The calls for Gloria Arroyo to do a “Thaksin,” referring to the resignation last Tuesday of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra bring to mind similar calls to Marcos in 1986 by those fighting for freedom to do a “Duvalier.”
Rather, it was more of a warning to Marcos that he would suffer the same fate as Jean- Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the strongman of Haiti, who, upon prodding of the United States, fled to France on Feb. 7, 1986 when his murderous militia, the Tonton Macoutes, could no longer suppress mounting social and political unrest. Duvalier and his extravagant wife, Michele, drove to the airport to the jeers of angry Haitians.
(In the first years of their exile in France, the Duvaliers lived luxuriously. Now divorced from Michele, Baby Doc is reported to be living in “modest circumstances.”)
Of course, Marcos then said there was no comparison between him and Baby Doc nor between Imelda and Michele but 17 days later, Marcos and Imelda, their family members and close associates boarded a plane to Hawaii while the Filipino people exulted in the triumph of “People Power.”
Malacañang’s protestation that there is no comparison between Thaksin and Arroyo is, in many ways, true.
One, Thaksin’s election to the Parliament in 2001 and to the position of prime minister was not tainted with irregularity. Although a large segment of the voting population boycotted last Sunday’s parliamentary election, there was no complaint of rigging election results which gave Thaksin’s party 57 percent of the vote.
The main issue against Gloria Arroyo is lack of election mandate. She was never elected to the presidency, a position she has been holding for more than five years. In 2001, she grabbed power from an elected president, Joseph Estrada, riding on middle-class anger over his administration’s incompetence and corruption.
In 2004, Arroyo rigged election results and thwarted the will of majority of Filipinos who voted for Fernando Poe Jr.
Legitimacy was never an issue against Thaksin. He is embroiled in corruption allegations over his family’s sale of $1.9 billion worth of shares in a telecommunications firm without paying taxes.
Main issue against Arroyo is lack of legitimacy. But she is also embroiled in various corruption issues – the stealing of recovered money stolen by Marcos, the use of the fertilizer fund for farmers to fertilize her election campaign, the misuse of Road Users tax and Philhealth funds for her campaign, to mention just a few of the irregularities involving her.
The wife of Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda, allegedly a jueteng lord, has been mentioned as a source of funds of the cheating operations of former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. The irony of this is that Arroyo rose to power over allegations that Estrada received commissions from the illegal numbers game.
Two, Thaksin cares for Thailand. Arroyo cares only for herself.
In announcing his resignation, Thaksin said, “I apologize to my 16 million supporters that I cannot take the post of prime minister… I beg all Thais to sacrifice for the King (whose 60th anniversary on the throne is just 60 days away.)”
The 16 million supporters that Thaksin mentioned comprise 57 percent of Thai voters.
Almost half of Filipinos (48 percent) or some 40 million want Arroyo to resign, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations. Yet, Malacañang says there is “no outrage” and continues to cling to the imaginary “mandate” that she has to keep.
Arroyo has no qualms of destroying institutions to continue holding on to power. She destroyed the Commission on Elections by making the body as her cheating machine. To cover up her crime, she bought off members of the House of Representatives and castrated the Senate with her EO 464. She trampled on the people’s right of assembly and freedom of expression with her Calibrated Preventive Response. She has caused the people to lose faith in the Supreme Court by filling it with people beholden to her.
She used the Armed Forces of the Philippines as her election operators in the 2004, a job done in the past by warlords. Worse, she rewarded officials who violated their oath to be non-partisan during elections with promotions and subjected to court martial those who objected.
The adverse effect of this destruction of institutions is captured by the April 5, 2006 editorial of the New York Times that said, “President Bush has repeatedly hailed Mrs. Arroyo as an important ally against international terrorism. He now needs to warn her that by undermining s hard-won democracy, she is making her country far more vulnerable to terrorist pressure.”
She is no Thaksin. She is more in the mold of Marcos and Duvalier.
E-mail from Vittorio Pineda:
Dear Ms. Tordesillas,
GMA cannot even compare to Marcos who was voted twice to the presidency. Likewise, it took sometime for Marcos to become thoroughly corrupt whereas the current occupant of Malacanang was one right off the bat!
Be careful as Marcos may take umbrage of being compared to GMA and get up from his crypt to protest!
