De-fanging Mrs. Arroyo And the Issue of Succession

Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is being de-fanged. There are two critical issues which confronts Mrs. Arroyo---a suitable replacement for the soon-to-be retiring Supreme Court Chief Justice and of course, the post of the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Two critical posts, too little time yet too destabilizing to say the least.

If you look at it, these symbols of democracy are now being put to the supreme test. We speak of Justice here and of the symbol of State Power, two pillars which democracy rests.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno will be retiring five days after the May 10, 2010 elections. The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has started the process of selection. However, there are two (2) opposing views, which all rest on just one (1) proposition---whether or not to allow Mrs. Arroyo to exercise her executive prerogative on the choice of Puno's replacement.

All four presidentiables---Noynoy Aquino, Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro, Manny Villar and Richard Gordon--all opposed the proposition of the president exercising her powers on this one. All these fine gentlemen know that this will surely destabilize the current political situation.

As we speak, people from all persuasions are convincing the Chief Executive to desist from appointing a new Chief of Staff. Two months from now, AFP Chief of Staff General Victor Ibrado will be retiring and this brings to light certain accusations that Mrs. Arroyo's favorite lapdog, AFP vice chief General Bangit is being groomed to replace Ibrado.

These issues actually rest on just two choices for Mrs. Arroyo. The first choice is will she act like she's still in power by forcing these issues and showing the Filipino People that she's still a force to contend with? Or really accept the fact that she's now a lame duck president and everyone is just waiting for her to retire?

If Mrs. Arroyo exercises her powers and makes a wrong decision, meaning, force the issue of naming an interim Chief Justice and appoint her man to the top AFP post, this will send a wrong signal to all political forces and even foreign observers whom I just happen to know and met several occasions in the past---that Mrs. Arroyo intends to still play politics and flex her muscles inspite of the lack of adequate force and power.

This will surely re-activate all forces who suspect Mrs. Arroyo's real intentions of not really and seriously making herself scarce and inevitably, destabilize the entire political situation.

Seriously, Mrs. Arroyo's time as a serious political player has all but lapsed. Time has caught up with her.

If Mrs. Arroyo makes a wrong move, she will weaken not just the Institutions of Justice and of State Power but of the Office of the President itself. She has mocked these institutions for nine years and definitely, with the elections just four months away, people will not allow her to continue her ways.

If she commits a wrong move, Gloria will not be able to recover and it will even justify an extra-constitutional move against her, since she still poses a direct threat to the very institutions of Philippine democracy.

More than this though, this highlights the grave problem of succession.

Unlike other countries, we do not have a very clear policy on succession. This grey area in our Constitution creates a self-destabilizing situation.