Breakthrough

My first impulse was to call this column: "Let us give credit where credit is due". But on second thought that may not encompass what I wanted to say on the political scene. We have a mixed bag of forces that makes up an opposition intent on ousting President GMA. To them, she cannot do anything right unless she steps down before her term ends. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on which side of the fence you are in) we have a system which guarantees a president’s electoral term unless impeached which they failed to do. By the way impeachment is not a conviction for crimes but a political act to remove a president from office. Why should it be surprising if President GMA’s political allies rallied around her to block the impeachment attempt?

Sadly, the failure to impeach her has taken a toll on the country. The price to remain in power is to make it difficult to govern. The opposition has refused to accept their defeat in Congress. They have kept up an unrelenting barrage, hoping for public indignation that would force her to resign. What if she does not resign? So far she is standing her ground and she has not done badly. It is the country that suffers from the political impasse.

Take the value-added tax reform (EVAT). She fought hard to get it passed while her critics, especially in the Senate, tried their best to stop it or at least water it down. Now that she has weathered the criticisms, and EVAT is being implemented, they do not want her to claim credit for its good effects. They say it is OFWs’ remittances that are buoying up the economy. They conveniently forget OFW remittances have been going on for years reaching a peak at Christmas time. Frankly, I think it riles them, to put it in President GMA words, that ‘the sky has not fallen" as they have predicted. The rising peso is not just from OFW remittances but also from hopeful investors. They like what they see.

Long before opposition pressure to oust President GMA, financial rating institutions already said that it was not so much about good economic indicators they were looking for. A good economic picture comes and goes as in any other country. So it is in the Philippines. Good policies may be implemented as did the tax reforms. That is not what impressed the world investment community. Leadership was what did. The story of how EVAT came to be was a test of political will – did we have what it takes to set the economic house in order no matter the political cost?

I agree with Congressman Joey Salceda that whatever economic gain we have now is artificial and short-lived. "These are only minute increases in the influx of hot money in the country. It does not mean more jobs for our people and neither does it mean more purchasing power for the poor," he said. Salceda, a GMA ally was among those who wanted to defer EVAT on power and oil to June 2006. But this was brushed aside by President GMA and her economic managers. Instead, they boldly took the step. She deserves credit for that.

It was a difficult and perilous path to take especially for a president who has just been very nearly impeached. Her government took in the painful medicine, mindful that this was a long term solution to our ailing economy. To make that leap, to crush through barriers is a matter of attitude. That is the breakthrough. Reforms do not stop there but at least she took the first step. It was important to prove to the world that we have the leadership, one willing to tackle reforms despite the odds. That is what is buoying the economic situation. Understandably that is hardly something her critics and the opposition would welcome. Indeed it has thrown water on their plans to get her out by pointing to a ‘failing’ economy.

Now comes the special report in which President GMA was supposed to be wary of her own friends than her foes. Do you smell the intrigue? The so-called handwritten marginal notes come from no other than opposition Francisco Tatad who was also said to be the source of the ‘Garci’ tapes. Another trick in the bag? Possibly. I don’t think former President FVR and Speaker JDV will be so quickly taken in by such intrigues. As far as I know their alliance is based on an agreed party platform of economic and constitutional reforms.

On the other hand she must take care not to be misled by the siren song that her unpopularity in the polls will be reversed with good economic news after the EVAT. She pushed for EVAT regardless of what it would do with her ‘popularity’. That is true leadership. What she has done for the economy, she must also do for the political system. Moreover, she must not expect anything in return. That is the way the world works. Again it is a matter of attitude. She must realize that when she took up the presidency of this country, she had taken up a thankless task. All else is an illusion. The rewards will come in future generations when our children will look gratefully to a presidency that yanked the country out of a debilitating status quo and put it firmly in the path of change. That is not so bad, after all.

I hope President GMA will not rely on an ‘improved’ economy to shore up her political fortunes. As she has rightfully said many times, we need to change the political system that undergirds our economy. She told businessmen that we had to overcome "a soft state, a political process, and a culture that is out of step with the needs of a modern nation." She added before an applauding audience that social justice should go hand-in-hand with enlightened business. "And let me finally say that I embrace a change in our basic system of government because I do not believe our current system serves our nation well today and won’t bring us to the status of developed country in 20 years," she said.

Lastly, to both pro and anti GMA countrymen, the sky has not fallen because this is all part of nationbuilding. We must go through the rite of passage before we achieve real change. Let us heed FVR, the statesman, when he calls on all of us to make a sacrifice if we wish this country to move forward.

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LETTERS. Oscar Barrerra, son of late Justice Jesus Barrera [email protected]: wrote that the Concom must consider proposals to amend our judiciary by using a jury system instead of a single judge. "A jury of 12 well chosen persons exercising common sense will try cases expeditiously and will not agree to trivial delays, and being isolated from families and media, will be less prone to be bribed or pressured unlike one solitary judge." He also agrees we will do better with a parliamentary system. "The economic reforms should be explained to the masses as the way to infuse more capital to improve job opportunities. Malaysia succeeded in convincing multinationals to partner up with Bumiputras by giving lots of incentives like subsidized infrastructures and soft loans and gov’t equity by contributing gov’t lands into the projects. There is a win win situation where multinationals control operations, while gov’t investment agency and bumis are passive investors and receive dividends.

My email: [email protected]