GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo succeeded Estrada as president. The daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, the president of the Philippines in the early 1960s, she was Estrada’s vice president and became president after he was ousted in 2001. Altogether she served nine years a president, three years of Estrada’s term (from 2001 to 2004) and six years after she was elected in 2004 (2004 to 2010).
Arroyo is very small and well-dressed and has a prominent mole on the left side of her nose. She was often dwarfed by the foreign leaders. When she became president she was coached to smile more, use simple sound bites and encouraged to liven up her professorial monotone. She was sometimes called the “Queen” and despite here best attempts to be otherwise she was never truly embraced by the Philippines’s poor. She was supported more by business leaders and the political elite.
Arroyo characterized herself as a troubleshooter who went about her job like a doctor cleaning an infection rather than a hero who overpowered problems with a slash from a sword. Her years in power were characterized by political divisions, severe poverty, a sluggish economy, military unrest, problems with terrorists and insurgents, corruption and efforts to impeach her.
Arroyo dominated Philippine politics in the first decade of the 21th century, Steven Rood of the Asia Foundation wrote, first in January 2001 as a vice president who succeeded President Joseph Estrada on the heels of a “people power” protest. She then went on to serve as president longer than any since Ferdinand Marcos when she won a full six-year term in May 2004. That election was marred by significant controversy that peaked when an audio recording was leaked purporting to reveal Ms. Arroyo on the phone with Commission on Election Commissioner Garcillano talking about padding her vote margin. Her popularity (as measured by periodic citizen surveys) subsequently plumbed to depths never before reached in Philippine politics, and has consistently remained low for five years.” [Source: Steven Rood, Asia Foundation, April 7, 2010]
Since Arroyo’s full name — Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — is a mouthful, she is popularly known by her initials 'GMA' in the Philippines. According to Lonely Planet: “Estrada tried a few ploys to regain power - like calling for yet another 'people's revolution' - but it was for naught. GMA quickly set about consolidating her power and she allowed the American military back into the country as part of the 'war on terror'. In 2004 she ran for reelection against an ensemble cast of characters that included another ex-actor, Fernando Poe Jr, and won by 1.1 million votes. Or did she? Shortly thereafter a recording emerged that purported to capture GMA ordering that the election be fixed. Political opponents seized on this and for the next year, much of the government's time was spent debating the charges of election fraud. GMA's opponents tried to raise the ire of the public - but perhaps jaded by the outcomes of previous revolutions, the populace mostly stayed off the streets. By late 2005, GMA seemed to have survived this latest political upheaval, as the Philippines continued to suffer from high unemployment, poverty and other problems that have bedevilled it for decades.
Arroyo’s Life
Arroyo is the daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, the president of the Philippines in the early 1960s. She was born in 1947 and grew up in Lubao, Pampanga, with her two older siblings from her father's first marriage, and Iligan City, with her maternal grandmother, and split her time between Mindanao and Manila until the age of 11. She is fluent in English, Tagalog, Spanish and several other Philippine languages, most importantly, Kapampangan, Ilokano, and Cebuano.
Gloria’s father was elected president when she was 14. After that she lived in Malacanang Palace and had a municipality named in her honor, Gloria, Oriental Mindoro. Gloria was always attracted to power and was a high achiever. Arroyo graduated at the top of her class from Lubai Central Elementary School and was valedictorian at Assumption Convent high school in 1964. When she was teenager she attracted a following by writing a column on local newspapers.
Arroyo attended Georgetown University for two years and was a classmate of U.S. President Bill Clinton and made the dean’s list. She then earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Assumption College, graduating magna cum laude in 1968. She eventually earned a Ph.D. in macroeconomics. She then became an economics professor.
Arroyo is a devout Roman Catholic, who was often has a Bible in her hand. She sought the advice of her father after he was dead by regularly consulting his memoirs “Stone for the Edifice”. Arroyo is married to Jose Miguel Arroyo, lawyer and businessman from Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, whom she had met while still a teenager. He is member of one of the Philippines’s richest families. She has three children. The most well known is her oldest son, Jose “Datu Mikey” Miguel. Arroyo was a good friend of Corazon Aquino.
Arroyo’s Political Career
In 1987, Arroyo was invited by President Corazon Aquino to join the government as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. She was promoted to Undersecretary two years later. In her concurrent position as Executive Director of the Garments and Textile Export Board, Arroyo oversaw the rapid growth of the garment industry in the late 1980s.
Arroyo was the biggest vote getter in the 1995 election for Senator (Several Philippine Senators are elected at one time by being the top vote getters in a group of candidates). She won with the highest number of votes in election history. While serving as a senator from 1992 to 1998, Arroyo authored 55 bills, including legislation that promoted privatization and trade. Arroyo was also the top vote getter when she ran as vice president. She changed parties three times, based more on her desire to further her political career than on ideology. People who worked with her described her disciplined, deliberate, a perfectionist, never impulsive.
Arroyo was an opposition vice president when she took that office in 1998. In the Philippines the president and vice president are voted on and elected separately and president Joseph Estrada was from a different party. Estrada put her in charge of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. In that position she showed her concern for the needy by traveling to every province, delivery food and relief supplies to the poor.
Arroyo Becomes President and the Ouster of Estrada
Arroyo kept mostly quiet on Estrada’s trouble until the very end. In October 2000 as Estrada’s situation was becoming more and more tenuous, Arroyo quit her cabinet post, most believe out of ambition rather than ethics. Her timing was perfect. She was quickly embraced by the opposition as a replacement for Estrada and became the leader of the opposition. At that time she began assembling a transition team so “she could hit the ground running” in the event she became president.
Arroyo was sworn as president on January 21, 2001, hours after Estrada was ousted and the same day that U.S. President George Bush was sworn into office. After Estrada supporters marched to Malacañang Palace,, Arroyo branded the violence as an attempt to grab power and declared a “state of rebellion” and ordered the arrest of 11 prominent military officers and opposition leaders.
