GMA to answer ‘party, RP call’

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — All roads lead to the mothballed Expo Pilipino amphitheater here today as Capampangan political and civic leaders pool their resources to ensure a crowd of at least 50,000 to witness President Arroyo’s declaration of her candidacy in the May 2004 elections.

Malacañang sources said a speech was already prepared for Mrs. Arroyo to deliver at the event.

In a copy of the draft speech obtained by The STAR, Mrs. Arroyo will supposedly say: "I leave my fate to God. I leave my fate to the people in any capacity, including the presidency. If God and our people do not need my victory, I have no need of it either."

"As my party is calling me to lead them, I am not a member who runs away from responsibility. I am accepting the call of the party and the country. Let our people be the judge. I will accept whatever is their decision, including (running) as president in 2004," the draft speech read.

Mrs. Arroyo is expected to make the announcement even after Vice President Teofisto Guingona resigned from the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) party yesterday.

"I really don’t know about the timing (of an announcement), but I know she (Mrs. Arroyo) has more or less made up her mind and she will run for election," presidential adviser on special concerns Norberto Gonzales said.

Guingona, a long-time critic of the President, said in an open letter to Mrs. Arroyo he had respected her decision last year not to run and was disappointed reforms had not materialized.

Despite her pledge not to stand, Mrs. Arroyo has been widely expected to reverse course and announce her candidacy, saying in recent weeks that she was seeking "divine guidance."

Even as Mrs. Arroyo is yet to announce her candidacy, a leader of Lakas-CMD has officially nominated her as the standard-bearer for the administration.

Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco said he made the nomination in a handwritten letter he sent to the Lakas national executive committee.

The committee, being the highest governing body of the ruling party, is set to meet on Tuesday to enact a resolution forcing Mrs. Arroyo to accept the nomination as the party’s presidential candidate.

"We are starting to draft her," Syjuco said. "It’s up to her to accept this challenge. This document (nominating Mrs. Arroyo) makes the formal offer."

Syjuco said his nomination will be "seconded a million times by the party’s faithful."

Party leaders have been egging Mrs. Arroyo to announce her political plans whether she would run in the May 2004 presidential elections.

The recent political maneuverings apparently prompted Mrs. Arroyo to declare her intentions much earlier than she had originally planned.

Gonzales said that he and other allies had persuaded Mrs. Arroyo that she was the best candidate to promote stability.

"We have been conveying this to her and I think she has seen it, given the personalities that are coming up for the presidency," he said.

Mrs. Arroyo was invited as keynote speaker and guest of honor at the two-day First Pampanga Senior Citizens Congress to start today at the controversial Expo Pilipino.

She is also scheduled to speak before a national gathering of real estate brokers simultaneously being held at the nearby Holiday Inn hotel.

Organizers of the two events, however, have decided to merge their participants tomorrow afternoon at Expo Pilipino as a manifestation of support for Mrs. Arroyo’s expected announcement.

Former Angeles City mayor and National Housing Authority (NHA) general manager Edgardo Pamintuan confirmed the President would indeed announce her candidacy at the Expo Pilipino. Pamintuan was reportedly assigned by Malacañang to assist Pampanga local government officials in the preparations for the event here.

Presidential adviser on ecclesiastical affairs Conrado Limcaoco was reportedly designated to assist the event organizers.

Provincial board member Robert David, chairman of the senior citizens’ congress, said that he expected no less than 20,000 elderly Capampangans to be at the Expo Pilipino affair that lasts up to tomorrow.

Mayors of Pampanga’s 22 towns were reportedly requested to provide transportation assistance to their constituents who would like to be present at Expo in time for the President’s speech past noon.

Thousands of victims of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo whose house-and-lot packages at resettlement centers were given to them free by the President are also expected to boost the crowd.

David was reported to have paid P800,000 for the use of the Teflon-tent roofed amphitheater at the mothballed theme park which has remained under the jurisdiction of the National Development Corp. (NDC) and the Asian Construction Corp. (Asiakonstrukt).

One organizer claimed a crowd of about 50,000 should be present, although the amphitheater’s "comfortable seating capacity" is just over 11,000.

