Salus presidente est suprema lex.

From declaring herself as "the State" in Presidential Proclamation 1017, here comes Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with a smile that could connect one ear to the other. The Supreme Court, through Neri vs. Senate Committee, ruled on the extent of the Executive Privilege the Philippine President and her cabinet secretaries could invoke. The resolution penned by Justice Teresita De Castro states that:

The context in which executive privilege is being invoked is that the information sought to be disclosed might impair our diplomatic as well as economic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Given the confidential nature in which these information were conveyed to the President, he cannot provide the Committee any further details of these conversations, without disclosing the very thing the privilege is designed to protect.

And what are these questions? These are as follows:

a) Whether the President followed up the (NBN) project?

b) Were you dictated to prioritize the ZTE?

c) Whether the President said to go ahead and approve the project after being told about the alleged bribe?

The Senate, according to the high tribunal, failed to show a compelling need for the answers to said questions. Thus, the court continued, the Senate cannot compel Neri to divulge information which are covered by the executive privilege.

Arroyo's smile further broadened when the Ombudsman also junked the motion to subpoena the president over the scandalous national broadband deal. This means she remains a privileged person far and above the law. This also means that the interests of the people -- their right to information, their right to a transparent, responsive and accountable government, and their right to have their welfare placed above anything else, is set aside.

Kung sabagay, bakit pa kailangang magtaka ang mga Pilipino? It is already made clear by the Freedom House that the Philippines is not a democratic country. Sa isang demokrasyang bansa kasi,the welfare of the people is the supreme law. In the case of the Philippines, it is the welfare of the President -- something similar to case of monarchs who rule under the benefit of the Divine Law, and the dictators.

Otherwise, puwede rin imbestigahan si Gloria Arroyo or i-subpoena tulad ni Bill Clinton when he had a sex scandal at tulad ni Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal. O di ba?

Even the statement of support for GMA is padded

If there is one thing that is not padded with Gloria Arroyo, it's her height.

After the padding of the figures of the economic growth came the padding of the election votes. Then we have the figures on classrooms, on projects undertaken and even the SOPs and kickbacks. Count the infamous ZTE-National Broadband Network deal. But as if these are not yet enough, meron na namang bago sa "padding-mania" ni Gloria. Ito ang alleged support ng mga Assumptionista.

Almost a week ago, binugbog ang mga major broadsheets ng manifesto (kuno) ng mga taga-Assumption College stating their support for Gloria Arroyo. Immediately after the publication of the manifesto, however, umangal ang mga nasa listahan saying they did not express their support for Gloria. According to Tribune:

The old girls of Assump-tion Convent are reportedly up in arms against a pro-Arroyo group of Assumption alumnae, led by Cynthia Carreon, an Arroyo official, for including their names in a full-page pro-Arroyo advertisement published yesterday without their per-mission and even knowledge.

A statement against the manifesto was also published in the Inquirer for a mistake that was deliberately dishonest by bringing the dead people alive and those living overseas signing the manifesto without even moving a tip of their fingers. This reads as follows:

In the interest of truth, we would like to set the record straight in regard to the full-page advertisement titled “Concerned Assumption women in support of truth and stability” (Inquirer, 3/13/08) and the correction the advertisers hastily, possibly frantically, issued two days later.

The advertisement, listing fellow alumnae of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from Assumption College who supposedly were supporting her, was clearly a brazen case of misrepresentation. The “honest mistake” was not as insignificant as the advertisers—upon being swamped with complaints of arbitrary listing—claimed they were. For how could people proclaiming themselves publicly to stand for the truth—indeed, paying their way dearly through publicity—have mistaken dead people (15 years dead in one case) for living Arroyo supporters, and graduates of other schools for alumnae of Assumption College, Ms Arroyo’s alma mater?

To say that the “errors” were made due to voluminous influx of data from relatives and friends is unacceptable. Would a relative volunteer the name of a loved one who has long been dead? Is it not deception, shameless as well as desperate, to nevertheless put on the list the name of a person who has told the advertisers to their faces, “’I don’t want to be included”?

In fact, from Ms Arroyo’s own class of 80 (yet, a moderate estimate) fewer than a dozen support her. The advertisers admitted 16 mistakes, but added new names to make up for them. But, again, how could the exact event of the misrepresentation be determined? Surely, if we had the time and resources to investigate more closely, we’d have found more evidence.

At any rate, such case of padding and lying could not have come as any surprise to anyone who knows how this government is run. It has been the story of GMA’s reign.

—CHONA A. KATIGBAK,
BEA TAN, CORA B. LOPA,
ZENY R. TAÑADA, MANDY TORRES

Ganito na ba talaga ka-"padding maniac" ang administrasyon ni GMA? Hmmmnnn.... alin pa kaya ang padded?

Filipinos disapprove of GMA?