A woman of her own

As expected, the President’s critics kicked, raved and ranted in anger. Why can’t this President be like we tell her? We include oligarchs, sections of the church and foreign operatives. That I think is why President GMA’s decision to run for congresswoman in the second district of Pampanga is being attacked. She is not easy to intimidate.

She dares to be a woman of her own.

Her critics expect her to be frightened by the name-calling, surveys calculated to tar her as “the most unpopular president” and oligarch-owned media that has nothing good to say about her.

She should retire is the polite euphemism. But if I remember right, former President FVR also said near the end of his term he would like to be a barangay captain to come close to real constituents.

So why should it be diminishing to become a congresswoman after she has been president? Why the snobbery, that sounds more cacique than democratic?

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This is the endgame of a political struggle that began in 2004 to overthrow her.

If she passes the finish line by May 2010 she wins the game. The name of the game is sovereignty. To some and I daresay, there are enough Filipinos, for whom defending our sovereignty is primordial.

It is the driving force in countries around us especially Asean countries. They would sooner be in the bad graces of West and the power of its media rather than capitulate to the clarion call of former colonizers. However faulty and difficult it is to govern their own countries, they have fought for their sovereignty. And to think it was a Filipino president who once said he preferred a country run like hell by Filipinos than heaven run by foreigners.

Ironically, countries that refused to surrender their sovereignty, in time became stronger than those that did. Deciding one’s own destiny is the key to great courage and success.

It is contradictory to say we should leave constitutional reform up to the next president at the same time that we say that President GMA should resign to level the playing field. Indeed, as it has been shown time and again constitutional reform in this country is not possible unless a sitting president wills it because only the presidency has the resources to make it happen. After 2010 the same dilemma faces the sitting president.

Understandably he would not lend the powers of the presidency to give away his newly acquired mandate to a Parliament. It has to do with personal vs. public interest. President GMA is not the only president who faced the dilemma. Other presidents have but they gave up the ship rather than to fight for it.

The struggle for constitutional reform goes on. President GMA is falsely accused. If even as president she was unable to do it, how could she as congresswoman in the second district of Pampanga?

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We have a Constitution that cannot be amended. This is all because of one word. Does Congress meet and vote jointly or separately? Unresolved, it is a perfect excuse for retaining the status quo – we cannot amend the Constitution. The stalemate suits those who do not want it changed. It suits oligarchy that thrives in the status quo. It is difficult to understand how intelligent Filipinos are carried away by the swan song that 2010 will bring about change as long as “ipatrol mo ang boto mo”. That only ensures we will have winners from the small pool of dynasts who hold the weapons of victory in political contests of popularity and money.

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At a recent conference “Towards a Centrist Reform Agenda 2010 and Beyond”, Antonino Habana, executive director of the Centrist Policy Institute gave a talk that should reach more Filipinos. Through a slide show using data from reliable sources, he demonstrated that President GMA has not only not done badly, she has outperformed many so-called “good” presidents.

Here are some of his findings: “The Philippines avoided recession due to the timely fiscal and monetary stimuli (and)...higher than projected remittances according to the World Bank November report.

The implementation of the EVAT actually saved the country as it provided the necessary additional revenues for the government to meet the challenges of the global economic crisis.

Several stimulus measures were used by the government to make up for the weak private sector spending during the crisis like frontloading of infrastructure spending and the Comprehensive Livelihood and Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP). The UN sites CLEEP as one of the factors that kept unemployment rate steady at 7.5 percent whereas the US unemployment rate has already reached 10+percent.

How do we measure the performance of a president? One way is to look at the economic performance of the country during their term of office by taking the average GDP growth rate. The figures show that the economy grew the fastest under GMA since 1986. And the country’s economy was fastest during the time of Quirino then Magsaysay, then Macapagal then Macapagal-Arroyo.

The best way to alleviate poverty effectively and permanently is through economic growth. The two charts show the correlation of rapid and sustained economic growth with the reduction of poverty as experienced by China and India. And we should note that China has a stringent population control policy that makes the gains in GDP per capita even more dramatic.

There is a downward trend in self rated poverty as well as the official poverty estimates of the Government except for the 2006 estimates which showed that poverty incidence went up from 2003. This is where the government is getting flak for inequitable economic growth.

Government reforms by two centrist presidents under centrist ideals, Ramos and Arroyo, led to continuing policies that contributed to growth.

A major social project started during the Ramos administration and developed fully during the Arroyo administration is the National Health Insurance Program (Philhealth). The chart shows that 90percent of the population is now covered by Philhealth with 19 million poor citizens sponsored by the government.

Despite economic gains, GMA suffers from very low acceptance ratings attributed to several controversies during her term with the hello Garci, ZTE NBN and fertilizer scam as the most notable.

Arroyo is being accused of stealing the elections in 2004.

However, all the surveys conducted by reputable survey companies and media outfits are consistent with the Comelec results. (see slide) So was the Namfrel count.”

We must look for other reasons for the campaign of hate against our President elsewhere.