On the matter of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s New Year statement — that the 2010 elections are too far in the future to be concerned with — now is the time to take steps to insure that the elections will reflect the true will of the electorate. Ms Arroyo’s henchmen in Congress, led by her congressman-son, are hell-bent in mutilating the Constitution via a constituent assembly. This is being done to open opportunities for her to stay in power or, at least, remain a potent political influence beyond 2010 and thus save her from just punishment for her transgressions against the nation.

The most serious problem of the country is political — not economic, as Ms Arroyo would have the gullible believe. The biggest challenge before the Filipinos today is the removal of Ms Arroyo from office without violence, so that she may not be able to manipulate the May 2010 elections. A most straightforward manner is for all decent citizens in and out of government to refuse serving and dealing with Ms Arroyo’s administration until she steps down. Failing at this, there is no future for a democratic government in this country. Successors of Ms Arroyo will only follow and improve on the methods she has so far successfully employed to abuse authority.

Taking token steps to give a semblance of an effort at good governance, Ms Arroyo has ordered the investigation of bribery in the dismissal of a drug-pushing case involving scions of affluent families and the dropping of the case involving the drug laboratory bust in Naguilian, La Union, which implicated police officers and Chinese nationals. She has also ordered the investigation of the golf club mauling incident involving the family of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman’s sons (one of whom is a town mayor in Lanao del Sur province).

Ms Arroyo would be more convincing if she raked up the cases of former secretary of justice Hernando Perez, the players in the construction scam of Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, former Commision on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos’ counting machine scandal with Mega Pacific, Garci and his generals’ role in the May 2004 elections, the ZTE-NBN deal, the NorthRail contract with the Chinese, the P728-million fertilizer scam, and human rights abuses by the military and police, for starters — if the idea is to win public sympathy for the impending Charter-change drive in Congress.

Let not the people be deceived by gestures suggesting her conscience has finally caught up with Ms Arroyo because she has long drowned her conscience beyond resuscitation in the sea of corruption in her office.

E. P. DAKANAY JR. (via email)