By Romy Teruel
Bohol Sunday Post
CBCP Split Over Call for GMA to Resign - news headline. This is far from the decisiveness of the Catholic Church during the reign of Cardinal Sin and President Marcos. Of course times have changed and the conditions were different then as they are now. Marcos was acting with impunity. Mrs. Arroyo is guided by democratic processes.
Marcos' dictatorship reached a point of no option to the people. At that time any call resembling an escape from Marcos would be a rallying point for the people to act in unity. This time the issue is clear but the responsibility is not. Unconscionable Corruption is established but at whose level is not.
Somehow whether there is connection or not, the constitutional provision on the separation of the church and state is more visible in today's developments. During Marcos times, he was the Constitution.
Marcos knew what he was doing and hoped that history would judge him kindly. Mrs. Arroyo knows the people are judging her and she has shown sensitivity to public outcry. She ordered the scrapping of the NBN-ZTE deal as soon as the corruption that enveloped it was exposed to the media. This is not to say that she is not involved in it but her participation has not been established.
Under Marcos the external debt of the country bloated, a situation that continued until the Estrada Presidency. Under Arroyo, GDP grew by 7.3% - unprecedented for many years. The effect is not yet felt by the man on the street but that should be the logical result to include a reduction in the country's external debt.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda who is also economic adviser to Pres. Arroyo referred jokingly to her as may be a bitch but that "she is the luckiest bitch around" because of what she has done to accelerate the growth of our gross domestic product.
Now we understand why the CPCP (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines) is split over calls for Mrs. Arroyo's resignation. To them and to the many Filipinos, especially those outside of Metro Manila, GMA is still a performing President even if she is a "bad" President.
Bohol and Gov. Erico B. Aumentado will not understand why Pres. Arroyo should step down when the guilt being attributed to her has not been proven with finality. She has been the patroness of Bohols progress. She has done so much for Bohol. All the Mega Projects proposed by Gov. Aumentado had all the support of the President.
Moreover, no President has visited Bohol as many times as Mrs. Arroyo in order to break grounds for new projects or inaugurate completed ones under her administration.
This columnist never really liked Pres. Arroyo after she lied about not running for President in 2004. But if only for what she has done for Bohol and for performing as President, I am willing to live with and support her administration now. I don't see any better option to her at present.
What should all these investigations on the NBN-ZTE deal should do is to separate the political issues from the real issues to be resolved.
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