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The key points of the ascension to, and character of the respective presidencies of America's
Bush and Philippines' 'Arroyo present an interesting case of multiple coincidences too many that
the more astrologically inclined would perhaps claim to have been written in the stars.
Both Presidential Children
Diosdado P. Macapagal
Presidential father of the 14th Philippine President
January 20, 2001, to the Hour
A rather amazing point of parallelism between the two political figures is the coincidence of their
same-day oath-taking--in fact, nearly simultaneous to the hour. Bush was sworn in at high noon
(1700 GMT, Washington time) on January 20, 2001, in Capitol Hill as scheduled by the US
Constitution. Arroyo, amidst the sea of EDSA 2 gullible mob was also sworn in on January 20,
2001, at around noon of January 20, 2001 ( 12:25 pm by some accounts).
Both the young Bush and Macapagal-Arroyo have registered presidential legacies that appear to
be diametrically opposed to those left by their respective fathers.
The George H.W. Bush legacy practically contrasts with that of the son, with the criticisms of the
younger Bush mainly revolving around foreign policies.
The administration of George W. Bush has been very controversial, to say the least. He has been
variously referred to as the "war criminal," "liar," and "idiot heir," among others. His war
criminal tag has to do with his unilateral invasion of Iraq and use of torture. The bashing the
younger Bush gets for being a "liar" is related to his war image--for justifying the Iraq invasion
with what would be later proved to be false claims of Saddam's possession of
chemical/biological weapons and links with Al Qaeda. Bush's "idiot heir" label, which made the
rounds of cyber space soon after his election, is based on the supposed Nostradamus prediction
about his presidency, and later claims of his Iraq-war-related incompetence that led to the current
financial crisis. That famous "prophesy" is found in Quatrain 78, which is said to read as:
In dire opposition to her father's legacy of a clean presidency, Gloria Arroyo's administration has
been marked by an almost never-ending litany of controversies and corruption scandals that
essentially question her moral and legitimate right to govern. She has called been a lot of names,
such as "Fake President," (alternatively, "Bogus President"), "evil," and "liar, cheat, and thief,"
and even the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History."
The circumstances of Bush's and Arroyo's occupancies of their respective presidential residences
in 2001 are both highly controversial, as their claims to power have both been subjected to legal
challenges. While Bush won in a regular election, his victory in November 2000 was marred by
allegations of fraud. For her part, Arroyo was the vice-president in 2000 until a coup d'etat
conspiracy in the guise of popular uprising deposed the democratically elected President Estrada.
Their claims to power were legitimized by the respective American and Philippine Supreme
Courts whose interventions are thought to constitute overstepping of their constitutional duties.
Interestingly, the respective decisions by the US and RP Supreme Courts sealing Bush's and
Arroyo's 2001 assumption to power have been avowedly predicated on the supposed need for
High Court intervention in order to prevent other entities from deciding on the outcomes of the
presidency issues. In the Bush v. Gore case, the five justices in the majority opinion argued that
they decided to intervene and block the recount so as not to leave the question of the presidency
to Florida state officials or perhaps, to Congress.
Thus, the assumption of the presidency by Bush and by Arroyo, therefore, were enabled by the
respective High Courts' usurpation of the powers to decide a presidential issue, which are beyond
their scope in the first place, and probably belonging to Congress instead.
Beyond the overstepping character of the US/Philippine Supreme Court under their respective
presidencies, the administrations of Bush and Arroyo earned some level of disrepute over the
unethical relations between the executive and the judiciary branches. Based on claims of ethical
breaches by certain justices, the political independence of the two countries' High Courts have
been questioned.
Buddies they are: Vice-President Dick Cheney
& Justice Antonin Scalia
(2) Failure to protect the rights to free thought, free speech, and free expression, as found in the
First Amendment. A specific example is the signing of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance
Reform.
(3) Pushing the limits of presidential powers and overstepping the bounds of the executive
branch. Such is seen in various policies and acts relating to the War on Terror, wherein he has
ignored federal statues that cover the treatment of enemy prisoners. Some call them "war crimes"
that supposedly include CIA-operated detention facilities, acts of extraordinary rendition, and
restrictions on Red Cross personnel's access to wartime prisoners.
(4) Unreasonable searches and seizures that violate the Fourth Amendment. Bush has issued a
"military" order expanding the power to make arrests, and also, adopted policies that served to
dilute the standard of "probable cause."