In March 2001, the Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of Arroyo’s presidency in a vote of 13-0. In a 68-page ruling the court said that Estrada effectively quit when the left the presidential palace grounds and cited a statement by Estrada that read, “I leave the palace of our people with gratitude for the opportunities given to me for service of our people.”
Arroyo’s accession to power was further legitimated by the mid-term congressional and local elections, when her coalition later won an overwhelming victory, but the elections were fraught with allegations of coercion, fraud, and vote buying. In the May 2001 senatorial election, her allies won by a thin margin. The election was viewed as a de fact referendum on Arroyo’s rule. But at least 78 people were killed in campaign-related violence, including one Congressman and 17 candidates. In one town mortar shells exploded outside the town hall while voters were voting, sending them into a panic. In another town a boy heaved a grenade into a voting station. In another, a policemen was killed as gunmen made off with ballot boxes. One congressman and his bodyguard were killed by six gunmen as he stepped out of his car to attend a campaign rally.
Arroyo’s Early Years as President
Arroyo was initially supported by the military, the business elite and the Catholic church. In her early years she generally had high approval ratings. Support for Estrada remained strong in some communities in the early years of her rule. Many viewed her an usurper who took power from an elected official—Estrada. When she visited poor neighborhoods, where Estrada was popular, she was greeted with chants of “Erap pa rin” (“We are still for Erap”).
Arroyo was regarded as a hard worker and a professional. She reportedly showed up for work at 6:00am and worked 16 hours a day, six days a week. Initially she was a welcome change from Estrada’s gambling, womanizing and drinking binges. Arroyo promised to lift 40 percent of Filipinos out poverty, cut the unemployment rate from 10 percent to 6 percent and eradicate corruption.
But it seemed that many Filipinos were more concerned about her appearance than her policies. In one press conference shortly after becoming president she said she had no plans to remove her beauty mark and did not consider herself particularly pretty. She described her husband as a “dreamboat” and said she would have to wear skirt to meetings to be respected. Newspapers criticized her grey suits and suggested that she wear more colorful and more feminine clothes. Many papers ran sketches of how she would look in different cloths, hairstyles and make up.
Arroyo’s initial term in office was marked by fractious coalition politics as well as a military mutiny in Manila in July 2003 that led her to declare a month-long nationwide state of rebellion, as a result of which charges were filed against more than 1,000 individuals. To strengthen her power base, Arroyo embarked on a program aimed at improving the life of the poor. Arroyo initially made a sincere effort to tackle corruption. One of her first moves as preside was to order the sale of all luxury cars that Estrada gave senior bureaucrats. She told her staff to live simply and said no one, not even members of her family, were above the law.
As time went on there were increasing accusations that Arroyo’s administration was corrupt and ineffectual. Her own husband was accused of taking a $2.5 million bribe in an effort to get him to influence his wife on a major telecom deal. Arroyo herself was accused of making too many television appearances, lacking substance and lacking the toughness to bring about real change. Arroyo was unable to achieve many of her goals and carry out programs she proposed due to political opposition, mainly from the ruling elite. Arroyo and her cabinet said that the political fighting and sniping exhausted and frustrated them deeply.
Economy Under Arroyo
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was welcomed with great fanfare when she became president in 2001. The day she was sworn in, the stock market surged 30 percent and businessmen praised her skills and abilities, Arroyo launched free market and anti-corruption policies that were welcomed by both the local and international business communities. Again there was a sense of hope. But again the sense optimism didn’t last long. Investment dried up as a result of global slowdowns and security concerns. Direct foreign investment was only $319 million in 2001 compared to $1.8 billion in 1992.
Growth was 3.4 percent in 2001, 4.3 percent in 2002 and 4.5 percent in 2003. In 2004 the economy was hurt by high oil prices. Still more growth was needed just to keep pace with 2.36 percent population growth rate. Inflation was less than 6 percent but the deficit grew at an alarming rate as the government spending increased and tax revenues fell. Raising revenues became one of the main problems. In 2003, the deficit reached $3.6 billion and debt was estimated to be over $100 billion. The government’s debt burden reached its peak in 2004 when it settled at 74 percent of GDP.
Arroyo began her second term in 2004 with promises of “austerity and simplicity” and the announcement of a reform package to fight corruption, attract foreign investment, and make the Philippines less dependent on foreign energy. She promised to create 10 million jobs by 2010 and announced that power rates would be doubled to avert an energy crisis, She also promised to provide clean water and electricity to every village in the Philippines and build 3,000 schools. The plan called for the seemingly impossible combination of increased spending, higher taxes and a balanced budget in five years.
Arroyo’s economic drive quickly lost momentum. She was unable to over come political opposition to privatizing companies like the National Power Corporation, which lost $1.8 billion in 2003. Instead an effort was made to make them efficient. By the end of her term much of her time was spent responding to charges that she rigged the 2004 elections and he was husband was involved in kickback scheme with a Chinese company involving millions of dollars.
Growth in 2003 and 2004 was around 5 percent due in art to rising demand for Philippines electronic exports. Growth occurred despite continued hikes in oil and consumer prices on top of typhoons and floods. Growth was 4.7 percent in 2005. That year exports amounted to 40 percent of GDP. Many of the export items were electronics. Two-thirds of Philippine imports are used to build exported computer parts, disks and other electronic products made by local units of companies such as Texas Instruments Inc. and Toshiba Corp.
