Images not quite unlike Arroyo

Like millions of Filipinos, I did not want to miss the SONA of President Rodrigo Duterte, last Monday. It was my hope though at the time, he would speak steep in the dignity of his high office rather than spew curses. I prayed that in his third SONA he would avoid concocting stories and other falsehood in fulfilling his constitutional duty.

 The time was 2:50 p.m. of July 23. Initially, I thought that what I was viewing was not part of the SONA yet. Or was it, considering that familiar personalities were walking like peacocks on the elevated podium of the Batasan? Or was it the innovation introduced by movie director Joyce Bernal? But why would Bernal replay the 2001 oathtaking of then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as new president replacing Joseph Estrada? Was it relevant?

As the event unfolded on TV, Arroyo was shown reprising her 2001 political coup. She relished her domination over the House of Representatives to become its Speaker, even breaking parliamentary procedure! How could she be chosen as the leader by her peers in the House without a formally convened forum?

When the cameras were focused on the helicopter carrying the president, a quadrant of the TV screen showed Arroyo trying to fit herself on one of the three chairs: one reserved for the Speaker, and the other two for the President of the Republic, and the Senate president. While seated, Arroyo’s face flashed on TV similarly when she say “I am sorry” to ask forgiveness following the revelation of the “hello, Garci” tapes?

The next Arroyo face I recalled was that of a president who, in a Rizal Day celebration, invoked the name of God, to promise to the nation that she would not seek the presidency in the 2004 elections, which she eventually won however.

The next Arroyo I remembered was that of an adroit leader who survived the most number of impeachment attempts in our political history. Her minions in the House succeeded to stop the articles of impeachment from being forwarded to and filed with the Senate.

The last Arroyo face was that of a woman with a pending warrant of arrest. To escape the harshness and barbarity of our prison cells, she had to be hospitalized and — to project the gravity of her ailment — neck braces and other medical instruments had to be installed only to be removed when the court dismissed the case and with it her freedom.  What a subterfuge of Justice.