INSIDE CEBU By Bobit S. Avila
The Philippine Star 07/01/2005
I don’t know about you folks, but here in Cebu, many of us refuse to be thrown into that swirling self-destructive pit spun by what I call "political terrorists," making the world believe that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) has owned up to something so vile and despicable that she should be cut off from the presidency. From the words of Susan Roces, "She has done enough damage to our country. She has put our country to shame!"
Shame? For admitting what almost all, if not all politicians have been doing? While President Arroyo has done her mea culpa, why don’t you folks tell us the truth… how many politicians out there have also done the same, if not worse, by calling their respective Comelec officers at the height of the counting? I can’t say their names in the open, but I have a few politician-friends who openly admitted this to me... so it’s really no big deal! Indeed, if we check the address books of all politicians, I’m willing to bet that they contain the numbers of Comelec officials or their offices. Let’s go further... how about the names of fiscals and judges, huh?
Shame? Shame was when deposed President Joseph "Erap" Estrada was driven out of Malacañang! That brought shame to our country! President Arroyo has done enough damage to the country? What damage? If there’s anyone who has damaged what’s left of this nation, they are the ones who seek political power without even an iota of understanding of what the heck they were running for... and I’m referring to movie stars who seek the presidency because of their popularity, rather than because they have the ingredients of making this nation truly great! All this is about greed and power!
Sure, I submit that President Arroyo’s sticking her guns in Malacañang is due to the very same reasons… the love of political power, but in the end, those who seek her resignation are not much better than her... and are even hungrier for political power, yet they offer no solutions as to how to make this country a better run nation. The reason why we Cebuanos overwhelmingly voted for GMA was that she was the only candidate with a real workable platform for political change... that’s the shift from the present unitary system of governance to a parliamentary/federal form.
That Susan Roces says that President Arroyo "stole the Presidency, not once but twice" is obviously the line taken from the pages of Erap’s ill-fated presidency! No ma’am, President Arroyo didn’t steal the presidency from Erap, he literally dropped it! On the question of whether Ms. Roces would now lead the ragtag opposition on civil disobedience against the Arroyo presidency, you can say that the movie stars already did that. Wasn’t this started by actor Richard Gomez who didn’t pay his taxes?
Again, to people who think Susan Roces can lead the charge against the established government, better think twice because what’s happening in Manila is not being swallowed hook, line and sinker by the people in the Visayas and Mindanao. If Mindanao sues for its own independence, then the responsibility for the break-up of the Philippine nation falls upon the shoulders of those who seek to destroy our democratic processes. With the armed forces barely able to make ends meet, who will enforce the laws of the land so that the rule of law will be maintained? This is something people like Susan Roces ought to ponder well... before things get out of control.