Arroyo was an economics professor after all and not everything that happened under her watch was a failure. In fact she had many good ideas and policy schemes but they were overshadowed by her political troubles and bogged down in Congress. In 2007, before the global economic crisis took hold, The Economist reported: Things are looking up. The economy has grown by at least 5 percent in each of the past three years, for the first time since the 1970s. In the first quarter of this year, growth was 6.9 percent, year-on-year. Soaring remittances from Filipinos overseas help. Last year they added up to $12.8 billion, equivalent to 11 percent of GDP. Exports—especially to China and most particularly of microchips—are also booming. [Source: The Economist, August 16, 2007 -]
“Better economic management also helps. Inflation is now 2.6 percent, down from 8.6 percent in 2004. Changes made in 2005 have increased tax revenues without hurting growth. Despite recent wobbles, the government should still come close to balancing the budget next year, compared with a deficit of over 5 percent of GDP in 2002. The country's banks, hurt badly in the 1997 Asian financial crisis, have been slow to recover, but now they are starting to lend again. Foreign direct investment is picking up from a low base. Texas Instruments recently chose the Philippines over China for a $1 billion electronics factory, while Hanjin, a South Korean shipbuilder, will spend $1.7 billion on its Philippines yard. Foreign mining firms have started to develop huge untapped mineral reserves. -
“The Philippines has rapidly emerged as India's main rival in business-process outsourcing (BPO) and now hosts the call-centres of many American firms. A recent study by the Asian Development Bank reckoned that BPO could provide jobs for up to 11 percent of those joining the Philippines' labour force between now and 2010. -
Military Mutiny Against Arroyo in 2003
In July 2003, 300 junior officers and soldiers staged a revolt against the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. They seized a Manila hotel, apartment complex and shopping mall in the Makato financial district in Manila and took several hundred hostages for a while. No shots were fired but the mutineers said they had rigged a huge area with explosives and threatened to set them off it their demands were not met. It was the ninth uprising in 17 years.
The officers made allegations of corruption, complained how they suffered while retired officers lived well, accused the military of selling arms to terrorists and Muslim insurgents and set off bombs to blame insurgents and demanded that certain government officials, including the Defense Secretary and the national police chief, resign. The officers were regarded as band of Young Turks, Their average age was only 27. One of them said, “We are not attempting to grab power. We are just trying to express our grievances.”
The mutiny ended after 19 hours after intense negotiations. The soldiers went back to their barracks and faced court martial charges after authorities agreed to investigate the corruption charges and other complaints. When the whole episode was over one of the mutineers told the media, “We were ready to die but gave up for the sake of our comrades in the military and the interest of the people and the country.”
The mutiny was well organized. This led some to include that it was not the work of idealistic young officers but had the support of some senior military personnel. Some thought the whole affair was orchestrated by conservative military leaders and Estrada. After the mutiny a group of junior military officer and a top aid to Estrada were arrested. An army intelligence chief was forced to resign for not getting wind of the plot.
There were other incidents involving the military. In November 2003, a former Air Transport Office chief and a navy reserve officers, armed with guns and explosives, sized control of a control tower at Manila airport. The two men said they wanted to expose government corruption. After several attempts to get them to surrender and worries about airport operations, authorities ordered that the two men be shot and killed. Ironically the first plane to land after the two men were killed was piloted by the son of the former Air Transport Office chief.
After the mutiny, Arroyo announced some reforms in the military: a strengthening of the chain of command, better allocation of resources, and ways to lift morale and reduce opportunities for corruption. Some high level military people were investigated for corruption. In August, 321 soldiers and officers were indicted for staging a coup. A former aid of Estrada, Ramon Cardenas, was charged with rebellion for letting the mutineers use his house as a staging area for their plot.
More than 80 officers and 200 enlisted men were court-martialed for the July 2003 mutiny. A few dozen were cleared because they were found to have been misled into taking part. In 2005, the enlisted personnel were freed from army detention and restored to active service after they agreed to enter into plea-bargaining deals, accepting minor punishments. A few days before Christmas in 2007 Arroyo ordered the early release of 53 military officers still in jail for their involvement in the 2003 failed mutiny against her. The 53 officers were serving 4-½ year sentences. As of 2007, Twenty-nine officers, considered to be the leaders of the 2003 failed mutiny, were still facing charges in both civilian and military courts. Except for two officers, the rest have agreed to a deal to accept minor punishments and be discharged.[Source: Reuters, December 20, 2007]
Arroyo Elected President in 2004
Macapagal-Arroyo declared in December 2002 that she would not contest the May 2004 presidential election, but she reversed herself in October 2003 and decided to run. She was reelected and sworn in for her own six-year term as president on June 30, 2004. With this new mandate, she was able to move with greater assurance on the political and economic reform agenda that had stalled during her first term in office, but ultimately she got bogged down by corruption charges and her second term is remembered most for the numerous attempts to impeach her.
Arroyo was elected as president in a June 2004. This was the first time that she was elected to the office. She initially became president in 2001 after Estrada was ousted not through an election. Arroyo said changed her mind to run for president because the lack of decent candidates made it her duty to run. Insiders said she initially decided not to run because of incessant sniping and attacks by her critics but changed her mind, after much prayer and a meeting with the pope, because she figured the attacks would continue even if she wasn’t president so she might as well run.
Arroyo ran against Fernando Poe Jr., an actor who was a good friend of Estrada and, like Estrada, was very popular with the poor. Arroyo won 39.5 percent of the votes (12.9 million votes). Poe took 36.5 percent (11.8 million) and three other candidates were well behind them. Arroyo’s running mate was popular news anchor Noli de Castro. Poe was a relative political novice. Like Estrada he was a star of B action movies. Known among moviegoers as Da King, he was born out of wedlock to an American mother and a Spanish father. He won five Philippines “Oscars” and generally played handsome, strong, silent types who did their talking with their fists and their weapons, His most popular role was that of an underdog who disposed of his enemies with a magic sword. After he entered the race Poe led Arroyo in the polls and filled stadiums with his rallies, where he declared he was a friend of the poor, but as time wore on voters began to question his abilities. He had no record of public service and dropped out of school when he was 15. He always wore dark sunglasses, refused to enter a debate or do interviews or news conferences. When he did speak he often quoted lines from his movies, which made people wonder if he could speak without a script.
Arroyo wasn’t officially declared the winner of the June 2004 Presidential election until six weeks after the election was over. It took a couple of weeks or so to initially count the votes. Then Poe and his supporters claimed there was widespread cheating and voter irregularities and threatened a “people power” revolt.
