She survived

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo enters a quieter phase of her life before noon today after one final official act as President: the transfer of power to her duly elected successor.

Barring a hair-pulling incident between two stressed-out individuals inside the presidential limousine on the way to the Quirino Grandstand, it is safe to assume that the transfer will be peaceful, and civil if not friendly, in keeping with the best traditions of an exuberant democracy.

The peaceful transfer will be part of her administration’s legacy, together with the success of the country’s foray into poll automation. Critics begrudge her the credit, saying she behaves only when she is left with no other choice. They wonder what has happened to the masked “Koala Boy,” unleashed by her aides and political allies, who tried in vain to undermine the credibility of the automated elections.

For every accomplishment claimed by GMA’s drumbeaters, her critics are ready with a caveat.

Those caveats eclipse her accomplishments, making her the most unpopular Philippine president (since pollsters started taking surveys) upon leaving office.

On her final half-day in office, we acknowledge her accomplishments, without the caveats:

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I can now drive from Manila to Baguio in under four hours, thanks to the North Luzon Expressway – one of many roads built across the country under her watch that have spurred commercial activity and tourism in the countryside.

The roll-on, roll-off system is a success for maritime transportation.

I can’t keep track of the rapid advances in our telecommunications infrastructure.

The country has become one of the top sites for outsourced industries, providing jobs with decent pay and giving additional incentive for Pinoys to improve their English, and even learn new languages such as Spanish. 

Agriculture was a consistent major contributor to sustained economic growth, although it faltered in the past quarter.

The conditional cash transfer program, patterned after models in other countries, which replaced the outright dole-outs to the very poor, was effectively implemented by Esperanza Cabral.

The country is on track in meeting several health targets under the Millennium Development Goals.

In nine and a half years, large tracts of land were distributed to farmers under the agrarian reform program, and low-cost housing distributed to the poor.

GMA maintained the virtues that made the forces of EDSA II hope for a much better Philippines when the presidency was presented to her on a silver platter in 2001: she remains a workaholic, she knows her math and economics, and she comports herself well before the international community. Among her biggest defenders are certain diplomats who believe she has behaved as a statesman particularly during her numerous trips overseas.

When the workaholic GMA took over from the alcoholic Joseph Estrada, people hailed the coming of a new dawn.

For the caveats, you’ve read about them for many years.

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One more thing critics have to acknowledge is that this is a president who knew how to survive, through a keen knowledge of Pinoy culture.

Her defenders like to point out, upon hearing criticism of the institutional damage she is leaving behind, that the damage could not have been possible without the participation of the governed. She did what she had to do, given the nature of Philippine politics, according to her defenders.

Critics say that GMA brought out the worst in the Pinoy, and that she has a Pavlovian response to laws: when she sees one, she has to break it. But if GMA is an evil woman, as described by Romulo Neri in a previous life, her defenders emphasize that we all helped make her one.

With GMA out of power, it will be a dull day for presidential bashers.

P-Noy, you have been warned about the curse of high public expectations.

What will President Noynoy do for political survival?

Upon assuming power in 2001, GMA said she did not aspire for greatness, but only to become a “good” president. If popularity, as reflected in surveys, will serve as the gauge of goodness, then she can consider herself a failure.

She often mouthed her mantra, borrowed from her father, President Diosdado Macapagal: do right, do your best; God will take care of the rest.

By the grace of the Catholic bishops, if not of God, and by the grace of the Filipino people, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo survived for nine and a half years, and is leaving office in a peaceful transition today.

After continuous political turbulence, this in itself is an accomplishment.