MANILA: For the last week, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s usually soft-spoken national security adviser has been detained under guard in a Manila hospital on contempt charges filed by the Philippine Senate. He has been confined to a cardiac unit, awaiting surgery after officials said a heart ailment flared during an angry exchange with legislators demanding details about a government lobbying contract.
Norberto Gonzales is disparaged and debilitated, and in a way, so is his boss. Arroyo beat back an impeachment attempt in Congress last month, winning dismissal of charges that she rigged the voting in the 2004 presidential election before the complaints against her could be debated. But she is still plagued by allegations of wrongdoing, which prompt small street protests on a near-daily basis.
A large scale political challenge to Arroyo first erupted in May and has hampered her ability to govern, analysts said, particularly at a time when steps are needed to repair the economy.
“Governance has been halted,” said Tom Green, executive director of Pacific Strategies and Assessments, a risk consultant to foreign investors in the Philippines. “There are a lot of things that need to be done, but she’s not up to it. Those kind of tough decisions are on hold and probably on hold forever.”
Arroyo has long worried that adversaries in Congress and the military were scheming against her, and Green said she has now become so fearful of alienating allies that she is unable to push reforms required to spur investment.
However Ignacio Bunye, Arroyo’s press secretary, said the impeachment process has not distracted Arroyo nor interfered with her policy agenda.
“She still felt she should concentrate on governance and that’s what she did,” Bunye said. “She has come out of this situation politically stronger.” Bunye added that the Philippine peso has remained stable during these turbulent months and investment has been on the rise. “The message is to move forward. We have a lot of things on our plate,” he said.—Dawn/The Washington Post News Service