In the run up to the recount both Arroyo and Poe claimed victory. Riot police and the military were called in to provide security at the Congress building and other places where protests or riots might break out. Poe still refused to concede. He took his case it to the Supreme Court. There was some violence too. In the north gunmen attacked two town halls, killing a policeman and burning ballots. On Jolo island in the Muslim south, a powerful bomb exploded in a building where ballots were being counted, killing one person and injuring 14. In Maguidanao a vice mayoral candidate shot an aunt of his rival. By one count there were at laest 115 election-related deaths, including 30 or so candidates, between December 2003 and May 2004. This was up from 67 deaths in 1998.
“Hello Garci” Tapes and Allegations That Arroyo Fixed the 2004 Elections
After the 2004 Presidential elections there were reports that Arroyo conspired with an election commissioner to rig the election and Estrada conspired to assassinate Arroyo. John O’Callaghan of Reuters wrote: “The “Hello Garci” tapes were a series of audio recordings allegedly featuring Arroyo talking by telephone with former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about rigging the presidential election on May 10, 2004. The tapes mysteriously surfaced in June, sparking months of crisis for the president, including desertions from her cabinet and a failed impeachment in September. Arroyo’s foes in Congress and in regular street protests are pressing demands she step down, but the turmoil has largely subsided without the middle-class anger that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada as president in 2001. [Source: John O’Callaghan, Reuters, November 16, 2005 ***]
“Arroyo apologized on television in June 2005 for talking to an election official but did not say it was Garcillano and insisted she did nothing wrong. The source of the tapes has yet to be established and many questions remain, including how the president’s phone conversations were tapped and for whom. The recordings, whether real or altered, “just materialized out of thin air and fell fortuitously on the laps of the persons who brought them to public attention,” a draft report by a congressional committee said. ***
“Other recordings released by the government, purportedly showing Estrada conspiring with unknown people to assassinate Arroyo, were “suspiciously short and clearly spurious, not to say unquestionably fabricated,” the report said. Arroyo’s administration gave “no sincere co-operation” to the congressional inquiry and “contributed nothing toward arriving at the truth” about the tapes, said the report. ***
“Arroyo’s officials have said they consider the matter to be closed and the focus is now back on the economy, with a broader sales tax that will help the government cut its chronic budget deficits and the costs of borrowing money. But Roilo Golez, a congressman and former national security adviser who left Arroyo’s party, said on television: “It will never be closed until Commissioner Garcillano has appeared.” Garcillano’s whereabouts are not known after he slipped out of the Philippines in July 2005. Media have reported sightings in Singapore, Britain and South America but the chat at diplomatic events and in coffee shops is that he could be dead. Arroyo’s poor approval rating at this time, subtracting positive views from negative, was minus 28 percent, leading pollster Pulse Asia said, compared to a record-low minus 39 percent in July. ***
In August 2005, a man allied with the opponents of Arroyo said that he had witnessed election officials accepting money to ensure her victory in the 2004 presidential elections at a meeting in Arroyo's private home in Manila and in her presence. Carlos H. Conde wrote in the New York Times, “Michael Angelo Zuce, a former "technical assistant" to one of Arroyo's political advisers, said he attended a meeting in January 2004, four months before the election, in the president's home. In that meeting, the wife of an alleged gambling boss gave envelopes containing 30,000 pesos, or about $535, to each of several election officials, Zuce said. [Source: Carlos H. Conde, New York Times, August 2, 2005]
Arroyo’s Second Term as President Gets off to Dismal Start
Arroyo began her second term with a hostage crisis in Iraq (see United States, International), promises of “austerity and simplicity” and the announcement of a reform package to fight corruption, attract foreign investment, improve education and make the Philippines less dependent on foreign energy. But not much of any good happened. By mid 2005, weeks of political turmoil, combined with a Supreme Court freeze on one of Arroyo's key economic reforms, put a cloud over Philippine financial markets while the central bank vigorously defended the peso.
In 2005, Carlos H. Conde wrote in the New York Times, “Analysts believe Arroyo squandered the opportunities provided by People Power II to move the country forward. "She got busy paying her political debts," said Benito Lim, a political analyst at the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a private institute. Lim said nothing in the country seemed to be going right: the economy is in the doldrums, the Islamic and Communist insurgencies are growing, terrorism has not been contained, the quality of life is deteriorating, the debt and budget deficit continue to balloon, and corruption is still pervasive and is, according to Transparency International, worsening. Perhaps nothing illustrates the Philippines' sense of gloom better than the fact that hundreds of Filipinos manage to enter Iraq illegally to find jobs despite the daily danger there. Thousands leave every day to work as maids, entertainers, nurses and caregivers abroad. [Source: Carlos H. Conde, New York Times, January 20, 2005 |^|]
“In a forum, the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines identified the lack of leadership as one of the main problems. In newspaper commentaries and online chat rooms, Filipinos talk about this "sense of drift," which manifested itself soon after the euphoria ofPeople Power II evaporated. "There is disillusionment with the ability of the leadership to govern," Lim said. A survey by Social Weather Stations, a private polling institute, in December found that only 81 percent of adult Filipinos were optimistic about their prospects in 2005, down from 90 percent a year ago and 95 percent the year before that. Another poll by the same institute and conducted at the same time showed that one of three adult Filipinos "looked forward to a happy Christmas, as pessimism dominates on the expected quality of life next year." The survey said the biggest decline in optimism registered among the poor. |^|
Arroyo's Husband Flees to the U.S. and Is Arrested Over the ZTE Kickback Scandal
In July 2005, Jose Miguel 'Mike' Arroyo, President Arroyo’s husband, left for the U.S. amid corruption allegations while his wife faced allegations of election rigging. Associated Press reported: Arroyo's corruption-tainted husband left yesterday for self-imposed exile in the US as part of the embattled leader's efforts to distance herself from political scandals that threaten her government. Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, a lawyer from a prominent family, has been accused of influence-peddling and receiving kickbacks from illegal gambling. "He is sad," his lawyer, Jesus Santos, said. "He wants to leave so that the president can do her work. He feels bad. He is saddened by reports that are erroneous." Santos stressed that Arroyo's husband was leaving "on his [own] volition." [Source: Associated Press, Agencies, July 7, 2005]
In March 2012, Mike Arroyo was arrested on charges that he received millions of dollars in bribes to push through an overpriced $330 million contract with a Chinese telecoms supplier ZTE while Arroyo was in office. Associated Press reported: “Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, who was seen as a backroom operator during his wife's troubled nine years in office, later posted bail to avoid detention. He was indicted on the bribery charges in December 2012. He is accused of accepting money to push through a $330 million government contract with Chinese telecommunication company ZTE Corp. to set up a nationwide broadband network in 2007. The contract was originally priced at $130 million. His wife approved the deal but later backtracked under public pressure and a congressional investigation that found the contract was vastly overpriced. /^/
Zhongxing Telecommunications Equipment, or ZTE, a Chinese state-linked manufacturing giant that sells communications gear in more than 140 countries, allegedly paid tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks in connection with a 2007 contract. Among those charged in connection with the case were Arroyo's and two other former senior officials. Andrew Higgins wrote in the Washington Post, “Among those charged with graft is Benjamin Abalos Sr., the former head of the Election Commission. According to testimony during hearings by the Philippine Senate, Abalos took large kickbacks from ZTE in connection with a contract for the construction of a broadband network and fed some $30 million into the campaign coffers of Philippine politicians ahead of a 2007 election. His Manila attorney, Gabby Villareal, said Abalos “categorically denies receiving any money” from ZTE. Claims that he did, the attorney said, are just hearsay.
