Gloria’s act is the latest in a string of betrayals
– Analysis by Raïssa Robles
A bewildered nation watched as Congresswoman Gloria Arroyo stripped Pantaleon “Panty” Alvarez of the speakership post.
“Panty”, apparently, did not see it coming until it was too late.
What took place reminds me of a prank that school boys play on each other—when one suddenly darts behind a classmate and pulls down his pants for everyone to see.
That was what Gloria did to Panty last Monday – with the help of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte and Ilocos Sur Governor Imee Marcos.
PHOTO screengrabbed from Irene of Mindanao @mindanaoan Tweet.
Gloria was no “innocent bystander”, as her co-conspirator Congressman Danilo Suarez claims. In full view of the entire nation and Filipinos around the world, the diminutive Gloria pulled down Alvarez’s political pants, leaving his dignity lying on the session floor.
The stunt flabbergasted the nation. But reaction was mixed. Many said the arrogant, boorish Panty deserved it. Others groaned that Gloria was not an improvement over Panty.
Senator Grace Poe suddenly found her voice and warned that Arroyo could well do the same stunt to Duterte.
A long history of betrayals
Arroyo does have a long history of pulling down the pants of her political allies.
I recall SIX.
1. In the 1990s, the late Edgardo Angara, who was then Senate President, nurtured Gloria’s political career when she was a newbie senator. He showered her with pork barrel funds for patronage projects.
Because of this, Gloria Arroyo was able to plaster her smiling face all over Mindanao and in areas where she was little known.
There is a specific word that politicians use to describe this kind of relationship – “Minanok ni Angara si Arroyo.”
Angara, who had his eye on the presidency, was grooming Arroyo to be his vice-presidential running mate. But Arroyo wanted to be president, too, after topping the senatorial race.
She not only abandoned Angara, she decided to run against him. She then tapped Senator Vicente Sotto III to be her vice-presidential running mate. But when Sotto became embroiled in an illegal drug scandal – suspected drug lord Alfredo Tiongco was discovered to have funded Sotto’s book against illegal drugs – Arroyo dropped Sotto like a hot potato.
Later, though, the two reconciled and Arroyo appointed Sotto in 2008 as acting chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board. Sort of to help Sotto rehabilitate himself politically.
2. By a twist of fate, Joseph Estrada decided to run for president in 1998. Knowing she could not beat Estrada’s popularity, Arroyo decided to run instead for vice-president. She won.
Shortly after winning, she started meeting secretly with generals, even while accepting the Department of Social Welfare cabinet portfolio from Estrada. We know this because the generals and colonels themselves revealed it later.
The secret meetings started taking place way before the scandals involving President Estrada surfaced. The rest is history.
Her resignation from the Estrada cabinet was merely a matter of political timing.
3. When Estrada was chased out of the Palace, Arroyo became president. On December 30, 2002, coinciding with Rizal Day, Arroyo made the solemn promise to the entire Filipino nation not to run for president in 2004. She said she was making this sacrifice so “the divided nation could heal.”
Ten months later on October 4, 2003, she took back her promise and announced she was running. She packaged the broken vow as a big sacrifice for a quiet life on her part.
4. A month before that on July 27, 2003, junior military officers had occupied the posh Oakwood Premier hotel and demanded reforms. Gloria nearly resigned that day. However, former President Fidel Ramos came to her rescue and backed her politically. Ramos imposed conditions, though.
But according to Ramos’ sidekick general Jose Almonte in his memoir, although Gloria agreed to the conditions she never bothered fulfilling them. So much for that.
5. In 2010, Gloria fielded Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro for the presidency. At the last moment, according to sources in the Teodoro camp, Gloria abandoned Teodoro and shifted financial support to rival candidate Manuel Villar, who was more likely to win.
If it’s true, as some sources say, that after the elections Teodoro went on a drinking binge, then it’s little wonder.
6. And now we come to Panty. In March 2017, Panty stripped Gloria of the deputy speakership post for failing to back his death penalty bill.
