Before Malacañang through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s granting of executive clemency to ousted President Joseph Estrada – who was recently convicted of plunder – the President appeared to be facing a brewing political storm. With Estrada having been pardoned amid renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation, the question of whether his camp – which makes up a sizeable portion of the anti-Arroyo forces – will abandon the anti-Arroyo opposition has surfaced.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 38, October 28-November 3, 2007
Before Malacañang through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye announced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s granting of executive clemency to ousted President Joseph Estrada – who was recently convicted of plunder – the President appeared to be facing a brewing political storm. With Estrada having been pardoned amid renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation, the question of whether his camp – which makes up a sizeable portion of the anti-Arroyo forces – will abandon the anti-Arroyo opposition has surfaced.
In a statement read by lawyer Edward Serapio – Estrada’s co-accused in the plunder case against him – Estrada, who used to refer to himself as the “real President of the Philippines,” repeatedly referred to Arroyo as “President.”
“Salamat kay Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa pagbigay ng executive clemency at kung hindi niya ako binigyan ng executive clemency ay hindi n’yo ako kaharap ngayong gabi” (Thanks to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for giving me executive clemency because without it, I would not be with you here tonight), Estrada said. “Kaya pasalamatan natin siya. Palakpakan natin siya” (So let’s thank her. Let’s applaud her).
“I thank President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for granting me full, free, and absolute pardon midway through her term,” Estrada also said.
Estrada has expressed intention to support “the programs” of the Arroyo administration as a way of repaying the “blessings” he claims to have received.
“I believe I can best continue to repay our people the blessings that God has so graciously given me by supporting from hereon the programs of Mrs. Arroyo that are intended to attack generational poverty and hunger,” he said in his statement. “We must now as a nation attend to our people’s continuing clamor for food on their tables, roofs above their heads, and better education and health care for their children.”
Last July, as the plunder trial was winding up, Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada – son of the deposed President – together with Sens. Manny Villar, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, and Alan Peter Cayetano – aligned with a Senate bloc that includes a number of administration senators in the contest for the Senate leadership. Villar, who ran under the Genuine Opposition in last May’s senatorial and local elections together with Escudero and Cayetano, was elected Senate President.
The younger Estrada, aside from being elected Senate President Pro-Tempore, was acquited together with Serapio.
The elder Estrada was convicted, and promptly filed a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan. He withdrew his motion on Oct. 22 and was pardoned three days later.
Will the Estrada camp now abandon the broad anti-Arroyo opposition?
NBN and Malacañang bribery scams
The scandal surrounding the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp., as well as the bribery of local officials that allegedly took within the very confines of Malacañang generated heat in the country’s political scene. There were renewed calls for Arroyo’s resignation from office or for investigations into the bribery scam – including from unexpected quarters – while within the ruling coalition there was increasing pressure for the Chief Executive to implement reforms within a limited time frame.
“Everyone is now within the framework of getting rid of her (Arroyo),” activist priest Fr. Joe Dizon said in an interview with Bulatlat a few minutes before Bunye’s announcement of the pardon grant for Estrada. “She can no longer govern effectively – no, she can no longer govern.”
The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.
The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21 – when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process.
Jose de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia and co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal – an accusation the former Comelec chief has denied.
In a privileged speech on Aug. 29, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.
In a Senate hearing on Sept. 26, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri said under oath that Abalos had offered him a bribe amounting to P200 million ($4,539,264 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.06) in connection with the NBN project. “Sec, may 200 ka dito” (Mr. Secretary, you have 200 here), he quoted Abalos as saying to him in a meeting with ZTE officials “late last year or early this year.” What they were talking about was “basically (about) the NBN project,” he said.
In early October, lawyer Francis Ver – then deputy secretary-general of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi or Partner of the Free Filipino), Arroyo’s political party – was implicated in alleged attempts to bribe opposition congressmen to support an impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Roel Pulido, who was until last September known as the lawyer of the dissident soldiers who have come to be called the Magdalo Group.
The Pulido complaint cites Arroyo for betrayal of public trust in relation to the NBN deal, stating that despite her knowledge of the “illegal and corrupt machinations undertaken by high government officials” in clinching the deal, she “did nothing.” It was endorsed by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis, who is identified with Kampi, and was filed Oct. 5.
Pulido’s complaint has been berated as “weak” and intended to “immunize” Arroyo from being slapped with a stronger impeachment case within this year – an accusation the lawyer has denied.