[Source: Andrew Higgins, Washington Post, June 24, 2012]
Thousands Call for Arroyo's Resignation Over Election-Rigging
In early July 2005, protesters took to the streets demanding that Arroyo quit or face a 'people power' uprising over allegations of election fraud. Associated Press reported: “Arroyo faced mounting pressure to resign amid street rallies that drew at least 10,000 people in Manila and calls by an influential Roman Catholic bishop for her to do more to address allegations that she rigged the 2004 election. Although the protest, called by left-wing opposition groups and supporters of disgraced ex-president Joseph Estrada, was the largest this week, it is still a fraction of the size of the "people power" uprisings that ousted late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001. "We are facing the worst economic and political crisis over the last decade, and Mrs. Arroyo is at the center of the crisis," said Renato Reyes, secretary general of the main left-wing group Bayan. "People power is a perfectly legitimate expression of democracy because it involves the direct action of the people." [Source: Associated Press, July 2, 2005]
“Arroyo has undertaken a series of public-relations exercises aimed at defusing the most serious crisis to her leadership, including a public apology for phoning an election official during last year's vote count, purging her Cabinet of a minister charged with tax evasion and sending her corruption-tainted husband into exile. Although she apologized for what she called "a lapse of judgment" when she talked to an election official about protecting a million-vote victory margin during last year's election, Arroyo denied meddling with the polls and has refused to heed calls to resign.
The influential archbishop of Manila, Gaudencio Rosales, also entered the heated debate over Arroyo's conduct, saying in a statement that "despite expressions of regret, many remain angry, confused, hurt." Without mentioning Arroyo by name, he said: "Forgiveness does not eliminate the need for justice, nor should it block the search for truth. Genuine forgiveness demands more than an apology, and those who seek forgiveness should be ready to be called to accountability." But Rosales also warned that "any proposed solution to our present situation that relies on or leads to violence is unacceptable," and said "the pursuit of truth regarding the grave charges against leaders and officials should be conducted within the provisions of our constitution."
Emergency Rule Imposed in 2006 After Another Failed Coup Attempt
In late February 2006, a group of military officers plotted to join a protest march in Manila marking the 20th anniversary of the downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos through a bloodless "people power" revolt, during which they were to announce their defection and call for Arroyo's resignation. But the plot collapsed after it failed to get the support of then-military chief Generoso Senga, who rounded up the ringleaders while announcing his support for the crisis-ridden government. Two days later, two other officers barricaded themselves inside the Marine base in Manila and expressing support to those implicated in the plot. Bloodshed was averted when the officers called off their protest.
Carlos H. Conde wrote in the New York Times, “Saying that the Philippine government had foiled a military coup attempt and still faced the threat of violent overthrow, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declared emergency rule and banned rallies. "This is my warning to those conspiring against the country," Mrs. Arroyo said in a televised address. "The full force of the law will fall on your betrayal." [Source: Carlos H. Conde, New York Times, February 25, 2006 /*]
“Entrances to the presidential palace were barricaded with container trucks and barbed wire. The government closed schools, revoked permits for rallies and threatened to arrest anyone inciting rebellion. It also warned the news media not to "recklessly" publish rebel statements. Ignoring the ban on rallies, former President Corazon Aquino, who remains a popular figure here, led thousands of demonstrators in a march through the financial district calling for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation. /*\
“Political analysts, meanwhile, suggested that the coup threat was overstated and that the government's reaction could backfire. Filipino officials said the emergency declaration was prompted by the discovery of plans by a group of military officers to join rallies commemorating the so-called people power revolt of 1986. That revolt ousted Marcos and brought Mrs. Aquino to the presidency. The government said it had arrested an army general, the commander of the elite Scout Rangers unit, and 14 junior officers it said were involved in a plot to use the rallies to incite an armed rebellion. The military, whose leadership still appeared to support Mrs. Arroyo, was also searching for other officers and civilians believed to be part of the conspiracy. Earlier this week, the military said it arrested an officer who was accused of plotting with Communist rebels to overthrow Mrs. Arroyo. /*\
In November 2006, thirty Philippine soldiers, including two generals, were tried for mutiny before a military court for their role in an alleged coup plot in February. Reuters reported: “General Hermogenes Esperon said he was sending a strong message that "adventurism" would no longer be tolerated within the military, which has been behind more than a dozen coup plots since the overthrow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. "We're very serious, that is why we're trying them by court-martial," Esperon told a news conference at the main army camp in Manila. [Source: Reuters, November 20, 2006]
Another Philippine Coup Attempt in 2007