Gloria stepped down without a peep. Seven months later in October 2017, a seemingly pliable Gloria abandoned her former ruling party Lakas-NUCD and joined PDP-Laban Party.
She took her oath of office before no less than Panty, secretary-general of PDP-Laban.
In October 2017, Arroyo joined PDP-Laban and was sworn in by party secretary general Pantaleon Alvarez. PHOTO from Cong. Rodolfo Farinas.
Little did Panty know that Gloria inside the party was more dangerous than outside. She was secretly making deals for the day she would replace Panty.
Today, we see Gloria, Sara and Imee making beso-beso and chika-chika.
What we have at the moment is a troika. History shows that troikas seldom last.
So good luck, Gloria, Mayor Sara and Gov Imee.
May the best woman win.
P.S. My hubby Alan was about to tweet the headline that I used for this blog post . I told him “sayang” (that would be a waste.) I want to use it for my post.
P.P.S. Sorry, I nearly forgot. I wrote about Gloria Arroyo which appeared in South China Morning Post today. It is entitled:
Is Gloria Arroyo setting herself up to be Duterte’s successor?
leona says
Please allow me to share this
topic: the BILL OF RIGHTS
ARTICLE III, in the ALIEN proposed
Charter:
. . . the a surveillance warrant
SEC. 5. It does not say surveillance warrant for
a crime or offense committed or to be committed, or
a continuing crime or offense is being committed, etc.
Paragraph (b)
Isn’t the provision already an unreasonable surveillance?
I believe it is an unreasonable surveillance
because it does not state FOR WHAT is
the PURPOSE of a surveillance?
This is in addition to a SEARCH WARRANT too.
Does SEC. 5 clash with SEC. 16 regarding
the investigation of a person for the commission
of an OFFENSE, etc.? Another thing, will
SEC. 5 be used after an alleged offense has
been committed or before the offense is
committed?
Ex-CJ Davide objects to this SEC. 5 provision.
He has a FEAR of this Section. It can be
of course abused even by the courts and
law enforcement agencies to SECTION
5 against SEC. 16 on the right to remain silent.
With a questionable absurdity of a
surveillance warrant with a search
warrant the right to silence is inutile.
SEC. 5 is an instance of an inutile
provision.
SEC. 5 runs counter to SEC. 1 that
the Bill of Rights shall be enforceable according
to international standards and to SEC.
18 – due process of law and SEC. 20
not to be compelled as a witness against
oneself.
Blast again into space this creature SECTION 5 –
surveillance and search warrants as a whole. It defeats
the purpose for providing a BILL OF RIGHTS.
he he he
arc says
begging your pardon po, when I was at school, me teacher said not to be duped by bill of rights, dahil it’s not law daw. so, kaming mga pupils naging mindful tuloy. bill of rights sounds good, pero not absolute daw yan. it’s one’s rights vs the rights of another and some have more rights than others. we dont really have the same rights overall. the wealthy can afford to be rightful and more so, whereas the poor, the downtrodden and those that live on the fringes can only dream of the of the bill of rights, and knew it’s barely for them.
tanong ng kaklase ko, where is the justice in that?
teacher sabi, if you can afford justice, you’ll get it and you’ll be heard, but bear in mind that justice may swing against you. ironically po, teacher added that if we adhere to the bill of rights and know that others similarly have bill of rights too, we wont go wrong. in short, dont do to others what you dont want done to you. still, many tried though and go beyond the bill of rights.
leona says
If ever the SENATE considers
Cha-Cha charter change, if ever,
a ground to object is the proposed
ARTICLE IX on Judiciary.
One is Sec. 29 – where all lower
courts will be abolished as inconsistent
with federal Constitution per the Transitory
Provisions clauses.
No federal collegiate or lower courts can
be created without
recommendation of ‘Supreme Court’…
what supreme court is that as there are
4 supreme courts created?