On another note, I do look forward to your articles in the internet edition of Malaya. Please keep-up with your editorial work.
Lastly, I wish you the very best and may the Good Lord look after you always.
Very truly yours,
Vittorio Pineda
Toronto, Canada
Also, Gloria is nowhere near Thaksin’s caliber.
By accepting to step down when he felt he was no longer wanted, Thaksin showed he’s got honor.
Gloria is the most putrid leader we have in that part of the world (alongside the generals in Burma) – one who has absolutely no notion of what honor is…
Nobody expects Gloria to do a Thaksin. Impossible ! Thaksin’s party won 57 percent of the vote and this is enough reason to use for staying on, but still he chose to resign because that is the most honorable thing to do.
In contrast, Susan Roces said that Gloria “stole the Presidency, not once, but twice!” Definitely, that is not honorable. She will not resign.
Gloria, Lulli, Mikey, and Mike, insist that they are honorable! They insist that she did not cheat, steal, and lie. She says that all those saying otherwise are destabilizers of the government and state. The military and the police supports her. Look at General Esperon with his unabashed declaration of loyalty to Gloria and look at those police truncheoning and water-canoning dissenting rallies and demonstrations.
The PEOPLE are all alone in their sufferings and feelings are suppressed and have no way of coming out to say as did Balagtas “sa loob at labas ng bayan kong sawi, kaliluha’y siyang nagsisilbing hari..”
Amado V. Hernandez said it all:
“At ang bayan, kahit munti, kung inip na sa karimlan
Sa talim ng isang tabak hinahanap ang liwayway!”
– Bonifacio, Amado Hernandez
It is quite hard to see a problem if it is you who is the very problem. Gloria blames the destabilizers for the NEW YORK TIMES Editorial. But the editorial commented on THE THINGS THAT SHE HAS DONE, not on what the opposition are supposed to be doing.
An editorial is something done with a lot of thinking, research, and yes perception. This is what they believe and stand on. And In this case, New York Times have ventilated what 80 percent of the CPRed, 464ed, and 1017ed Filipinos believe but are unable to say before an international audience. Thank you NYT.
New York Times editorial just echoed what the so=called oppositionist newspapers like Daily Tribune and Malaya have long been writing about.
Last night, (10pm local time, 6pm RP time) there was a very enlightening discussion at ANC with Pia Hontiveros, with two doctors of political science (Dr. Contreras of La Salle, and Dr de Vera of UP) as guests, focusing on the editorial of NYT and comparing GMA to Thaksin. No comparison should I say, because the former does not even have the sense of decency to know that lying, cheating and stealing are sins that a supposedly “devout catholic” should know!
I do hope that other international media focus on the shenanigans of Gloria’s administration and the rampant corruption in the government.
I would even suggest that a full editorial on Garci and Bolante be written as well.
I do hope that
sorry sa naputol na sentence….
what i meant to write : I hope that with a little more patience, eventually, all the Filipinos will come to realise that intelligence or PhDs do not count for people to have good governance. Integrity, honesty, sense of delicadeza and adherence to truth and justice, are the very essence of how democracy should be.
07 April 2006
Guys have read/hear the story of a judge who refers to a “DWENDE”???? I think the dwende there is no other than the gloria and by the way she is now dwende, she is a LEPRECHAUN, hehehehehehehehehe…………
On the serious side of the issue, there is no comparison between thaksin and gloria, way back in the mid to late 90’s, thaksin was then a foreign minister, but resigned in politics out of delicadeza and made a come back in thai politics in the before the entry of the new millenium and became the prime minister. But again, out of delicadeza resigned again as PM out of delicadeza and respect to HM majesty the king of Thailand. However, we have no king, as sen osmena mentioned in one of the interview last night at ANC that “gloria stole from the king. But we have the voice of the people, just like the king of thailand, he listens to what the people are saying and counsult with the people of Thailand before deeping his hand on the Thai politics. Now, as we the voting populace and other concern citizens of the Philippines, we should now tell gloria and her clowns, its time for you to bow out and call a snap election. gloria and her clowns will claim its against the constitution, but what do they think they did to ERAP in 2001 and the allegations of stealing the election in 2004, and other allegations, such as the fertilizer scam, the illegal use of the marcos money etc, its ironic that they will always say its against the constitution, look whose talking, they are the number 1 violator of the constitution, yet they are pushing for charter change, to protect their self/personal interest.
