Update: Rape victim Nicole in US “for good”, terminates services of lawyer.
It is no idle coincidence that the arrest of family members of disgraced Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia , former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines happened at the time when calls for the abrogation of Visiting Forces Agreement is mounting.
They are part of a high-stakes power play that sadly reduces the Filipino people as pawns. For the United States, at stake is their being able to maintain their diminishing dominance in Asia Pacific amid China’s growing global influence. For Gloria Arroyo, it’s political survival.
Fourteen months away from the end of her corruption-riddled presidency, Gloria Arroyo has been begging for a photo-opportunity with the new U.S president thinking that the picture would negate the creeping impression that the Americans have written her off especially after the World Bank released the report that her husband Mike Arroyo is involved in corruption in public works projects.