(3) Abetting and tolerating the commission of crime with regards to the multi-billion-peso NBN-
ZTE broadband deal;
(4) Entering into the equally multi-billion peso Northrail Project without prior approval of the
Monetary Board; and
(5) Misuse and abuse of presidential powers, including acts of the unconstitutional transfer of
funds between government agencies, or from a government entity to political partisan projects.
Similarly, Arroyo who is an economist, can be partly credited for not bungling the Philippine
economy during her years in power--with the traditional big help from the billions of dollars
worth of annual remittances of overseas Filipino workers and immigrants. The vaunted official
figures showing the resilience of the economy may or may not be genuine, however, what cannot
be denied is the Filipinos masses suffered in real social economic terms during her presidency.
According to the Wikipedia entry on Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo:
Another striking parallelism is how both hold the record for the
worst level of public perception and public satisfaction or
performance rating. Bush has an approval rating of a mere 28
percent--said to be the lowest score in recent US history. While
he started out with a popularity rating of around 50%, and climbing up to as high as 90 percent in
2001 (based on periodic Gallup, Fox News, and CBS News surveys), his November 2008 ratings
went to as low as 20%-29%. He also appears to be in the running for the title of the country's
worst leader. The administration of the 43rd US President was earlier rated as "failed" by over 81
percent of over 400 historians in an informal survey conducted by History News Network in
2004.
While George W. Bush has already stepped down as the 43rd US President, noontime of January
20, 2009, and relinquished the White House office to Barack Obama, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
will continue her 'extremely corrupt' and 'illegitimate' presidency, at least until the end of her
current "term." Barring any death by natural health or genuine accident causes, Arroyo won't
give up power any time soon. With the her camp's deviously relentless pursuit of perpetuating
Arroyo's administration regardless of how majority of the Filipinos hate or hold her in high
disrepute, the wicked heir of a morally deprived president will probably stay beyond her term.
The administration's seemingly unceasing plans for a constituent assembly, or charter change, or
Martial Law-type scenario via a full-blown Mindanao war could just succeed to make the
rapacious EDSA II coup president the Philippines' permanent-till-the-she-devil-dies leader
beyond May 2010.
Perhaps it's a cultural thing, with Americans being more respectful of the
democratic institutions--unlike the Filipinos who are dominated by
unpatriotic elite conspirators, or snooty but stupidly gullible mob, of EDSA
2. Or is it a question of democracy-consciousness, with the mega-corrupt
brand of patronage politics that has easily allowed Arroyo to crush the four
yearly impeachment cases filed in the Philippine House of Representatives
not possible in Bush's US of A. The factor of the stability of democratic
institutions, perhaps? Or is it simply the chasm of a difference between the
minds of an "idiot heir" and a "wicked heir"?
Who was it who said that a "people deserve the kind of government it has"? It is a saying that has
proved relevant time and time again, in whatever part of the world. Much as it hurts the author to
admit, why the Philippine's Arroyo would most likely continue beyond her "term," while Bush
already gracefully stepped down, is more of a politico-cultural thing. While there are certain
complicating historical factors, it is a Philippine reality that the elites--society, religious,
business, political, and lately, military--can ram their dictates on the general populace. As the
weak masses deserve the elites, so does the Filipino nation deserves EDSA II and the Gloria
Arroyo kind of government it brought forth. As for the United States, with its significantly more
mature democratic institutions and a people that apparently know how to respect their political
system, they also deserve a George W. Bush that might have erred big time, but nonetheless
knows when to bid farewell to power.
_____________
References:
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http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Protesters_War_criminal_Bush_to_blame_1122.html
Andrews, John and Barry Grey. "Supreme Court Justice Scalia's hunting trip with Cheney: the
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Bernardo, Jesusa. The conspiracy of EDSA 2: how Gloria Arroyo managed not to let President
Joseph Estrada finish his term. 25 February 2008.
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gloria-arroyo-managed-not-to-let-president-joseph-estrada-finish-his-term
Brod, Andrew. The Bush Tax Cuts. Greensboro News & Record. 30 April 2006.
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Wikipedia sources: Fourth Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey: Hunger at new record-high
23.7% of families; Moderate Hunger at 18.5%, Severe Hunger at 5.2%. 2008, December
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