Facing a crisis, GMA calls on Bro. Mike and his flock for support

President Arroyo turned to El Shaddai leader and Roman Catholic televangelist Bro. Mike Velarde and his flock for help yesterday amid allegations that she cheated in last year’s elections and her family took bribes from illegal gambling barons.

Mrs. Arroyo said she would not dignify the allegations, which she claims were part of a plot to push her out from office.

"In my efforts to have one Philippines...I am hoping that Brother Mike and the members of Yahweh El Shaddai who helped in the last elections will help me achieve one Philippines," she said.

The President called on her audience to also back her anti-poverty agenda. "Help me be a good president," she appealed as she led a ceremony distributing land titles to beneficiaries in Bacoor, Cavite.

Velarde, who attended the ceremony, appealed for calm and sobriety but instead of giving categorical support to Mrs. Arroyo, he did so to her office.

The President said she would continue to work for unity among the various sectors of society to revitalize the country’s economy and ignored calls for her to answer the allegations that she cheated in the 2004 elections.

"To those who are trying to worsen the divisiveness in the Philippines, I will ignore their politics of destabilization," she vowed. "Anyway we have many good law enforcers and lawyers who can take care of destabilizers."

Asked if El Shaddai still supports the President, Velarde said they help whoever is elected president. He said this had been their practice since Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.

"Our position is to support whoever sits in Malacañang because that is in the best interest of our country. So as far as she is there, whoever sits there as President, we are supposed to support her government," he said.

Velarde said he could not speculate on what could make El Shaddai, a large religious Roman Catholic organization, withdraw support from Mrs. Arroyo.

Velarde appealed for calm and sobriety in dealing with the issues.

"It is hard to be hasty (in making decisions). Right now the situation is hot and so we must be careful with the steps we take," Velarde said. "These are normal controversies that arise, now it should be handled with sobriety. Let us not get carried away by our emotions."

Filipinos, Velarde added, "should face this with sobriety and according to the Constitution."

"It’s not good for everybody to conclude when everything is not yet clarified," Velarde stressed. "Let’s give her time to study the matter because it is hard for a leader to rush decisions and then change positions the following day."

El Shaddai will not take to the streets but instead take a sober approach in dealing with the latest political crisis, the most serious to rock the Arroyo administration.

"We have not been involved in any street demonstrations because it is not our calling, we take the direction towards peace and unity," Velarde said.

He declined to offer the President any advice, saying he was not competent enough due to lack of information on the various issues hounding her and her administration.

Filipinos fear the intensified bickering between the Arroyo administration and the opposition might hurt efforts to get the country’s struggling economy back on its feet.

Mrs. Arroyo will visit Hong Kong on Monday to promote investment in the Philippines and to show that the country’s economy is improving despite opposition moves to unseat her, officials said yesterday.

The Hong Kong trip is the first of a series of short trips across the region to encourage foreign investment in the Philippines.

"This is the first of a series of visits to major business and financial centers in Asia to discuss Philippine economic achievements and to highlight investment opportunities to business leaders and the media," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

Mrs. Arroyo will depart early on June 20 and will return the same day after meeting senior business leaders in Hong Kong to discuss with them her economic reform program.

Similar investment promotion trips were being planned for Singapore and Tokyo, Bunye said, adding the trips are also aimed at providing information critical to investors, traders and credit rating agencies.

"The message is that things are okay in the Philippines," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. "There is still a good climate for investments."

Mrs. Arroyo will attend a lunch hosted by businessman Victor Fung and will meet Tony Kwok, a former senior graft-buster in Hong Kong who has been named as Mrs. Arroyo’s chief adviser on anti-corruption efforts.

Kwok has begun a European-funded project to fight corruption in 16 key government offices in the Philippines.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima earlier expressed confidence that the business climate wouldn’t be affected by controversies rocking the Arroyo administration. — With Paolo Romero, AFP, Rene Alviar