Before Mrs. Arroyo will deliver her much-awaited announcement, officers of the senior citizen’s congress will present to her a resolution urging for her to run.

It is widely expected that the gathering will witness Mrs. Arroyo make her pronouncement on whether she will seek a full term next year.

Earlier this week, members of the Rotary Club of Clark Field also urged Mrs. Arroyo to announce her decision to run in next year’s elections before her "cabalens" in Pampanga.

The President considers herself a Capampangan and is a registered voter in Lubao, birthplace of her late father, President Diosdado Macapagal.

But others have expressed apprehension over Mrs. Arroyo’s upcoming decision, although bordering on superstition.

They noted that at the time a power outage swept Italy during the President’s visit there last Sunday, wide areas in Pampanga, including the President’s Lubao hometown, also suffered a power outage that lasted from 9 a.m. to about 10 p.m.

"This seems foreboding, but since she has decided to run again in the elections, the best thing we can do is pray for her to succeed in all her future endeavors," said one of her supporters here.

A sectoral group representing overseas Filipino migrant workers said it would not be easy for Mrs. Arroyo to make the declaration.

"How can President Arroyo easily declare her candidacy for 2004 now when our economy is teetering on the edge of a recession? With 4.35M Filipinos without jobs and an underemployment rate of 20.8 percent, Gloria will find it doubly hard to get support from the people," Migrante sectoral party spokesman John Monterona said.

A Matter Of Timing

The Lakas-CMD leadership is convincing Mrs. Arroyo to make up her mind even sooner.

Lakas leaders said they will convene on Tuesday to force her to adopt a resolution declaring her as the party’s standard-bearer for the May 2004 elections.

Party leaders stressed Mrs. Arroyo should make the announcement soon to enable the party to prepare for the May polls.

Lakas leaders said its members will remain loyal to Mrs. Arroyo and the party will respect her decision to run.

Speaker Jose de Venecia said Mrs. Arroyo remains the "best and strongest bet" of Lakas-CMD.

"President Arroyo is the best and strongest candidate of the party in next year’s presidential elections. The overwhelming sentiment is for her to run and she has the full backing of the party," De Venecia said.

De Venecia revealed the resolution for Tuesday contained a call for Mrs. Arroyo to continue her leadership which they considered an "air tight guarantee that the reform agenda and the economic action program already in place will be pursued by the government without disruption toward their intended objectives of the nation."

The resolution praises Mrs. Arroyo’s leadership saying it is "best positioned to advance the national agenda for the Philippines to catch up with its wealthy neighbors in Southeast Asia and bring about a period of national healing among all sectors."

More than 400 party stalwarts, including governors, city mayors, municipal mayors, regional and provincial chairmen and the party’s top leadership are expected to attend the national directorate meeting.

Bulacan Rep. Wilfrido Villarama said political leaders in his province have also expressed their overwhelming support for Mrs. Arroyo.

"President Arroyo’s supporters should not wait for her to make a decision to run. They should instead pressure her to run because they know she is the right person for the presidency," the Bulacan leaders said in their manifesto of support.

Villarama also led Bulacan political leaders urging Mrs. Arroyo to belittle survey ratings indicating her sagging popularity.

It was widely believed that Mrs. Arroyo’s Dec. 30 decision to withdraw from the 2004 election was influenced by her sagging popularity.

"These (surveys) are management tools used to guide candidates. Results of poll surveys are not counted by the Commission on Elections during elections, votes are," Villarama said.

Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy Jr., national president of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) which is in coalition with the ruling party, said his party mates will be happy when Mrs. Arroyo makes up her mind.

"I know we’ll all be happy (with) her decision," he said.

Under the Constitution, Mrs. Arroyo is not prohibited from running in the 2004 presidential elections since she merely succeeded to the office.

Then vice president Gloria Arroyo replaced jailed former President Joseph Estrada, who was booted out 31 months into his term by a military-backed popular uprising in early 2001 following corruption allegations.

Mrs. Arroyo is serving the remainder of Estrada’s term, which ends in June next year. -With James Mananghaya, Reuters