Protecting the presidency

There are many, if the surveys are to be believed, who do not like President GMA, and her low popularity rating reflects that disenchantment. But she also has her fans and loyal followers who believe she has done a creditable job and the economic indicators are there to show it. But any good that can be ascribed to her is drowned out in the barrage of hate and venom thrown against her. Through all this she has put a brave front and has repeatedly said through her spokesman that she has a country to govern and cannot indulge in what many perceive as a determined effort to oust her.

Among those who support her there are still others not because she has done a good job for pushing our economy forward against all odds but because she is the president. To them the presidency is as much a person and a symbol. In this group there is a unanimity that the presidency should be protected from machinations of destabilizers who want her ousted by hook or by crook. They do not want another EDSA uprising and have resisted attempts to replicate events that could make that happen. Indeed Secretary Neri was quoted to have said that ZTE revelations might provoke another EDSA people uprising. Alas the Senate investigation came and went and the only excitement came from the senators themselves fighting each other on who would hold the mike.

Some may not like her or are indifferent to her successes but would nonetheless stick by her and protect the presidency to the death for the sake of stability in our country. After all has been said and done it was during her wake that the country has made big economic strides acknowledged by different financial institutions. Some even say we are almost there, to overcome the boom and bust cycles. To these Filipinos they would rather go about their daily lives playing and working and hoping the country should be spared from debilitating destabilization attempts that can only harm all of us. 

These Filipinos which make up the silent majority have resisted any attempt to use them as people power fodder. They have enlisted to protect the presidency because they see the machinations as an assault on our nationhood. There is a larger problem beyond President GMA as a person. It is about the presidency of the Philippines which is as much a symbol of the nation as the flag is.

I believe that is what Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita was about when he quickly dispelled the canard that he had resigned. He was probably more surprised when I called to ask if it was true he had resigned. This is not the first time he said that this rumor of his resignation had happened. Destabilizers have been at it before spreading the canard to sow intrigues, intent on weakening the government. Happily, he thinks Filipinos are becoming more politically savvy and know how to handle rumor mongering to the distress of its perpetrators. “That is why as soon as I heard about the rumor I immediately doused water on the fire and came out with a statement that the story was false,” he said. He said the denial was believed without reservation. It is not difficult for the Filipino public to conclude that what we are seeing in the series of events is a pattern of a renewed and concerted campaign to oust President GMA,” Ermita said. But too much crying wolf has blunted the opposition’s weapon. At a meeting of the Edsa People Power Commission at the Mabini building in the Palace, the standing joke was “where is my paper bag?”

The trouble is that the rumors and gossip do not just hurt President GMA, they harm the presidency as an institution and ultimately the government and the country itself. Indeed the country in general hurts with these machinations that have plagued her presidency. But as Ermita correctly estimated, having too many false stories can be counterproductive. Some blame Erap who may be playing a last card to retrieve his honor by making sure she is ousted. This is a tit for tat.  But unfolding events show a more powerful and sure hand beyond the capability of a discredited leader. In the face of such assaults on the Philippine presidency, the citizenry is well advised to close ranks and protect the presidency, not necessarily the person but the office which is a national symbol.

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Come Sunday, all roads lead to Albay where Governor Joey S. Salceda will play host to hundreds of government officials and civil society headed by the President herself to a conference on climate change from October 22 to 24. Gov. Salceda has a tough job ahead of him if he is to succeed in making “climate change” understood by ordinary Filipinos and how it will affect their future more than any politics can destroy.

So we look forward to the conference keeping in mind that we face a difficult challenge if we hope climate change should be more than a slogan. It will take creativity and plenty of hard work. Salceda takes on the role in the Philippines that former US Vice President did for the world and received the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts. One of his admirers is New York Times columnist Tom Friedman who has said time and again that Gore won the popular vote but it was taken away from him by a Republican-dominated Supreme Court. He added that Gore may have lost the presidency, but because he did so with dignity and grace by giving up his legal fight, he united America.

“Then, faced with what to do with the rest of his life, he took up a personal crusade to combat climate change, even though the odds were stacked against him, his soapbox was small, his audiences were measured in hundreds, and his critics were legion. Nevertheless, Gore stuck with it and over time has played a central role in building a global consensus for action on this issue.”

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Reading Babe Romualdez’s and Ron Nathan’s columns, it seems my column was not the only one hacked. Those who wish to write this column can do so through [email protected] and write my name on it.