PRESIDENT MACAPAGAL-ARROYO HAS NEVER been shy about reminding everyone she works hard, and she has never been demure about taking credit for drawing in new investments from abroad. As she prepared to depart for China in October 2006, the Palace’s press office detailed what it was, exactly, she hoped to achieve: “she would look for new markets for Philippine products aside from enticing Chinese investors and tourists to take a second look at the Philippines.” The public was lovingly informed by the press office that during her trip: the President would meet with business leaders in Xiamen, the Filipino community in Fujian province, and university students in Nanchang; In Nanning, the President would hold bilateral talks with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and “grace” the opening of the 3rd ASEAN-China Exposition.
Accompanied by her husband, her two sons, some members of her Cabinet, including Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Sen. Lito Lapid, a handful of congressmen and governors, Lucio Tan and Francis Chua, the President embarked on a five-day, five-province tour chronicled in some detail by the dutiful presidential propaganda office.
We feel it’s relevant to show our readers just how dutiful and detailed the Palace press office was. In Xiamen, the President went by car to the Xiamen Mandarin Hotel where she addressed Chinese business leaders at a luncheon conference hosted by the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII); then on to a business conference hosted for her by the FFCCCII at the Xianglu Hotel. On her first day, she was told of the interest of China’s No. 1 electricity provider, State Grid Xiamen Electric (SGXE), in buying the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) and this was trumpeted to the press.
Exceptions to her official activities were, incidentally, duly noted: on Oct. 28, the President “took time out from her very hectic schedule here yesterday afternoon to meet with the Filipino community in Fujian province.” She laid a wreath at the Rizal Monument in Jinjiang City.
On Oct. 29, the secretary of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Congress expressed interest in investing in its sister province, Bohol. Press releases were sent from Jianxang and Nanchang City. The President was even reported as having received hospital donations for Bohol in the Hayden Room of the Sofitel Trilec Hotel that night. More releases were issued from Guilin and Nanning on the 30th. On the 31st she keynoted the 3rd China-Asean Expo by proposing an Asean-China Free Trade Area. She told the Chinese she welcomed investments in mining, infrastructure development, agriculture, fisheries and housing—and the country was told of what she said.
The next day, a press release, datelined Hong Kong, said the President was quoted as having spent “quality time” with her family in observance of All Saint’s Day.
According to the Office of the Press Secretary’s releases, also datelined Hong Kong, on Nov. 2, 2006, the President patted herself on the back for meeting with the Chinese prime minister. She pointed out that Bau Steel and China Development Bank were interested in investing in Nickel mines in Surigao. The next day, Nov. 3, she returned to Manila.
We now know that “like a thief in the night”—to borrow a phrase made infamous by a Palace press release—the President ended up playing golf in Shenzhen, courtesy of ZTE, on Nov. 2. In a visit in which her official and non-official activities were reported and every sign of Chinese interest to invest in the Philippines she trumpeted, nothing was said about this Shenzhen episode. A mere interest to invest, not even a firm offer, would have been enough to inspire more press releases. That the President, her husband, and then-Speaker Jose de Venecia played golf upon the invitation of a private firm provided ample opportunity for our hard-working and never publicity-shy President to puff up one more of her trip’s achievements.
That she didn’t was so uncharacteristically discreet of her then and so obviously embarrassing for her now, and that can only underscore suspicions of presidential skullduggery.
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