SONA: Making Sense of Arroyo’s Goodbye

How to make sense of Mrs. Arroyo’s speech yesterday? Everybody was waiting for her to drop the ultimate bombshell—announce that she’ll be stepping down from power come June 2010. And she did, although most did not believe what she said, despite both her greedy husband and son validating it. I think people are wary of this because Mrs. Arroyo once fooled us with that infamous 2003 Rizal Day pronouncement. It would now be very hard indeed for Mrs. Arroyo to convince most Filipinos that she meant well.

Obviously, her almost nine years in power brought some improvements in the lives of ordinary Filipinos. This cannot be denied. Her achievements in poverty alleviation, her housing program, her job generation schemes are nothing short of spectacular. Yet, these things are somewhat glossed over by scandals after scandals involving even her very close relatives and friends.

When she said that she’s leaving her office come June 2010, should actually be interpreted as is. There’s nothing that actually prevents us from assuming otherwise. The fact that she’s already the longest serving president means something already. Now, it would be the height of stupidity if she continues on after 2010. Arroyo knows that she’ll be courting disaster if she’ll do that.

We don’t need a categorical, ” yes, I’m not running,” or “no, I’m not extending my term.” phrases for us to believe her. Her statement yesterday is enough. We don’t need to further elaborate on it nor ask more than what she can actually give us. Now, it is but natural for us to expect that she honors this. If she reneges on this again, she knows that she can never go back to those thoughts of a peaceful retirement. That would forever be a destabilizing situation.