Hello Gloria

EDITORIAL

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03/16/2009

All of Gloria’s men and her usual coterie of lapdogs were all agog last Saturday morning as if the Redeemer had come down from heaven for his second coming and with his first act being the announcement that US President Barack Obama had called Gloria Arroyo on the phone.

What an earthshaking moment it was for Gloria and her cabal — so earthshaking that they were so thrilled over a phone call from Obama, who incidentally also called the Indonesian President and some other heads of state.

One wonders if Indonesia’s president made such a big deal over an Obama phone call.

But hello, Gloria. Obama is not God, or even God the Son. He is the President of a country whose economy, moreover, is close to going into a comatose state.

But a big deal it was for Gloria who desperately needed something like a call from Obama, to erase that perception in the Philippines that she is being ignored by the American president.

For the past few months, Mrs. Arroyo was trying her best to get a booster from Obama, seeking him out for a photo shoot or even for Obama to acknowledge her presence, just as what she had wanted to happen at the US Capital Washington DC when she attended the National Prayer Breakfast that Obama was then addressing.

Gloria didn’t get anything from Obama and she settled instead for a Hillary Clinton photo opportunity although the Palace propaganda said the meeting took all of 30 minutes or more.

Last Saturday, Gloria seemed to have been squeezed in by Washington when Obama was calling up co-member countries in the Group of 20.

The White House said during the call, Obama and Gloria reaffirmed their commitment to the long-standing US-Philippine alliance, including the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which remains critical to the bilateral relationship and strategic interests of both countries.

The call also supposedly touched on the global economic crisis and climate change, education, and interfaith dialog.

The call coming in the midst of public clamor for the review if not abrogation of the VFA as a result of mocking violations of its provisions in the custody of convicted rapist US Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith was obviously something more than just a social call to make amends with Gloria after the previous failed meetings. It was probably intended to settle the issue of Smith and other US troops similarly situated in the future, but to settle it to America’s benefit, of course.

Gloria seized on the call as a victory of sorts as is her wont whenever the opportunity arises to lift up her hopelessly unpopular image by efforts to identify with the still popular US President.

Obama cannot be faulted for reminding Gloria of the agreement in the interest of the United States since he was expected to do that.

What was appalling was that the Palace, apparently acting on cue from Gloria, made a huge splash about the phone call, the topic of which was something that most Filipinos have strong feelings against. A sad note to the call was that Gloria did not apparently raise with Obama the rising sentiment against the VFA because of the custody issue that is expected of her as the Philippine President.

The transfer of Smith to Philippine custody was already ruled on by the Supreme Court and the Palace holding on to an agreement between the US ambassador and the Foreign Affairs secretary as justification of a status quo smacks of a largely pro-American policy bias.

Gloria would of course use the talk with Obama as basis for her future direction on the custody case and the VFA, which earlier the Palace said she has been keeping an open mind on its possible review.

To sum it all, the nation gained nothing from the dialog except for Gloria to claim that it was Obama who sought her out for the phone call.

The call even looked like an afterthought just as Obama was to hold phone discussions with G20 members.

Nothing special. Nothing gained, really.

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