PRESIDENT GLORIA Macapagal-Arroyo was right when she boasted in her
State of the Nation Address (SONA) that she is a friend of the people.
But she could be referring to the people who donated to her campaign
kitty and not the Filipino everyman.
She is friendly to the poor every election season or when tragedy
befalls them such as during the captivity of Angelo dela Cruz. But
throughout the year, she is more than friendly to the nation's elite.
Urban poor villages must be razed down by fire or remote towns must
be washed down by landslides before Ms. Arroyo remembers to befriend
the people in these communities. Her real friends are business moguls,
landlords, top military officials and the ruling dynasties in provinces.
Her best friends are her husband and his golfing buddies.
It could have been a typographical error when she read from her speech
the "Mamamayan Muna" policy. What she really meant was "Mayayaman
Muna."
She is quick to respond to every whim of the rich but she is insensitive
to the basic problems of the poor such as low salaries and rising
costs of commodities. She lavish praise on the contributions of big
business to the economy while she plead the poor to sacrifice more
for the country. Her husband recently hosted a party which was attended
by Mr. Lucio Tan, a suspected big tax evader, yet now the President
wants the people to pay more taxes.
There was a painful irony when Ms. Arroyo said we are a country that
cares and that she is a friendly president. Indeed, it is because
she is too busy maintaining her friendship with the privileged few
that we have become a country that cares, a country of caregivers.
You have a government—indeed, you have a country—that
cares.