Continuing to hound Arroyo are allegations of illegitimacy as a result of which it suffers a lack of trust and credibility among the people. In response to impeachment complaints and incessant calls for her resignation, the president, in an arrogant display of power, has resorted to gangland-style coercion, authoritarian measures, and military repression including threats of arrest and, as condemned by human rights groups, the summary execution and abduction of her most effective critics from the Left.
Under Arroyo, rule of law and due process are followed in the breach. Complaints against the president in the House are shot down through a tyranny of numbers and bribery while in the Senate investigations of the wrongdoings of the president, her family, and cronies are stymied by executive orders preventing Cabinet officials and generals from cooperating. Ever protective of their commander-in-chief, military authorities defy judicial authority on cases of missing persons, despite a long-delayed legal intervention by the Supreme Court.
Arroyo has thus tainted the office of the presidency and the electoral process, violated the independence of Congress, deepened the people’s lack of trust in the justice system, and made the AFP her own private army.
Patronage
Patronage, maintained through the control and disbursement of pork barrel, preferential treatment in multi-million projects, as well as high salaries, promotions, and other perks has also helped ensure Arroyo’s stay in power. Bribery knows no bounds so that even key members of the Catholic hierarchy have been effectively “neutralized” from criticizing the president.
The last time the people saw the scourge of conjugal dictatorship was during the Marcos years. Today the Arroyo family is not only the fastest-growing ruling dynasty in the country but it is also embroiled in monumental cases of corruption and abuse of political power. The last of such cases is of course the NBN scam where the fixation to defend dynastic interests comes first even at the expense of long-time allies and presidential appointees, like Lozada.
The unseating of De Venecia and the abduction of Lozada has stirred calls anew for the president to quit – or at least to take a leave of absence – to give investigators of alleged presidential wrongdoings a free hand. For such a clamor to prosper, the people may have to transcend the reign of fear that has been sown under seven years of the Arroyo presidency and save the country from further harm. Posted by Bulatlat
