The two Philippine women presidents<\/p>\n
William Esposo
\nPhilippine Daily Inquirer
\nAsia News Network
\nManila<\/p>\n
Last December, I was invited to address a class at the Asian
\nInstitute of Management (AIM) on how I compared the way Filipinos
\nregard the terms and the characters of the two Philippine women
\npresidents -- Corazon C. Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.This
\nwas before President Macapagal-Arroyo made her historic Rizal Day
\nannouncement to no longer run in 2004 and which thereby bought
\nher respite from the mounting public criticism and dismay over
\nher administration.<\/p>\n
I was addressing the communications strategy class of former
\nPresidential Management Staff secretary Sonny Coloma, a dean at
\nthe AIM and a regular columnist of the Businessworld. The
\ndiscussion took a clinical analysis of the net impressions the
\ntwo women presidents have on our people. Having organized and
\nmanaged the Cory Media Bureau for the 1986 Snap Campaign and
\nhaving worked for two years as a Macapagal-Arroyo communications
\nadviser from 1995 to 1997 (when she made a bid for the 1998
\npresidency but then only to drop out and settle for the Lakas-
\nNUCD VP slot) made me a suitable resource person.<\/p>\n
The highlights of my comparison:<\/p>\n
1. Cory Aquino came to the job with only the moral high ground
\nin tow, having nary any experience in governance and bereft of
\nthe affected pretensions common among elected politicians.
\nMacapagal-Arroyo on the other hand came to the office
\nacademically prepared, with a presidential pedigree from her
\nfather, the former president, an executive and legislative
\nexperience, and the highest number of votes ever gotten by a vice
\npresidential candidate.<\/p>\n
2. Both women presidents came to the presidency via People
\nPower: EDSA I for Aquino and EDSA II for Macapagal-Arroyo. Both
\ntheir terms were marked by turmoil. Six coup attempts against
\nPresident Aquino and one uprising against President Macapagal-
\nArroyo barely four months into her term.<\/p>\n
3. Aquino to my view retained her following and to this day
\ncontinues to be regarded the Joan of Arc of Asia while Macapagal-
\nArroyo is fast losing hers as followers shift focus back to their
\noriginal cause.<\/p>\n
4. Aquino dedicated her term to people empowerment and the
\nideals of EDSA I that made her president. Macapagal-Arroyo's
\ncoalition has splintered amid widespread disillusionment over her
\ndeparture from the mandate of EDSA II. In business, the first and
\nforemost rule is to retain and secure market share. Macapagal-
\nArroyo did not learn this lesson or may have simply forgotten it.<\/p>\n
5. The people trusted Aquino while Macapagal-Arroyo suffered a
\nbig credibility problem. I attribute the trust people had in
\nAquino to the consistency of her actions. Her husband, the martyr
\nNinoy, was also a contributing factor but even this would not
\nhave mattered had Aquino had not been true to their shared
\nideals.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Macapagal-Arroyo's husband, Mike Arroyo,
\nwas her handicap: A male epitome of what I call the Imelda
\nsyndrome. After Imelda Marcos, I maintained that all future First
\nLadies or Gentlemen will have to deal with an overly suspicious
\npublic who will tend to think that every First Lady or First
\nGentleman is always the biggest Rasputin. Alas, for Macapagal-
\nArroyo, Mike did not learn this lesson at all and is now
\nassociated with just about every major scandal.<\/p>\n
The court of public opinion does not operate in an
\nequilibrium. Much of what shapes public opinion come from
\npreconceived notions and biases which are further fueled by
\ndeliberate disinformation, Goebbels-style. The misshapen
\ninformation is made even worse as each person tosses in his own
\ncommentaries. Mike Arroyo forgot how Caesar's wife had to be seen
\nor did not realize that it also applied to Cleopatra's husband.<\/p>\n
The core of the residual images and feelings Aquino and
\nMacapagal-Arroyo left with people centered on character. People
\ntrusted Aquino. I am sad to say that the surveys corroborate the
\nperception of deep distrust for Macapgal-Arroyo. Both presidents
\nfor instance shared an Iraq crisis during their respective terms.
\nIt was the 1991 Gulf War for Aquino (waged by then U.S. president
\nGeorge Bush) and for Macapagal-Arroyo it is the now looming
\nshowdown between Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush.<\/p>\n
But the actions taken by Aquino and Macapagal-Arroyo contrast
\ndramatically. Seeing that the greater national interest were
\noverseas Filipino worker jobs and the supply of oil which rested
\nin Arab hands, Aquino took a neutral stance. In contrast, even
\namid the anti-war positions of U.S. allies like France, Germany
\nand Russia, Macapagal-Arroyo went on an all-out support for the
\nU.S. position. Her recent sortie to Kuwait was perceived as
\nanother deception: She aids Bush promote war on one hand and
\nturns around to assure jobs and safety to those in the vicinity
\nof the war she just helped promote on the other.<\/p>\n
Macapagal-Arroyo's Rizal Day announcement offered new
\nopportunities and even her strongest critics were inclined to
\ngive her a chance to redeem her family's name in the pantheon of
\npresidents -- hoping to see the country improve with it. However,
\ntoo early in the year with barely a month and a half after her
\nannouncement, political watchers and the suspicious public are
\nstarting to see a course of action which belies her announcement
\nnot to run. Action speaks louder than words and recent
\npresidential actions show that it is politics as usual.<\/p>\n
Reliable sources have reported the existence of a separate
\ncommunications staff composed of former Estrada press secretary
\nRod Reyes, former Marcos Office of Media Affairs chief Greg
\nCendana, new Chief of Staff Rigoberto Tiglao and presidential
\npublicist Dante Ang among others. The group's first major
\nundertaking is to manage a \"clamor for the president to
\nreconsider and run in 2004\". The plan is to launch in the
\nprovinces before \"snowballing\" to the national scene (a recent
\nRoxas City sortie seems to be the start of this plan). Per the
\nreport we got, there is even a plan to tell the people in the
\nprovinces, where pro-American sentiments run high, that U.S.
\npresident George W. Bush is endorsing Macapagal-Arroyo \"to run in
\norder to provide leadership during this time of crisis\".<\/p>\n
For the sake of Macapagal-Arroyo and the many who saw in her
\ndecision not to run in 2004 a chance for better times, we must
\njust pray that none of these acts of deception are true. I
\nshudder to think of the impact it will have on the populace.
\nBefore all these, I was one of those who dispelled the rumors
\nthat a coup or another EDSA is in the works and called these as
\nnothing but wishful thinking by the doomsayers simply because I
\nknow the promoters of these scenarios are an insignificant
\nminority with no real wide-scale national support.<\/p>\n
But this deception, if true, could just about be the turning
\npoint the doomsayers warn about -- a bloody system overhaul which
\nno one wants and I pray we never experience in our lifetime.
\nMacapagal-Arroyo must learn from Marcos who lost his presidency
\nwhen he lost his credibility. Losing his popularity and
\neventually his army was but the product of lost Marcos
\ncredibility.<\/p>",
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