In November 2007, Philippine troops stormed a luxury hotel and quashed a coup attempt by renegade soldiers. The abortive coup was the third against Arroyo, who had ruled for six years up to that time. Ian MacKinnon wrote in The Guardian, “The rebel soldiers and their supporters - including several Roman Catholic priests - were led away in handcuffs to be charged after about 1,500 troops smashed their way into the Peninsula Hotel in Manila using an armoured personnel carrier backed by sustained bursts of automatic fire and tear gas grenades.There were no reports of any injuries despite the gunfire, and the rebel ringleaders - who demanded Arroyo quit - surrendered, claiming they feared a bloodbath among the hundreds of journalists who had crowded into the hotel before the arrival of the soldiers outside. [Source: Ian MacKinnon, The Guardian, November 30, 2007 +++]
“Coup leaders allowed guests at the hotel to leave after initially denying them the chance to go. The group of about 30 soldiers and their supporters barricaded themselves in a second-floor conference room from where they broadcast live their demands on national television. Arroyo appeared on television shortly afterwards to assure people she was in control and commanded the army's loyalty.+++
“The coup attempt began when about two dozen soldiers left a courthouse where they are on trial for another coup in 2003. Yesterday's attempted coup was an echo of the earlier incident, when troops took over the Oakwood shopping mall and hotel, rigging it with explosives. The rebel soldiers walked out of the court yesterday morning accompanied by their military police escort and marched a short distance to take over the Peninsula, a favourite watering hole of Manila's elite. The group was led by Senator Antonio Trillanes, the ringleader of the failed coup in 2003, who was elected in May while in detention. They were joined by former brigadier general Danilo Lim, who is suspected of involvement in a coup plot last year, as well as members of the opposition and several clergy. +++
“As elite troops took up positions around the hotel in the capital's Makati financial district, the rebels were given a deadline to surrender, which they ignored. Instead they issued an ultimatum that Arroyo resign, accusing her of electoral fraud and corruption and calling on comrades to join the coup. Reports said troops loyal to the government blockaded some army barracks around the capital to prevent their movement. "The die is cast," said Lim. "Thus we make this statement removing Arroyo from the presidency and undertake the formation of a new government." A little over an hour after the ultimatum passed, soldiers stormed the hotel. Those holed up inside soon gave themselves up. Trillanes, who had claimed the troops were acting out of a sense of duty to the public, said they did not want to put lives of those inside at risk. "We are going out for the sake of the safety of everybody," he told journalists in the hotel. "For your sake - because we will not live with our conscience if some of you get hurt or get killed in the crossfire. We can't afford that." +++
“Why is Gloria Arroyo facing the third coup attempt in her six years in office? The Philippine army, particularly the junior and middle-ranking officers, believe the institution can provide clean governance. The army is one of the few institutions that has remained largely incorruptible and with the president and her party beset by corruption allegations, officers once again stepped in after opposition attempts to impeach her foundered.” +++
Bizarre Aspects of the Failed 2007 Coup Attempt
The failed coup attempt in 2007 involved many of the same military men as the 2003 mutiny. Adrian Addison wrote in Time, “The leader of the plot, Senator Antonio Trillanes, had done a similar thing once before. In 2003, as a navy Lieutenant, he was involved in the Oakwood Mutiny, in which a group of rebellious military personnel occupied a luxury apartment complex in Makati demanding that Arroyo step down. Trillanes, who over the summer was elected to the Senate while behind bars awaiting trial for his involvement in the mutiny, was in the Makti regional trial Court Thursday listening to evidence against him in the Oakwood plot. At around midday, he and a group of heavily armed soldiers stormed out, making their way to Makati's Peninsula Hotel. The group was also joined by former Vice President Teofisto Guingona. [Source: Adrian Addison, Time, November 29, 2007]
“The abrupt departure took witnesses at the courtroom by surprise. "We take exception to the utter laxity of the security sent by the Armed Forces of the Philippines," State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera, who was present at the hearing during the walkout, told reporters at the Department of Justice. "This would not have happened without the laxity and familiarity with the accused, and we will be investigating more in detail this angle." While it is still not clear if the soldiers were Trillanes' guards or whether they had arranged to rendezvous with him at the courtroom, Navera said there appeared to be "some influence on the military and police security detail," noting that the security men just surrounded the accused and "did nothing."
“Peter Parcell, a Manila-based businessman, was waiting for friends in the lobby of the Peninsula when the soldiers arrived. "It just suddenly went crazy," he told TIME. "These armed guys just walked in and locked all the doors. It didn't seem particularly well organized." Government troops soon surrounded the hotel; a 3 p.m. deadline for the rebels to give themselves up came and went. Then, around two hours later, after a few brief bursts of gunfire, the authorities smashed an armored vehicle into the hotel lobby and hurled teargas. Soon, civilians began to stumble out of the building, coughing and crying. The rebels followed shortly afterward and were taken away in a bus.”
