Inaugural

My usual sources at the KNP camp say that a new plan of protest has been laid out. It involves massing partisans at the Makati Coliseum at noon today, with a second group conducting a lightning rally at the Makati Stock Exchange.

Should they be able to muster the numbers, they will proceed to occupy Ayala Avenue and create a hysterical scene on the eve of the inauguration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The plan of protest was finalized lunchtime last Sunday in a Quezon City restaurant. The pro-FPJ forces are a little upset at the opportunistic position taken by leftist militants. The leftists would join the fray only if the FPJ partisans muster at least 30,000 people.

Given previous records, there is little reason to be confident that this band can pull this one off. Two weeks ago, they planned to take the Edsa Shrine with 50,000 partisans. Less than a thousand materialized.

Then they laid plans for what they called the Big Bang last Wednesday, as Congress was set to finally proclaim the winners of the last elections. The Big Bang was supposed to mobilize over a hundred thousand people at different points in the metropolis. Only a few hundreds materialized.

All these efforts at throwing a cloud of street rage over the inauguration of a new presidential term have become more pathetic by the day. This can only be a measure of its pointlessness.

These efforts can only be the final tantrums of political groups headed inexorably towards the dustbin of history. They can only hope to taint the new presidency, limit its abi-lity to govern from a position of strength and constrict its capacity to make the tough decisions that need to be made.

In a word, these groups represent destructive politics at its worst.

But the leftist groups and the FPJ partisans, in a malignant political embrace, find themselves far into the margins of our national life. They have no leader. They have no cause. They have no future.

Most of our citizens look forward to tomorrow’s inaugural.

We look forward to hearing the new government’s plan for our progress. We want to hear a speech that will make us hopeful about our future and confident in ourselves as a people.

We want to celebrate our democracy, not demean it. We value our freedom, and we will not squander it by bringing impostors to power.

For three years, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo labored under the withering fire laid down by vicious forces: those that did not agree that the failed Estrada presidency should have been deposed and those jockeying frantically to take the presidency from her in the May 2004 elections.

She won the last electoral contest fighting an uphill battle.

Three years of governing a deeply divided nation and enduring the chaotic politics of those who wanted to displace her did not make her the most popular politician around. Three years of attempting to introduce reforms while her mandate was challenged and while adventurers tried to mount a coup did not produce the most remarkable results.

At one point, exasperated by the ceaseless politicking undertaken at her expense, politicking that sowed confusion among the people and fostered a mood of despair, President Gloria renounced the option to seek election. But in the end, weakened as she might have been by the vicious tirades of ambitious men, she realized she represented the only chance to turn back the tides of populism unleashed by cunning political players hiding behind the shadow of a tremendously popular icon.

Towards the last quarter of 2003, when she finally announced her decision to stand for election, her political position was at its most threatened.

A coup attempt sparked by a mutiny just happened. The country, like the rest of the world, was threatened by the scourge of international terrorism. The economy was weak as global growth remained sluggish. Her net approval rating hit negative territory. She was running fourth in the presidential voter preference ratings.

Not exactly riding the crest of popularity, her candidacy was launched on the vital premise that our people will make a sober and well-considered judgment on election day. It was a candidacy that cannot be driven by demagoguery and hype. It was a candidacy that could be viable only if it addressed the most edifying sensibilities of our people: their ability to discern what is best for our nation, sort through the complexity of our problems and choose the best option for leadership at this time.

This was a candidacy that bet that enough of our people would choose sensibly. It was a bet that won.

In order to convince our voters, the President’s campaign had to try very hard to put the last three years in perspective, to put things in their proper proportion and ask our people to consider carefully our prospects for the future. It was a campaign that had to pose the tough issues without descending into hard sell.

From tomorrow, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will have no excuse for inferior governance. She has a full mandate. Although it might appear to have been a tight race, she was elected to office with the largest number of votes in our political history.

With so much ill will and so much viciousness on the part of the losers in this election and the militant groups angling for an opportunity to advance their populist politics, the dust of politicking might take a little longer to settle. The haze might slightly diminish the President’s ability to clearly convey her vision to the nation.

But things should settle down at some point. Things will settle down more quickly if the President’s First Hundred Days plan swings into action and produces a flurry of initiatives.

There remain many points of vulnerability, however. Many of the reform measures will require our people to accept short-term pain for long-term gain. These measures will have to be explained to our people against the background noise of populist agitation and demagoguery.

It is comforting to think, however, that if a modernizing vision could be well communicated in the heat of a tumultuous campaign, it should be easier to convey a comprehensive plan to our people in the peace of post-elections.

We are not just inaugurating a president tomorrow. We are inaugurating a new phase of our nation’s emergence. It is a phase that we must craft together, as a national community, the residual political noise notwithstanding.