Does appointing power by the
Executive Dept – the President,
have power to appoint all judges,
whether collegiate or lower courts,
etc.? From the provisions of Article
IX – No, only as appointed by the
UNKNOWN supreme court.
Correct? I do not know as a
voter, citizen or lay person.
Read ARTICLE IX on the
JUDICIARY DEPARTMENT –
it is confusion!
leona says
To me the proposed
federal charter should
never and never at
all even be CONCEIVED
and be BORN as
a living charter.
When it doesn’t fit
it must be a convict and
to defeat.
he he
arc says
agree ako to the max pa, federal charter is ill conceived and ought to be aborted. sa panahong ito na halos lahat na bibilhin pataas ang prisyon, federal charter is just added burden. four supreme courts, por bida! justices will just have to accept peanuts as payments, then they’ll work like monkeys, he, he, he. and to boost monkey income, accepting bribe could well be the norm. pataasan ng bribe ang resulta. and these monkeys in robes will impose bail bonds quadruple the amount! he, he, he.
sinabi ko na nga ba na si puno would make very poor economic manager. and his answer to tough economic questions as regards federalism? dont worry about it. yeah, puno is not worried, he’ll get his consultancy fee after all, worth millions yan!
Kalahari says
FEDERALISM IS DEAD BECAUSE OF MOCHA USON LEWD VIDEO
Some senators slammed PCOO assistant secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson for the “lewd” federalism video that went viral on social media
The video shows Uson’s co-host, blogger Drew Olivar, performing what they call as the “Pepe-dederalism” dance supposedly to create awareness about federalism. He cheered while dancing “Ipepe, ipepe. Idede, idede. Ipede, pede, pede, pederalismo”
The video, posted on the Mocha Uson blog, has garnered thousands of views, with some netizens criticizing it for being lewd.
“Pepe” is a colloquial word that refers to the female reproductive organ, while “dede” is a Filipino term for breast
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said: “with her as promoter, the Duterte government’s sham federalism has now zero credibility
Sen. Bam Aquino IV said “Hindi lahat ng bagay nadadaan sa kabastusan. Lalo na kapag kinabukasan ng bayan ang pinag-uusapan. Sana nabigyan ng respeto ang ating Konstitution at mga Pilipinong nagsakripisyo para rito”
For Sen. Ping Lacson, who earlier expressed opposition to federalism, said “without Uson, federalism is already dead and awaiting cremation at the Senate. With Uson, the ashes should be thrown far, far away from the Philippines 7,107 beautiful islands” (more)
https://www.sunstar.com.ph/themes/sunstar/
Look for the video at youtube
Marmee Cruz says
What did they expect Mocha Uson to come up with? She’s vulgar, ergo, a vulgar video message.
But what’s more irritating is her’s and that other person’s continued defense of the video, instead of just apologizing for their poor taste.
arc says
uhm, mocha, in my humblest opinion po, is the female version of the highest official of the land! how both loved kabastusan in all its gory! nothing is sacred sa dalawang ito, a match truly made in hell, he, he, he.
i-pepe, i-pepe, i-dede, i-dede, i-pepe, i-pepe, pepederalismo! as if to mean – ihian ang pederalismo, ipasuso ang pederalismo! best and brightest yan ni digong, salary niyan 100K+ kada buwan paid for by taxpayers.
of course, may depensa kaagad yan sa kabastusan, others din panay depensa sa kabastusan, sahod kasi nila ang nakataya. gotta defend upang patuloy ang future sahod, forever and ever. I’m remembering tuloy sabi nuon ng presidente that for all her help in campaigning for him, mocha is deserving of a job! that of being malaswa queen of the nation, he, he, he.
si mocha at ang kanyang mga tauhan, they dont know they got poor to very poor taste and therefore, cannot apologize for it. methink.
federalism is indeed ratten, rotten, rat infested!
arc says
do what is right! utos yan ng presidente sa mga appointees niya. and mocha did what is right, by her, and by the president.