over the so-called "Gloriagate" tapes. A week after that apology, the debate still goes on whether that was the face of a sincerely apologetic woman.

Then the nation saw on nationwide television the face of a seething, furious, vile and despicable and almost wicked Susan Roces, widow of the late Fernando Poe Jr. In the past, media always saw the face of Susan Roces as a dignified, demure, solemn and reserved woman, who even showed no emotional reaction, especially at the height of the presidential campaign when stories that FPJ apparently cheated on her and sired children out of wedlock became public knowledge. What we saw on television last week was a different Susan Roces... a side of her that no one had ever seen before.

Indeed, television is a cruel medium as it brings out either the best in a person or the worst! What the public saw on TV was a Susan Roces who was so offensive, loathsome, revolting to the point of being "bastos" that her performance turned off a lot of people who watched her on television. Last Thursday, I was with Sir Max Soliven at the Makati Shangri-La to compare notes and we were in unison that we saw a different face of Susan Roces, which was at the very least, terrifying!

Susan Roces didn’t show any leadership when she practically said to the masses to start something and she’ll finish it. What she clearly wanted was for an angry mass of Filipinos to go to EDSA, topple GMA and then, she’d accept the presidency on a silver platter! Excuse me, ma’am, a true leader would lead the masses from the beginning until the end! And what kind of leader Susan would be in preparing to accept a presidency... from what basic law can she do that? Clearly she has mistakenly believed that the Filipino people have embraced her as a new political leader... on the contrary, she was rejected and that rejection came from the face of another woman.

That’s the dignified, solemn, but clearly disturbed face of a santa Cory Aquino, the mother of our people power revolts who, as the Arroyo supporters would have it, sided with the embattled GMA. But I would like to believe that the statement of Tita Cory was more for the preservation of our democratic process rather than taking sides with the President.

I agree with her that safeguarding our democracy is more precious to us than removing the President. I’m sure that Tita Cory must also have learned about the reality that politicians do call Comelec officials for all the reasons they can find. Finally, there’s a face that we have totally forgotten or disregarded — the crying face of our motherland... crying in anguish upon reading the news in The Philippine STAR’s Business section which said, "Developing countries propelling global economic growth, says UN." With the presence of so many "political terrorists" whose only object is to grab power even at the cost of our democracy, don’t count the Philippines as one of those developing countries helping the growth of the global economy.

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I was in Tagbilaran, Bohol last Friday to attend the full council meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC-7) and everyone was asking me what I thought about the column of Sir Max Soliven chastising Vice President Noli de Castro. People I met believed that there was a conspiracy by ABS-CBN to magnify the mea culpa of the President so that she would be booted out of the presidency and Noli de Castro can be shoved into power.

Mind you, I’ve heard a lot of these comments on many radio stations in Cebu, but I refused to believe it until Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CCCII) president Robert Go asked me the same thing. It turned out that he and three other Cebu business leaders were interviewed by ABS-CBN’s Insider a few days back about the raging political crisis, and upon comparing notes, they were in unison that they still supported the President.

Apparently, when they watched Insider that evening, none of the Cebu business leaders who were interviewed appeared on the show. What came out was a story that the President was losing support from all sectors. Because of this and the unexpected "I am ready to assume the presidency" remark of the Vice President, people here believe that ABS-CBN is heavily biased in its reporting of the current political turmoil.

Anyway for the record, the RDC-7, on mass motion, overwhelmingly supported the President and the democratic processes. Oriental Negros Gov. George Arnaiz gave me a copy of a joint declaration for the Visayas’ development signed by the top officials of Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. Come now, do you think that these political leaders were only discussing the growth of the Visayas? I have reason to believe that they touch on one very sensitive topic... the possibility of an independent Visayas. That is something we’ll talk about in the future.

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After two hectic days of travel, last Friday night we went to the special viewing of the Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort’s latest attraction, the 10,000-square-meter Chi Spa Village, which is proudly the Philippines’ first and largest spa resort and the largest private spa villa in Asia. I have always said that whenever I drop in at the Shangri-La in Mactan, I always feel that I am not in Cebu. Well, entering the Chi Spa Village is akin to entering the twilight zone or paradise! Suddenly you enter a place so calm and serene and enjoy a luxurious treatment, from body scrubs and a Ying Yang Couple’s massage to Asia’s first Chi-atsu (water shiatsu) pool... including a Cebuano hilot.

By just being there, I felt so relaxed... my travel stress disappeared! Thanks to the Shangri-La, once more, they have elevated Cebu’s best resorts to world-class standards. Best of all, Timothy Wright, the Shang’s general manager, greets everyone in Cebuano, which is the Shangri-La’s acceptance of the Cebuano culture. Why go to Bali? We have a better one in Chi at the Shang!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.