On Oct. 11, a few days after Ver’s alleged bribery attempts were exposed by Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran – a disclosure that was corroborated by Reps. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Dan Fernandez of Laguna who are both opposition congressmen – Malacañang called House members aligned with Kampi and De Venecia’s party Lakas-Christian/Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) to a breakfast meeting. No less than De Venecia admitted that the “stability of the administration coalition” in the House of Representatives was discussed in the meeting, although he denied reports that Malacañang was conducting a loyalty check. During the same meeting, congressmen received what Malacañang termed as “dole-outs” amounting to as much as P500,000 ($11,348) each.
After the meeting, De Venecia inhibited himself from the referral of the impeachment complaint and gave the go signal to the Deputy Speaker to refer it to the House Justice Committee.
Denunciations, rift within ruling bloc
The ZTE and Malacañang bribery scandals again aroused political quarters that had called for Arroyo’s resignation or removal from office in 2005 following the surfacing of the so-called “Hello Garci” tapes.
The “Hello Garci” tapes were a series of wiretapped and recorded conversations in which a voice similar to Arroyo’s is heard instructing an election official – widely believed to be former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano – to rig the presidential polls. There is a specific instruction that a victory of “more than 1 M” be ensured for the woman.
Both Arroyo and Garcillano were forced to admit that they talked to each other during the counting period following the 2004 polls. They have however denied rigging the said elections.
Arroyo won by more than a million votes over her closest rival, actor Fernando Poe, Jr. who passed away in December 2005.
The ZTE and Malacañang bribery scandals have also worsened a rift within the ruling Kampi-Lakas coalition – which, as Dizon pointed out, was already apparent as early as last May’s senatorial and local elections, “with mainly Kampi and Lakas fighting it out at the local levels.”
No less than Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan has made a statement saying that Arroyo’s resignation is at this point the only way to prevent the eruption of a “civil war.”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., meanwhile, has said Arroyo is “beyond redemption” and called on her to step down and turn over the reins of government to Vice President Noli de Castro. Sen. Panfilo Lacson has made a similar call.
Detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes, meanwhile, has initiated an online petition calling for the resignations of both Arroyo and De Castro and the holding of a snap election.
Caloocan City Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez, together with Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias and Infanta Bishop Emeritus Julio Xavier Labayen, has reiterated their calls for Arroyo’s resignation.
Even those who previously refrained from confronting Arroyo head-on are now taking a more confrontational stance.
Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), had released a statement decrying what he termed as a combination of “economic bankruptcy” and “moral bankruptcy” in the country. In his statement, Lagdameo directly called the cash “dole-outs” as “bribes.” Said Lagdameo:
“Bribery is not an acceptable word even to culprits: so, it is better called ‘gifts.’ And so, in order to feel good and escape the blame of conscience, bribe is also called a ‘gift.’
“With this sort of thing happening, our country is not only suffering from economic bankruptcy but also moral bankruptcy, disappointingly being shown by our leaders. We are very much concerned with our youth who are looking at our leaders for models in honesty, integrity, and transparency.
“From the moral standpoint, one should not accept money about which questions can be asked because it renders responsibility, accountability, and transparency a dubious subject matter.
“I encourage and support the plan of our respectable senators to make the appropriate inquiry on the matter of distributing said cash gifts.”
Meanwhile, the Makati Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) have demanded an investigation into the Malacañang bribery scam. The PCCI was previously all-out in supporting the Arroyo administration.
De Venecia, meanwhile, has called on Arroyo to implement a number of “initial reforms” within 100 days. In an Oct. 20 letter to Arroyo, De Venecia said the country’s political situation “is reaching a crisis point,” and cited corruption, “slow and uneven” economic growth, and mass poverty as problems that Malacañang needs to address immediately.
“More and more Filipinos are rejecting not just individual politicians but the entire political system as hopelessly corrupt, morally tainted, and beyond saving,” De Venecia said.
In an interview with reporters during an Oct. 25 rally on the Senate grounds, Rita Baua, international officer of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance), said Arroyo will not be able to implement the reforms De Venecia has called for. “She has long been called upon to implement reforms, but she didn’t do it,” she said.
“This may end up in a situation in which Arroyo would have no one left on her side but her family, and everyone else is against her,” Baua also said.
Dizon expressed a similar view in his interview with Bulatlat. “Everyone is now within the framework of getting rid of her, and the question of who will replace her is no longer an issue,” Dizon said.
“The situation is very fluid,” Dizon also said. “Anything may happen.”
After Estrada pardon
Bulatlat’s interview with Dizon and Baua’s interview with reporters took place before Bunye announced the granting of executive clemency to Estrada. With Estrada’s pardon, the question of whether his camp will abandon the anti-Arroyo opposition has surfaced. Bulatlat