Madam Ellen, as I have said in your previous topics, we should force for a snap election and who ever wins the election (provided, its a clean and honest election) the FILIPINO people should unite and support the winner of the snap election.
I am against the noli de castro to replace gloria, for one thing, noli is is like “LABAN o BAWI style will not suit with the filipino people, de castro is one who has insecurity, incosistencies and does not care about the people, as i said before, ask the regular employees at the OVP, most of them are demoralized with his leadership, one who employs ghost employee/s (as alleged by some)and many more.
gloria and noli are the same, both of them should resign, to include all elective and appointive officials (pros and cons on gloria) for snap election.
jinx
In the spirit of fairplay Gloria has no comparison indeed. She stands out all alone on her own as the giant among dwarfs. The oppostion vastly understimated Gloria and she is laughing all the way to the bank. Long before Erap fiasco, gloria has been planning her move. When Erap fell to 43 percent popularity, gloria made her move, and together with conniving davide, marched into malacanang in no time at all. As recent events shows, the lady is a brilliant premeditator of her moves. She does not want a VP who will do a Gloria so she chose deCastro mild as a lamb and dumb as cattle only good for the slaughterhouse. Early on she cozied up to the military in so many ways that left her opponents flabbergasted.
A character like gloria has also premeditated her character in public office, such as lack of morality, shame, honor, etc. She has donned on the garb of an armadillo, seemingly impervious to all calls of civility, delicadeza, shame, etc. The occupant of malacanang is no ordinary dwarf, and no wonder the oppostion and the media don’t know what hit them.
There is no comparison between Thaksin Shinawatra and Mrs Arroyo.
First of all, Thaksin won the elections twice by a landslide. Even in this third election (which he called himself in response to the calls for his resignation) his party, the Thai Rak Thai, actually won. But the displeasure of the people was evident in the boycott. The vote was enough to give Thaksin a mandate, albeit remaining an unpopular leader.
Instead of pushing his “legal” mandate, he chose not to put himself up as party leader.
Thailand is blessed with a revered and responsible sovereign (the King); unfortunately, the Filipinos only have a plethora of politicians who claim to speak for the majority.
Opinion-makers like to compare Thailand’s progress and loudly ask why it has overtaken the Philippines. This kind of responsible leaderhsip – despite allegations of corruption, high-handedness, etc. – in one facet of Thai life worth thinking about.
Incomparable!!! Thaksin is an honorable and dignified man. Gloria is liar, stealer, and cheater. I still prefer ouster for her. Snap election is expensive. Enough!!! wala ng laman ang kaban ng bayan, inubos na ni gloria at ng kanyang mga alipores. Patalsikin na!!!!
Ellen,
The reaction of Gloria to tap FOREIGN SECRETARY ROMULO to knock on the doors of NY Times is sooooooo embarassing and soooooo telling, so kaaaapppppal (thick-faced).
We have an ambassador to the US who can and should do the job of making the Palace dissatisfaction known. That Gloria is thinking of sending the country’s FOREIGN SECRETARY is so disproportionate. Gloria is really NANGINGINIG (shaking with fear) as Jove Francisco highlighted in his blog Hahah! Buti nga sa kanya (serves her right)… Imagine sending a major member of the cabinet to say “arf, arf, arf” or “meow, meow, meow”…
The Americans who are still Gloria’s ultimate ‘lord and master’do NOT appreciate Gloria’s dismal performance. (NYTimes is basically Republican leaning…)
I’ve always been convinced that when the US blinks, Gloria will be a goner. For the moment, she’s ok but when the going gets tough and the tough doesn’t get going – hah, she’s dead!
Notice too that new US ambassador to the Philippines went and paid a courtesy call on the Senate President for an hour. Because the meeting was held in closed doors, we can only imagine what Drilon may have complained about to the lady envoy… something like “Gloria is being thoroughly beastly” or something akin….Heheheh!
US Embassy memos will contain the minutes of that meeting and I am pretty sure that the US envoy’s report will contain not very flattering remarks about Gloria, couple that with the public reaction to the NY Times editorial on Gloria bordering on elation and you get the gist.
