President Arroyo's lost (political) adolescence<\/p>\n
By Amando Doronila<\/p>\n
MANILA: The presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is being
\nhardened in the crucible of a succession of crises and demands
\nfor economic reforms seldom experienced by any other president
\nsince Manuel L. Quezon.<\/p>\n
Four months into her presidency, Arroyo has already surmounted
\na rebellion of the poor manipulated by counterfeit pro-masa
\nleaders, a legal challenge to her legitimacy by deposed President
\nJoseph Estrada and his corps of clueless lawyers, and a setback
\nin her first reform initiative in pressing a lame-duck Congress
\nto pass the Omnibus Power Bill.<\/p>\n
The failure of the power bill to clear the bicameral
\nconference committee -- the stage where usually loose ends of
\nHouse and Senate versions of the bill are hammered out -- came
\namid the more nasty rebellion from the Abu Sayyaf expressed in
\nthe terroristic abduction of 21 hostages from the Dos Palmas
\nBeach Resort in Palawan.<\/p>\n
No Filipino president has been assaulted by a similar wave of
\nchallenges in such a short a time, and these tests will show
\nwhether or not Arroyo has the nerves of steel and the will to
\novercome them. The Abu Sayyaf kidnapping sent tourism, at best an
\nanemic industry, to its knees and has knocked back efforts to
\nrevive the economy that has been bouncing from one crisis to the
\nnext since the 1997 Asian financial meltdown.<\/p>\n
So far, the President has taken these blows on the chin. She
\nhas responded to rebellions with tough ripostes. She has
\ndispersed the rebellion with \"maximum tolerance\" although some
\nwould say the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police
\nshould have been tougher and that she should have rounded up
\nthose demagogues who agitated the mobs to storm the Palace in the
\nmidst of the attack.<\/p>\n
Instead of succumbing to rebellion and terrorist menaces, she
\nhas not hesitated to use the instruments of state power to crush
\nthem and defend the integrity of the Philippine state. The
\nPhilippine presidency is acknowledged to be one of the worlds
\nmost powerful presidencies, which are constrained in the exercise
\nof power by their democratic framework. The issue facing
\nPresident Arroyo is how much space she has in dealing with these
\nchallenges while staying within the democratic rules. I believe
\nthat she has not pushed the limits of these powers.<\/p>\n
President Corazon Aquino was assailed by seven coup attempts,
\nthe last of which in December 1989 nearly toppled her government,
\nbut during her first year after taking power in February 1986,
\nAquino presided over a revolutionary government exercising
\nemergency powers.<\/p>\n
President Arroyo has no such weapons in her arsenal. She has
\ntherefore been forced to be pragmatic, conceding to the
\ninordinate demands of Estrada for extraordinary privileges on his
\ndetention in order to calm restiveness among the benighted poor
\nhe has betrayed.<\/p>\n
She realizes that leadership is about compromise, about
\nreducing exposure to threats from many fronts, and about when to
\ndo battle.<\/p>\n
The crises have forced her to make crucial decisions with but
\nlittle time for contemplation. To use a metaphor, her crises in
\nthe presidency during the past four months have forced her to
\nlose her political adolescence and to leap into adulthood.<\/p>\n
After her setback on the power bill, Arroyo can still try
\nagain to have it passed during the regular session of the 11th
\nCongress after ironing out the kinks that appeared in the last
\nspecial session, and apply the weight of the presidency for the
\npassage of the legislation.<\/p>\n
Her father, president Diosdado Arroyo, working with a hostile
\nopposition-controlled Congress, called the legislature seven
\ntimes to a special session to push through his land reform act.
\nIf the power bill goes to the 12th Congress, it is likely to be
\nriddled with new amendments from new members of Congress eager to
\nhave a piece of the cake.<\/p>\n
Despite the constraints on the presidency in the system of
\nchecks and balances, the President sits on a reservoir of
\ntradition and presidential power which she can tap to defend the
\nstate, stabilize her administration and push reform initiatives.
\nI cite the valedictory of Claro M. Recto, president of the 1935
\nConstitutional Convention on the powers and mystique of the
\npresidency. He said:<\/p>\n
\"During the debate on Executive Power it was the almost
\nunanimous opinion that we have invested the Executive with rather
\nextraordinary prerogatives. There is much truth in this
\nassertion. But it is because we cannot be insensible to the
\nevents that are transpiring around ... we have seen how
\ndictatorships have served as the last refuge of peoples when
\ntheir parliaments fail and they are already powerless to save
\nthemselves from misgovernment and chaos.<\/p>\n
\"Learning our lessons from this truth and history, and
\ndetermined to spare our people the evils of dictatorship and
\nanarchy, we have thought it prudent to establish an executive
\npower, which, subject to the fiscalization of the Assembly, and
\nof public opinion, will not only know how to govern, but will
\nactually govern with a firm and steady hand, unembarrassed by
\nvexatious interference by other departments, or by holy alliances
\nwith this and that social group.<\/p>\n
Thus, possessed with the necessary gifts of honesty and
\ncompetence, this Executive will be able to give his people an
\norderly and progressive government, without need of usurping or
\nabdicating powers, and cunning subterfuge will not avail to
\nextenuate his failure before the bar of public opinion.\"<\/p>\n
The 1935, the 1973 and the 1987 Constitutions incorporated and
\nimplicitly recognized the latent authoritarian tendencies of
\nFilipino society. The caudillo, Manuel Quezon, drew inspiration
\nfrom these tradition and tendencies. Quezon incarnated the
\nactivist presidency envisaged by the Constitution. In the
\nexercise of his agenda-setting powers, he was the source of 98
\npercent of laws enacted by the Commonwealth government.<\/p>\n
President Arroyo is fortified by an armory of powers and
\nstrongman tradition of the presidency. She has only scratched the
\nsurface of these powers. In the defense of her administration and
\nof her capacity to mount reform initiatives, she has weapons. She
\nshould not hesitate to use them.<\/p>\n
-- Philippine Daily Inquirer\/Asia News Network<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/president-arroyos-lost-political-adolescence-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }