GMA shot herself on the foot

I had thought no miracle was ever going to be witnessed again by me. But two days ago, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did just the unthinkable. She owned that she had immediately moved to cancel the ZTE-NBN broadband contract when she discovered anomalies in the contract.

If we examine her statement, GMA just wound the rope round her neck. In short, her time frame of immediate becomes the most debatable in her statement. Five or eight months after that discovery was the only time that she asked the President of the People’s Republic of China to have the contract cancelled.

The problem, between that action and her discovery of overpricing, she had never ordered an investigation into the anomalies that led to her cancellation of the contract.

For that matter, she waited for the senate hearing to stoke public indignation over the deal before she finally undertook her second visit to China.

Her revelation, to a certain extent, undercut Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso for Transportation. The latter had gone out of his way to justify the NBN contract as justified technically.

And that also puts Acting CHED Secretary Romulo Neri on the chopping block. In short, what was it that he had told the President that prompted the latter to seriously take back her decision to approve the contract.

Then how come that Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos virtually left the poll body with millions in retirement funds untouched.

And, yes, despite the mention of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, the latter seems to have escaped presidential scrutiny.

In short, what could have been done was for her to create an impartial committee that could have handled the probe without interference by the Senate.

Unfortunately, she did none of those things. And, now she wants us to forgive her sins of omission.

Apparently realizing that her “confession” will only stoke the demands for her resignation, yesterday the President came back with a straight statement – she is the President and will remain so until the end of her term in 2010.

She may not have realized that the clamor will only grow in intensity over the next few days and weeks. Her opponents will use her same words to indict the President and demand for her ouster.

I truthfully admit reservations about the revelations of Rodolfo Noel Lozada and the role played by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal in that. As well as, of course, my perceptions of the inconsistencies of the police and other government officials on the question of Lozada’s kidnapping.

But all those skepticism disappeared in the face of the presidential statement which owned her discovery of anomalies in the contract and her allegedly “prompt action” to have the contract cancelled.

The problem – ZTE is a private firm and the contract did not partake of a government to government pact. In short, the Chinese government was not involved in the contract until she had signed it as President.

Well, the ways of God remain hidden. But definitely, we now see how He allows the President to do things that normally even the most naïve would not have done. In short, what is it that God wants us to do?

* * *

Two students were killed and 10 others hurt when their overloaded tricycle collided with a mini-bus in Isabela.

The tragedy exposed once more what has become a common sight all over the province. Overloaded tricycles. And nobody takes the pain of reminding the trike drivers that they are not supposed to do that.

That standard excuse by law enforcers, “Gapamugas-bugas man lang sila (They’re just earning for rice)”. In short, we have become immunized to the sight and the possibilities of tragedies of the same kind.

There are similar sights in Bacolod. I often see overloaded tricycles in Villamonte and Homesite. But nobody enforces the law.

Just like the sights that greeted me yesterday. There were six motorcycles I was following in a car. This was along Villamonte. But I counted all six had people riding tandem. And none of them had any helmet.

So what is happening? Very simple. Whether we like it or not, we will be responsible for what happens to these riders. We cannot face God later and tell Him that we just sympathized with them as an excuse for our neglect to comply with our obligations.

The same with the victims of the Isabela tragedy. All one has to do is put himself in the presence of God and imagine how our Father will ask us about what we did to protect the children.*

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