Gloria knows that things will be coming to a head with her American friend/s. She will be very busy, busy as a bee to try “to counter” US Embassy reports and other US intel gathered reports in order to please Dubya. She knows she is treading on very shaky grounds today. Her cha-cha, PI initiatiatives won’t save her in the end.
The US ambassador is a PRO, a Republican and is a WOMAN; it will also be harder for Gloria to sell to a woman with a conservative background. Gloria ain’t fooling the lady envoy with her Philhealth cards, her alms to the poor, her photo-ops with children in an orphanage, her revolving door policy for her generals, her pics on her birthday surrounded by retired generals Ebdane, Calimlim, her speeches to the graduating batches in PNP and PMA, etc.
I suggest we all write as well to Democrat Sen Hillary Clinton of NY who is a proponent of human rights… if she picks up what’s really going on in PI, she may just put in her ‘influence’ to tip in the balance…
The resigned leader of Thailand, Thanksin Shinawatra can not and will not be compared with the Philippines’ GMA. The former value honor and integrity while the latter is too callous hanging on to power even though majority of the Filipinos believe that SHE IS THE PROBLEM and she needs to step down.
GMA and her government is a disgrace to the Filipino race. They can not distinguish the difference between the wisdom of telling the truth and telling a lie! I agree with Anna de Brux is her comment… Gloria is the most putrid leader we have in that part of the world (alongside the generals in Burma) – one who has absolutely no notion of what honor is…!
Ellen
Speaking of Marcos family: isa kasing malaking dahilan kung bakit nawawalan ako ng ganang lumahok sa mga rallies ay kapag nakikita kong kalahok din sina Imee, Jinggoy etc; sa madaling salita ay mga Marcos at Estrada remnants. Hindi kaya si Imee o ang mga Marcos ay may lihim na kasunduan kay Gloria? Nung kasagsagan ng Marines stand off, I’m having high hopes na baka eto na ang oras; pero nung makita ko sa TV screen si Imee ay pfft! nawalan agad ako ng gana! ELLEN, ANO BA ANG DAHILAN NG MGA MARCOS PARA MAGING ANTI-GMA SILA? Pls. enlighten me.
Si Thaksin may isang salita, si GMA wala. Di na raw sya tatakbo sa 2004, ayun tumakbo pa rin, nandaya pa.
Ellen,
I beg to disgress but we have all been waiting for the release of the Mayuga report. Well…in line with honor and what is not, the Gloria-DND-AFP circus proves that there is NO honor left in this current goverment composed of no less than a cabal of lawbreakers…
Moreover, Gloria’s government is a government where the buck doesn’t stop anywhere… read the following Inq7 report http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=71991
Gloria, SND Cruz and Gen Senga don’t seem to know what Command Responsibility is all about or they’re trying to fool the poeple one more time?
Anyway, as I have been saying, there’s no use expecting anything substantial of the Mayuga report. It will have been sanitized to concur with Gloria generals line of defence that they did not participate in the election manipulations in the south in favor of Gloria; the report morevover, will “clear” Garci…
The commanding general who recalled “whistleblowing” BrigGen Gudani from his Mindanao assignment after Garci complained of the Gudani’s “non-cooperation” is already out of harm’s way. He is now ambassador to Australia and cannot be expected to reveal what Gudani told him during their one-on-one meeting at PN Hqs following Gudani’s recall.
Why do you think Gudani’s predecessor was asked to “RETIRE” earlier than scheduled? Mayuga had to be given a reward presumably for “sanitizing” his report. Even if Mayuga will stay in his current Flag Officer in Command, PN for less than a year, the position is infinitely better than AFP Inspector General – he is finally king of his own kingdom (just as Angie Reyes had promised him in 1999)!
So, don’t expect anything of Vice-Admiral Mayuga report – it will be synonymous to a whitewash.
Remember the BrooksBowerAsia assessment (March 18, 2006 entry here) that the Philippine situation is alarming?
And that if he (Ernie Bower) were to give Arroyo advice, he would tell her to take care of her legacy?
Please see also March 22 posting here “Danger signals from Washington”.
