Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s (GMA) eldest son, has been soliciting support from die-hard colleagues for a resolution that will call for both chambers of the Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate—to convene as Constituent Assembly to reconsider certain provisions in the Constitution.
In response to the apprehensions of the many, the younger Arroyo belied the allegations that it will be a pretext to extend his mother’s term. “I think she will take care of her grandchildren, Mikey was reported as saying. “I think she will go back to teaching or give lectures [as] what many former presidents do all over the world.”
I wonder where has Mikey Arroyo been all these days. Unless he was lying dormant in a remote enclave, he must have known that his mother’s administration is hounded by several controversies, scams, scandals, issues (whatever you call them), for which many sectors want to hold his mother accountable.
It is highly doubtful whether GMA will have a moment’s peace by the time she’ll step down in 2010. To say that GMA will lead a peaceful life after 2010 is to be ignorant of GMA’s yet unanswered liabilities—from the fertilizer scam to the scuttled NBN-ZTE deal to the North Rail Project and a host of other issues.
If today she can not be held accountable for, it is because as a President, she can not be sued. In other words, she is immune. Which is why those people who want to indict GMA will have to wait for 2010. But that is if we invest a certain amount of belief that she will be true to her promise that she will step down in 2010 as mandated by the Constitution.
Granting GMA will no longer be in office by 2010, her life will be far from peaceful. After she leaves the presidency, she leaves with it the privileges she once enjoyed, chief of which is the immunity from suit. In effect, a barrage of complaints will definitely be coming her way. The first thing she'll do then is to postpone the idea of teaching or taking care of her grandchildren because she has yet to fulfill her responsibility to the people—a responsibility bigger than her responsibility to her family.
That is her responsibility to tell the people the truth.
[...] Philippine Politics, Politics and Governance by Arvin Antonio Ortiz on December 6th, 2008 In a previous post, I said that the reason why GMA’s life after 2010—supposing that she will indeed step [...]
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