A month later, about a dozen mutinous soldiers who stormed out of court apologized to a judge for storming out when the trial resumed. Hrvoje Hranjski of Associated Press wrote: “About 1,000 troops guarded the hearing for 14 soldiers accused of a 2003 rebellion, the same officers who took to the streets again in November. "It was never the intention of (the) accused to cause a commotion, much less a walkout," the defendants said in a letter of apology provided by their lawyers. They said they were "impelled by their passion, zeal and fervor for their cause (and) merely had to act when they did," and meant no disrespect for the court. [Source: Hrvoje Hranjski, Associated Press, December 11, 2007]
A few days before Christmas in 2007 Arroyo ordered the early release of 53 military officers involved in the 2003 failed mutiny against her. Reuters reported: “Philippine governments tend to go easy on renegade soldiers to avoid stirring up trouble within the armed forces and among the public, who tend to view erring officers as folk heroes. The head of the military said Arroyo wanted the men, who had pleaded guilty to some offences to get a lighter sentence, to spend Christmas at home. They were due for release on January 27. The 53 officers were serving 4-½ year sentences. The officers will be discharged dishonorably from military service.[Source: Reuters, December 20, 2007]
Efforts to Impeach Arroyo
After winning the 2004 presidential election, Arroyo survived five impeachment votes, which were rolled out almost on an annual basis. On the first one, an impeachment complaint filed against Arroyo in which she is accused of cheating in the 2004 elections: Carlos H. Conde wrote in the New York Times: “The impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, begun several weeks ago, is as good as dead. The apparent failure of Arroyo's political adversaries to accumulate enough legislative votes to prevail in their effort to impeach the president, most analysts agreed, means that she is out of severe political danger of the kind that she faced two months ago, when she admitted to a "lapse in judgment" and apologized to the nation for talking with an election official during an election. Arroyo's opponents are now expected to stir street demonstrations over the next few days in an effort to prompt a reprise of the "people power" protests that pushed out both Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001. But it is widely thought that these efforts, while they could prove dramatic, have little chance of success. [Source: Carlos H. Conde, New York Times, August 30, 2005]
"For all intents and purposes, it's dead," Jose de Venecia, the speaker of the House and one of Arroyo's staunchest allies, said in an interview. Referring to Arroyo's opponents he added, "They simply don't have the numbers." Apart from the administration's control not only of the Committee on Justice but of the entire House, the political opposition has not gathered the required 79 signatures to move the complaint to the full Senate for trial. As of Monday, only 69 legislators had signed the complaint. Both administration and opposition members of Congress, as well as private lawyers helping the opposition, said that without the 79 signatures, which is one-third of the Congress's 236 members, the impeachment complaint against the president does not stand a chance.
On the second impeachment attempt, in 2006, Amy Clark of Associated Press wrote: “Lawmakers overwhelmingly crushed an impeachment bid against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The House of Representatives, dominated by Arroyo allies, voted to uphold a ruling last week by its justice committee to dismiss the impeachment complaint. The vote prevented a potentially explosive trial in the Senate, an opposition stronghold, on allegations of vote-rigging, corruption, human rights abuses and violations of the Constitution. [Source: Amy Clark, Associated Press, August 23, 2006]
The third impeachment attempt, in 2007, was easily defeated. The forth was too. On this one, Associated Press reported: “Arroyo’s dominant allies in the Philippine Congress dismissed the fourth impeachment complaint filed against her in as many years for alleged corruption and other crimes. As in three other failed impeachment bids, Arroyo’s allies in the House of Representatives’ Justice Committee used their superior numbers to dismiss the 103-page complaint on a technicality by a vote of 42-8. Pro-Arroyo Rep. Edcel Lagman said the opposition had only resurrected old allegations: “The hearse of exhumed carcasses must be led back to the graveyard.” Opposition Rep. Teodoro Casino warned that blocking democratic avenues to remove Arroyo may impel Filipinos to resort to another “people power” uprising. “They’re courting danger by not allowing this democratic search for truth,” Casino said.[Source: Associated Press, November 26, 2008]
On the fifth impeachment attempt, in 2009, a year before her term in office ended, Douglas Bakshian of the Voice of America wrote: “Relative political calm has settled over the Philippines, following the defeat of a move to impeach Arroyo. But analysts say a future storm is brewing because her ability to govern has been badly damaged and mounting economic problems will generate a new wave of discontent. Opposition leaders pledged to re-ignite people power with massive street protests. But despite widespread public dissatisfaction with the scandal-tainted administration, most people stayed home. Some political analysts say that is in part because the opposition has offered no clear alternative. Antonio Gatmaitan of the Political Economy Applied Research foundation says public discontent is like a horse without a rider. "The sentiments of the people are really against President GMA (Arroyo) but the opposition figures so far have not been able to capture that essence. They've got the wrong people," he said. Leadership aside, the Filipino people are growing cynical. While the previous people power movements threw out bad leaders, the new leaders put in place failed to improve the lives of the citizens. [Source: Douglas Bakshian, Voice of America, October 31, 2009]
"The people were promised that there will be a better government and they will address the problems such as poverty, injustice, and so forth and so on. But after the presidents were deposed, nothing changed. They are as poor as ever, the economy is not growing, and their wages have stagnated for the last few years," said Mr. Lim.
The Arroyo administration, for its part, portrays its opponents as bad losers. Spokesman Ignacio Bunye has said they should respect the results of the impeachment process, and allow the country to get on with the business of the people. President Arroyo has described the impeachment process as a grand display of political maturity, and said her opponents put up a good fight. She also offered to reconcile with the opposition. But one opposition congressman said reconciliation is not likely, and time is working against the administration. "Right now people are just tired of Gloria," he said. "They are angry, but not really very, very angry as they were with Marcos before. So, right, now I think it will take more time to build up this outrage. People are angry but they are not outraged yet."
Aquino and Estrada Join Big Anti-Arroyo Rally
Former Philippine presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada, once bitter foes, joined tens of thousands of protesters at a rally to press Arroyo to resign over a corruption scandal that that had recently drawn attention after Philippine Senate testimony, broadcast on live television, that linked her husband to multimillion-dollar kickbacks in a government telecommunications deal. Associated Press reported: “The crowd included former opponents ex-President Corazon Aquino, who ushered in democracy when the country's first "people power" revolt ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and former President Joseph Estrada, who was forced out over massive corruption by a second "people power" uprising in 2001. "I thought my work was done because I am already old," said Aquino, 75. "But this is what the times ask for, for us to unite so that the deceit will end and we will find out the truth. Thankfully there are still many of us shouting, 'Gloria, enough, resign already." [Source: Associated Press, March 1, 2008 ]
“Aquino used to be one of Arroyo's biggest supporters before breaking away in 2005 amid allegations that the president had rigged the 2004 election. Soldiers and police went on high alert, setting up checkpoints at major highways as demonstrators braved a drizzle and gathered in Manila's financial district. Police estimated turnout at 15,000, while organizers estimated the crowd at about 80,000. People began dispersing at 8 p.m., when the rally permit expired.
“The rally was organized by a loose coalition of opposition groups, business people, left-wing activists, Roman Catholic church-backed organizations and a large evangelical group, the Jesus is Lord Movement. The crowd included former opponents who, like Aquino and Estrada, have united to oppose Arroyo, who has fended off three impeachment bids and four coup plots in seven years in power. "No single group or person claims credit in leading this initiative," said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing alliance Bayan.”
