Blaming God?

Last week, when this writer spotted an old pal, "TIME" Magazine’s Executive Editor for Asia, Tony Spaeth, he had a mischievous grin on his face. Tony was among our group which – with Phil Bronstein, Seth Mydans and Paul A. Gigot – had covered the deterioration of the Marcos dictatorship in the 1980’s.

Bronstein, of course, went on to become editor of "The San Francisco Examiner" (correct me if I got my Bay Area daily wrong) and husband of movie star Sharon Stone – they broke up last year. Seth Mydans continued in "The New York Times" to almost eclipse the fame of his own legendary father, the prize-winning photo-journalist Carl Mydans (one of the originals of the Manila Overseas Press Club).

Paul A. Gigot, who used to belong to our old 365 Club in the Inter-Continental Hotel, my coffee crony, soared up in his career to become the Editor of the Editorial Page (top honcho) of "The Wall Street Journal". Paul is responsible for the muscular editorial policy of the Journal, which reflects his own brilliance of thought and combative nature. When I met Gigot at the White House dinner tendered by US President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush for President GMA and the First Gent (two years before the jueteng controversy days), Paul was as urbane and witty as ever. But we didn’t have enough time to talk about old times at that affair.

Of them all, it’s Tony Spaeth who’s retained his boyish looks, and impish smile. But I’m not sure our Presidenta appreciates Tony very much these days. The latest "TIME" Magazine cover, dated June 13, indeed has GMA as its cover girl – but it’s with a quizzical expression on her face.

The cover blurb, in huge letters quotes GMA: "The Lord Put Me Here."

Dios mio!

Was the choice of that caption sarcastic or sincere? Anyway, the subtitle leaves no room for ambivalence. It asserts: "PRESIDENT ARROYO believes fervently in her vision for the Philippines, but her people are losing faith."

After that, who needs to read the article?

* * *

Inside, the four page piece is headlined: "A Matter of Trust." Its subtitle says: "Faced with plunging popularity, economic woes and a brewing corruption scandal, President Arroyo wants to prove that she can lead the Philippines to salvation."

Spaeth leads off his analysis with: "Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a big believer. The 58-year-old President of the Philippines believes in the Lord Almighty God: she attends Mass most afternoons in a chapel in Malacañang Palace, then retires to her bedroom to pray alone before taking a short nap. Arroyo also believes in legislation, the transforming ability of government, and the power of leadership – her leadership. ‘I am the agent of change,’ she told TIME in an interview last week, ‘I wish to be remembered as the one who made the tough decisions to turn the economy around, to get its act together . . . Maybe that’s why the Lord put me here at this time."

Right now, it seems, the Lord and fast-moving events have put GMA on the spot. The tough decision she has to face is what to do with the accusations being hurled against Mike, Mikey and Iggy – her family.

As for change, we’re sure she wants most of all to change the glaring headlines in the newspapers, and what’s appearing on television in that teledrama called the Senate inquiry into jueteng – yesterday starring "delivery" woman Sandra Cam (not Camcam) who claimed she had personally brought the cash to Mikey and Iggy. (Not Jose Pidal?)

The trouble is that, right or wrong, Sandra sounded credible – many were riveted to their TV sets, including myself. I almost missed going to the Dusit to chair our meeting of the Board of the MOPC – and other Board members arrived late, too.

Senator Manny Villar who was chairing the Senate meeting tried to adjourn the group for lunch twice, but Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Dick Gordon, then Loi Ejercito wanted to ask questions, which included placing Camarines Sur Governor Louie Villafuerte on the griddle, too. Thankfully, Johnny Ponce Enrile decided to deter his questioning.

Nobody can predict, of course, what will come of Ms. Cam’s astonishingly frank allegations which are also self-incriminating, and explain why she went for broke, but there’s one thing which isn’t in doubt: what she said was damaging. If she’s lying, she’ll be damned. If she’s telling the truth, she may be damned, too.

This brings up the headline of the final page of the TIME Magazine piece on La Gloria. This time, it contained "a candid two-hour interview in Malacañang" in which GMA spoke with TIME’s William Green, Anthony Spaeth and Nelly Sindayen on June 1. The page was pointedly entitled: "FAMILY COMES LAST."

Proof of this will be demanded by the public in the next few days.

If she is to assert her leadership, demonstrate she makes tough decisions, be the agent of change, and justify God putting her in command in the Palace, President Macapagal-Arroyo must act.

The last quotation of the interview regards GMA’s response to the query: "What keeps you going during difficult moments?"

Her answer: "Faith and trust in divine providence. Being a President is a lonely job. Most of my relationships are institutional rather than informal. So I pray constantly, and when things are difficult, I tell God, ‘You put me here, and you have got to solve this problem . . ." God is my best friend. I share my problems with him."

Nowadays, even a prayerful GMA will have to admit, there are problems God cannot solve for her.

* * *

All those stupid rumors about an impending coup, or that "the FVR boys are moving" in a bid to oust GMA militarily, or that the Opposition can "impeach" President GMA are ridiculous. We’re a nation obsessed with conspiracy plots, malicious gossip, hyperbole, and hysterical predictions.

Who sez the military will follow former President, ex-Defense Secretary, ex-Chief of Staff, Fidel V. Ramos? It’s true that FVR keeps on rushing to declare his loyalty and support for GMA while his old boys – Kulang sa pansin – rattle their rusty sabers and growl about an impending kudeta launched from the Old Folks Home.

But will the armed forces follow their ranting and raving? Why should they? The military is still asking what happened to the P7.8 billion military modernization fund. If it’s there – where is it? Everytime one of our Philippine Air Force planes crashes (the last time, two brave brothers in the PAF perished in a single tragedy), our Navy finds itself without ships to answer an emergency, and our soldiers run out of bullets on the battlefield, the military wonder why they still haven’t been "modernized." If you’ll recall, that’s one of the major gripes of the young Oakwood mutineers in July 27, 2003. It remains a major gripe in the ranks of those who didn’t "rebel", too.

The P7.8 billion modernization fund should have been released during FVR’s time. Was it?

As for another purported "people power" to topple GMA – I can see that our people are tired. They’re tired of going to the streets to try to replace leaders whose successors will only do the same. People pawis, i.e. more hard work is what we need, and our people, hopefully, will begin to realize that.

Enough of this media feeding frenzy we’re experiencing anew over coup rumors. We’re "destabilizing" only ourselves.

Gee whiz. Even the normally sarcastic and tart-tongued US Charge d’Affaires, Joe Mussomeli, had to rush to publicly express American support for GMA’s "legitimate" government. Mussomeli, of course, doesn’t have to sweat it. He’ll soon be leaving for Cambodia. His next assignment is Phnom Penh.

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THE ROVING EYE … At a gala dinner last night in the Manila Hotel, Chinese Ambassador Wu Hongbo with President Macapagal-Arroyo as guest of honor, celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Manila. How times have changed. When I led a delegation of Filipino journalists as its Chairman to China in 1964, our passports were confiscated by the government upon our return. Our passports had imprinted on them: "This passport is not valid for travel to Communist countries," and what was especially prohibited was travel to "Communist China." The Department of Foreign Affairs, however, was laid back, even lax in punishing those who violated this "prohibition." When, on behalf of our group, I angrily protested the confiscation of our passports and testily asked what we could do to get our passports returned to us, the DFA blandly replied: "Max, just apply for a new passport."