President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is one of the longest tenured Presidents of the Philippines. And with that, there are inevitably more opportunities for her to perform well. Unfortunately, as her predecessor and adversary Joseph Estrada says “the more you talk the more you make mistakes”, Arroyo’s stay in power also associated her with numerous scandals involving people close to her.
President Gloria Arroyo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Photo credit: World Economic Forum
Let’s find out the 15 unforgettable episodes during the Arroyo presidency.
1. Arrovo scandal
In 2002, a year after her inauguration, a new 200-peso bill was created so she can appear (albeit subtly) on Philippine currency long after she leaves office. For the record, former presidents Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada don’t appear on any denomination. Incidentally, the last one was Arroyo’s father, former president Diosdado Macapagal.
While there is no official finding on how the public reacted on this new denomination, one could safely ask if this is necessary. Alas, in 2005 printers made a mistake on printing “Arrovo” instead of “Arroyo” on 100-peso bills. Maybe it was intentional or maybe it was just a case of a broken printer, on which the lower part of “y” was trimmed off.
2. Mikey Arroyo
The presidential son Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo has become more of a curse than a blessing to the President. He had an embarrassing television interview with Winnie Monsod, as Mikey Arroyo was unable to answer the questions properly about his properties in the United States. If that was not enough, he further embarrassed the first family when he was caught buying wine at Rustan’s supermarket at the height of typhoon Ondoy tragedy that swept across Manila and nearby provinces.
Photo credit: The Manila Mail
Unaware of how social media works and how he, as a public figure, is open to criticisms, has offered suggestions on how to improve Facebook (which he has a fan page), the social networking giant, and serve its users better:
“I hope that Facebook and other like mediums be regulated so they can never be subjected to abuse by some scrupulous people. Facebook is easily susceptible to abuses as people can easily hide their identities,”
3. Her PR people failed to address her tattered image online
President Arroyo apparently appears on Twitter, has an unofficial website whose forum was last seen as a haven for spammers, Facebook fan page deluged with hate messages and funny YouTube videos. We guess nobody would be able to prevent public outrage from leaking through social media. It’s just seems that the Arroyo administration has nobody looking after this arena and trying to interact with angry netizens.
4. Her vulnerability to temptations of high society
In our opinion, dining at an expensive restaurant like that in Le Cirque should not be an issue. But for the sake of delicadeza, a trait still practiced by many Filipinos, President Arroyo could have deferred to the meal and avoided the controversy. We are sure New York is an expensive place to dine out, but surely there are restaurants that don’t charge 20 grand US dollars (here’s the theoretical bill based on the menu available) on one seating.
As mentioned in New York Post,
THE economic downturn hasn’t persuaded everyone to pinch pennies. Philippines President Maria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was at Le Cirque the other night with a large entourage enjoying the good life, even though the former comptroller of her country’s armed services, Carlos Garcia, was found guilty earlier this year of per jury and two of his sons were arrested in the US on bulk cash-smuggling charges. Macapagal-Arroyo ordered several bottles of very expensive wine, pushing the dinner tab up to $20,000.
The payment was made by a member of the Congress who is also a fellow elected public official. But with another Filipino trait still practiced by many Filipinos, a gesture like this does not come without strings attached, knowing how Filipino culture of utang na loob works.
5. Her multiple trips overseas at a staggering cost
The President overspent her travels abroad by a billion pesos (P2.4b instead of P1.4b as allocated in the budget). One of the reasons of her skyrocketing bill (and equally staggering amount of carbon footprint) is the fact that she tags along many public officials, one of whom only wanted to take photos.
Her backers at the Malacanang Palace will always insist that her trips are more than justified, based on pledges of assistance and investments. There is little question really with productive trips overseas. We used to criticize former President Fidel V. Ramos (imagining his middle initial is Vacationer or Viajero), but in retrospect, we realize he brought good things out of his frequent trips abroad. For President Arroyo, the billions of pesos worth of trip — bringing along unnecessary officials — did not seem appropriate.