Former consultants for the telecommunications contract have said the president's husband and the country's elections chief — who has since quit — benefited from huge kickbacks linked to the aborted contract. Both men have denied wrongdoing. Arroyo has not directly addressed the allegations against her and her husband but says she opposes corruption and that her family does no business with the government. ZTE also has denied the allegations.
2008 Survey: Arroyo Most Unpopular Leader since Marcos
In July 2008, the Philippines leading pollster said that Arroyo was the most unpopular leader in the country since democracy was restored in 1986. Reuters reported: “The Social Weather Stations (SWS) agency said in a statement that Arroyo registered a net satisfaction rating of minus 38 in a poll in the last week of June. It said only 22 percent of the 1,200 respondents were satisfied with Arroyo's performance while 60 percent said they were dissatisfied. [Source: Reuters, July 18, 2008 /~/]
“Serge Remonde, a palace spokesman, said the low rating of the president was expected due to high prices of rice and oil which the people blamed on her and the administration. "We consider it as a continuing challenge," he said. BusinessWorld newspaper quoted another palace spokesman, Anthony Golez, as saying: "A lot of people are mistaken in blaming the government for it when it is something no Filipino can stop, not even the president." Annual inflation in June was at a 14-year high of 11.4 percent, pushed higher by oil and food prices. The Philippines imports most of its fuel needs and is the world's biggest importer of rice this year. /~/
“Arroyo is the only president since strongman Ferdinand Marcos was deposed in 1986 whose satisfaction rating has slipped into negative territory, SWS data showed. Her previous worst was a minus 33 rating in May 2005. Despite a persistently poor showing in opinion polls, Arroyo is not seen in any danger of losing office. She is supported by the military and her allies dominate the lower House of Representatives. Although the Senate is controlled by the opposition, the powerful Catholic church is also by and large in Arroyo's favor.” /~/
Arroyo’s Legacy
Arroyo endured and completed her six-year term in 2010. Altogether she was the president of the Philippines for nine years from 2001 to 2010. At the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 2010 Conference in Philadelphia in March 2010, David Timberman, outlined four contrasts that he sees in the Arroyo Legacy: 1) The contested legitimacy and unpopularity (as measured in opinion surveys) with the administration’s remarkable staying power and “vitality;” 2) The continued defensiveness of the administration in the face of these attacks versus the success in making policy; 3) The effective wielding of presidential powers with the marginalization of other potential policy-makers; and 4) The lack of significant new investment or jobs in the Philippines and prevailing poverty, despite sustained GDP growth. [Source: Steven Rood, Asia Foundation, April 7, 2010, Steven Rood is The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative for the Philippines and Pacific Island Nations. He can be reached at srood@asiafound.org.^^]
Steven Rood of the Asia Foundation wrote, “Overall World Bank Governance Indicators show a decidedly mixed Arroyo legacy: between 2000 and 2008 there was a steady increase in government effectiveness and rule of law (under the consistent leadership of three successive chief justices), while at the same time, a steady decline in political stability, voice and accountability, and control of corruption.” Among her achievements was her smart 2003 “roll-on roll-off” maritime initiative, which brought down the cost of shipping among the Philippine islands by 30 to 40 percent. ^^
Philippines' Arroyo Pleads Not Guilty in Poll Fraud and Corruption
The election fraud and corruption issues that dogged Arroyo while she president continued to haunt her after she left office. In February 2012, Reuters reported: “Former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pleaded not guilty to electoral fraud on the first day of a trial seen as a landmark test of the government's ability to tackle entrenched corruption in the Southeast Asian nation. Arroyo, 64, sat quietly beside her husband and son during the court proceedings, only speaking out loud to confirm her widely expected plea. "Not guilty," she told the court, standing from a second row seat behind government prosecutors and her lawyers after charges against her were read. [Source: Manuel Mogato, Reuters, February 23, 2012 ]
Arroyo could have been sentenced to life in prison.“Prosecutors accuse Arroyo of ordering her allies, including those in the country's election commission, to fix the victory of all her party's 12 senatorial candidates in a Muslim province in the southern Philippines in 2007 elections. Arroyo also faces separate corruption investigations for her alleged role in the misuse of public funds and kickbacks from a multi-million telecommunications deal with a China's ZTE Corp. The public broadband deal was aborted in 2008. She denies all the charges.
“Authorities stopped Arroyo at Manila's main international airport in November 2011 as she was on her way to board a plane for overseas treatment of her spine condition. She was arrested days later at a private hospital in Manila. Dozens of Arroyo's supporters gathered outside the courtroom in a peaceful protest on Thursday, holding placards and banners. "We will not abandon you," one said. They tried to march towards the court building, but a phalanx of anti-riot police officers stopped them. About 400 police officers guarded the court building and a major national road was closed to allow easy access for Arroyo's convoy. “
In March 2012, Arroyo’s husband was arrested on graft charges stemming from the ZTE deal (See Above). Both Arroyos faced the same charges. Arroyo was under arrest in a military hospital on electoral fraud accusations and has pleaded innocent. The cases were initiated by President Benigno Aquino III, who blames his predecessor for corruption. A month later Arroyo and her husband pleaded not guilty to corruption charges related to the deal with a Chinese telecommunications company. Al Jazeera reported: “Arroyo, who is being held at a government-run hospital where she is undergoing treatment for a spinal ailment, was escorted from hospital to court by heavily armed police. Arroyo was arrested last year on a separate charge of electoral fraud and subsequently indicted in connection with a $330m government contract with Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE Corp. If convicted, the couple could face up to 10 years in prison. A congressional probe found the 2007 contract overpriced and ridden with problems, including allegations that Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel “Mike'' Arroyo, accepted bribes to push through the contract with his wife's approval. Under public pressure, Arroyo cancelled the deal the same year. [Source: Al Jazeera, April 11, 2012 -]
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Last updated June 2015