Ang PM ng Thailand ay may sariling paninindigan at mayroong
paniniwala sa Demokrasya. Di tulad ni Pangulong “DWENDITA”
hanggang maari siya nalang ang maging pangulo habang buhay siya, Kasi alam nya pagnatapos ang kanyang turno sa palasyo
patong-patong na kaso ang maiiwan sa kanya. Tapos yung mga kapanalig nya’ng trapo at suwapang sa kapangyarihan ay di nasiya kikilalanin ng mga ito.
Email from Primo Santos:
UMATAKE NA NAMAN ANG PAGKA-KELILING NG SENADORA SA EDITOR NG NEW YORK TIMES, ANO BA TALAGA ANG KULAY NIYA? BUKOD TANGI SIYA LANG ANG HINDI NAGING MASAYA SA LUMABAS NA EDITORIAL NA ITO, MALIBAN SIEMPRE SA TAGA MALAKANYANG AT LOWER (BAYARAN) HOUSE MEMBER.
SA PAGHINGI AT PAGTANGGAP NG SARI SARING U.S. AID TUWANG TUWA TAYO, NGUNIT KAPAG PINUPUNA ANG KAPALPAKAN NG GOBYERNO, ABOT HANGGANG IMPIERNO ANG ANGAL NILA.
AT ISA PA, KUNTI NGA LANG ANG NABANGGIT NA KABULUKAN NG TWIN SISTER NINA “MAHAL AT MURA”, DAHIL UPANG MAGKASYA ANG LAHAT NG GAWAING PAGSISINUNGALING, PANDADAYA AT PAGNANAKAW NG NASA PUESTO AY BUONG DIARYO NG NEW YORK TIMES ANG KAILANGAN DITO.
SEN MERRIAM, BAGO KA MATULUYAN SA ATAKE SA PUSO, GUMAWA KA NG TOTOONG MAKAKATULONG SA MGA MAMAMAYAN UPANG GUMANDA KA SA AMING ALAALA MAN LAMANG.
primo. ano pa kaya ang aasahan natin sa kay brain damage, syempre wala di kase brain damage ok?
I just finished watching “Amin: Rise and Fall” on the recommendation of a Filipino friend, and boy, was I surprised to see the similarities between Uganda under Idi Amin and the Philippines under the now bloated Midget! It is a must see. Something must be done before situation become worse than Uganda, and the tongressmen, who have just received their porks as gifts to those who sang “Happy Birthday” to her, succeed in changing the Constitution and making the Midget permanent president and eventually as queen, which is suspiciously what the hallucinatory overstayers at the palace by the murky river are hoping to make of the liar and a cheat.
Another must see for Filipinos is “Hotel Rwanda” and see what happens when they also succeed in balkanizing the Philippines with all these talks about partitioning the yet to be really united Philippines.
Crazy, eh? You bet!
Sabi ni Lakay Gonzales “PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has balls.” Hindi ko alam na si Mike pala ang may keps sa kanila. Kala ko pa naman pabling na pati hipag kinakana. Dehins pala nagme-mek-up-an pala sila. Sorry!!!!!
Rep. Eduardo Veloso, isang bayaring Tongressman, said that since opposition lawmakers have shown admiration for Thaksin, they should be the one to follow in his footsteps. “If they want, they can migrate to Thailand,” he quipped. E GAGO pala ito, saang lupalop ng PILIPINAS galing yan. Hoy Veloso, kaya tayo kulelat sa ASIA ay dahil sa inyong mga ganid na Tongressman na dini-diyos si GLORYA na puro pera lang ang hangad. Tinitignan niyo lang ay kung papano mag-kapera. Minsan naman tignan niyo rin ang taong bayan. Kung nagugutom ang mga tao, binibigyan niyo sila ng noodles. Hindi ganon bigyan niyo sila ng marangal na trabaho, kung papano yon ang isipin niyo, huwag puro sarili. Huwag niyo ng ipagtanggol pa yang GLORYA na yan. Mandaraya yan, di pa ba pruweba yong GARCI TAPE. Ako kahit sino ang Presidente huwag lang yan si GLORYA, naturingan pa namang graduweyt sa Aremika. Parang gagang nagmamaka-awa sa 1M dagdag sa boto niya. “ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES”. NAKAKAHIYA TAYO!!!!!!PUWEEEEEEEE!!!!
Gloria is a class by herself when it comes to deception.