6. Her frequent visits to Pampanga
President Arroyo’s road to Congress was paved long before she filed for candidacy as Pampanga’s second district congresswoman. In 2009, she visited the province 50 times, doing a variety of things from attending ground breaking construction of dams and farm roads to awarding lot certificates and livelihood assistance to former rebels. While her assistance to cabalens should be beneficial to province mates, her ill-advised decision to run for lower position in public office after her presidency raised the eyebrows of many that even former president Fidel Ramos asked her to withdraw her plans.
Former spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo called the President’s frequent visits to Pampanga “payback time for her province mates.” Maybe she did run for Congress because she hates traveling back and forth from Malacanang to Pampanga and serve her constituents.
7. Association with infamous people
Whether it’s boodle fight with Ampatuans or fine dining at New York’s Le Cirque, President Arroyo is often paired with controversy.<br /> Photo credit: J Domingo
Garci. Ampatuan. Bolante. Jose Pidal. Miguel Arroyo. Bong Pineda. The list goes on.
8. Unresolved Hello, Garci.. scandal
President Gloria Arroyo’s image would not be as bad as it is right now, if not of her association with controversial public figures. Let’s begin with the infamous “Hello Garci” scandal where an allegedly wiretapped recorded message purportedly came from a woman seeking assurance from an election official that she would still lead by one million votes after the 2004 national elections (listen to the messages).
If you commit no mistake, you don’t apologize. And Mrs Arroyo issued an apology over the issue (listen to the apology).
9. Overpriced Macapagal Boulevard
If naming a popular boulevard after her family was not enough, its funding was also overpriced. In what could be otherwise termed as big time highway robbery, the 5.1-kilometer President Diosado Macapagal Boulevard was overpriced by a whopping P700 million, putting the price tag of the highway at P1.1 billion. The Sandiganbayan has set the graft case earlier this year, after obtaining strong evidence that overpricing by former board members of the Public Estates Authority took place.
10. Philippine National Broadband Controversy
The $329 million Philippine National Broadband Network controversy is a political affair that centers upon allegations of corruption primarily involving Former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos, First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regarding the proposed government-managed National Broadband Network (NBN) for the Philippines and the awarding of its construction to the Chinese firm Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited, a telecommunications and networking equipment provider. The scandal prompted calls for Arroyo’s resignation by former presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada.
12. 2007 Bribery in Malacanang
Pampanga governor Ed Panlilio was wondering how could he receive bundles of money worth 500,000 pesos. Former Bulacan Gov. Joselito “Jonjon” Mendoza and Pangasinan Rep. Rachel Arenas also admitted to receiving money from Malacanang, amid Palace attempts to douse an impeachment move against Ms Arroyo.
13. Fertilizer scam
Her name was also implicated in the fertilizer fund scam where P728 million worth of fertilizer funds was misappropriated towards her 2004 presidential campaign. I guess people already know how to deal with the purported master mind Jocelyn Bolante; he was a loser in the last elections for governor of Capiz province.
14. Appointment of ex-military and police officials
For some reason, President Arroyo chose to put retired but loyal military and police officials into public posts. Angelo Reyes (Dept of Energy), Nicanor Rodriguez and Raymundo Jarque (PNOC), Eduardo Ermita (Executive Secretary), Roy Cimatu (Envoy to Middle East), Generoso Senga (Ambassador), Leandro Mendoza (DOTC), Hermogenes Ebdane Jr (DPWH), Arturo Lomibao (NIA), Vidal Quirol (Ambassador) and Edgardo Aglipay (Philippine Retirement Authority). Which makes us think that military and police officers are superior than others, but Arroyo also made some curious appointments; she appointed her manicurist and gardener to top-level posts. Some of these military men tried to pursue other posts but failed: Ebdane’s quest to become a president barely got off the ground as he quit the race long before it began.
15. Jose Pidal
In 2003, senator Panfilo Lacson accused First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo of money laundering using an account under fictitious name Jose Pidal and other aides and donors which include Mark Jimenez, who contributed P8 million. Following Lacson’s allegations, Mr. Arroyo’s younger brother, Ignacio, came forward to say he is Jose Pidal.
Her term comes to a close soon. But after she steps down the presidential palace, she will continue to serve the public instead of writing a book and spending more time with grandchildren. That’s her choice, and that destiny has been validated by her cabalens. Thank you, Ms Arroyo for your service to the country.
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