Poor Gloria

The denouement in Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s reign is a downer so potent it was said not even Prozac could lift her spirit— fighting or otherwise—as end now beckons her term, like a flickering gleam from a dying lighthouse calling on a rickety boat making her final journey to shore on a stormy night.
Her hope of another extension to her already extended term is gone, as the Charter change, as admitted by no less than her staunchest allies in Congress, is dead. And the celebratory clinks of precious wine glasses at Le Cirque, Bobby Vans and David Bouley have all faded except in the minds of the Filipino masses who have certified GMA’s insensitivity to their plight.
Her reign would be remembered, not only through the dreaded triumvirate of lying, cheating and stealing but lately, through her extravagant spending in ritzy restaurants where we could not afford to eat in our lives.
It was her lavish spending that overshadowed even her so-called greatest achievements in propping up the economy, one that was never felt down but whose gains remained only on top. And so in the end, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will come down in history as failure for a president.
In her final months, Gloria is looking for a legacy that she could leave. What gains she had in meeting Barrack Obama, however, were quickly rubbed out by her excessive and expensive dinner parties. Cory Aquino’s untimely death also overshadowed GMA’s long-sought US trip and the people’s sentiments as they joined Cory’s hearse were heard, and they did not bode well for GMA.
Today, Gloria’s sight is trained at attaining peace in two fronts, but her vision has never been as hazy as the cross in the old scope of her soldiers’ guns, she seems to be finding hard to fix her targets.
Her talks with the MILF seem to have been botched too early in the day. No thanks to trigger happy MILF combatants who have been discovered aiding the Abu Sayyaf, classified as a terrorist group which does not have it own pantheon in the respected political colors for its murderous connections, at home and overseas, that it became harder to fathom why the MILF provided it with military assistance, especially at a time when it was to talk peace with government.
It was in their hands where our soldiers, no different from the proletariat army of farm and factory workers, encountered their worst nightmares before their dying bodies were hacked of their souls but not their courage.
Gloria also wants to talk peace with the CPP/NPA/NDF, the same radical left she promised to wipe out by next year, but like all presidents before her, could not seem to fulfill.
The MILF and CPP/NPA/NDF, know their political importance to be used as masks for Gloria’s failures. Both of them carry weight to know how they would be used for Gloria’s own propaganda, all in her term’s dying months, that not a few doubt these talks will end in another stalemate. Besides, who would enter into a deal with lame duck president?
In these talks, only the MILF and the CPP/NPA/NDF would gain. Their troops’ respite from engaging in military actions would help boost morale and give them chances to regroup. Their leaders would also gain propaganda-wise while I also doubt Gloria is really hopeful of nailing peace during her term.
The concerns they’ve raised are age-old problems, maybe older than Kamlon. Mindanaoans and CPP supporters in the countryside have long been demanding gainful employment, better wages, better roads, fair market competition and so on.
There will only be peace if an honest leader could make them happen. Gloria botched her chance to realize them all.
And as if to taunt her, long-dormant MNLF, which had long dealt peace with government, was seen flexing its muscles by occupying remote villages in Palawan.
All these while at home, Gloria remains tipsy over what to do next.
Gloria’s climax is her own failure.