JGL Eye

By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© Journal Group Link International)

Anybody But Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

C HICAGO (JGLi) – I understand the U.S. State Department is walking a tight rope.

But it should understand also that the request of the Filipino-American delegation led by Atty. Loida Nicolas-Lewis to send an observer team to the Philippines to document the May 10 presidential election is a party-neutral request.

The hardy group of Filipino Americans that parted with their own hard-earned dollars and precious time to go to Washington, D.C., informed U.S. State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton that there are telltale signs that something fishy is going to happen in the upcoming elections in the Philippines. But it seems she does not mind.

The delegation told the good Secretary that events are leading to some unmistakable scenarios that a failure of elections is in the air. And that the failure of election will most benefit President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), who could be in line for an extension of power. Never mind if it is not in the Constitution.

Actually, the delegation does not care if it is Sen. Noynoy Aquino, Sen. Manny Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, Sec. Gibo Teodoro, Sen. Dick Gordon, etc., who will win in the presidential election. In fact, a member of that delegation is a pro-Gordon supporter. They want anybody but GMA.

What they care only is that there is an honest and orderly election that will reflect the will of the Filipino people.

They only want the presence of an observer team from the United States government or the U.S. Congress or both to observe the elections because their presence could deter some wayward politicians from manipulating the results of the election in their favor.

WHEN THE CAT IS AWAY

W hen the cat is away, the mouse will play.  We don’t want the cat to be away for this very important rite of passage of a nation.

Although, there are delegations from Japan, England and other countries, who are observing the May 10 elections in the Philippines, the presence of the U.S. will cast a giant shadow because the view of the U.S. delegation carries weight – a heavy weight – and a huge credibility that have repercussion in the political, economic, military and other affairs of the Filipinos.

This was already proven in 1986 when the U.S. sent a top-level Congressional delegation headed by Sen. Richard Lugar (Rep.-Indiana), which reported wide scale cheating during the snap presidential elections.

Atty. Lewis, constituent of both Secretary Clinton and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (Dem.-14th-NY), believes that Secretary Clinton and Rep. Maloney are wavering in her support to her because she is identified with Sen. Aquino.

Sec. Clinton and Rep. Maloney would be lending political color if they act on her request. They don’t want to offend President Arroyo, a classmate of former President Clinton. But Arroyo is not running for president in this election. She is supposed to be above the fray. Her help is not even publicly courted by any presidential candidate because their association with her is a “kiss of death.”

OBAMA REBUKED KARZAI FOR FAILURE OF ELECTION REFORM

S hould Sec. Clinton and Representative Maloney allow cheating in Philippine elections? Of course, they should not. I know President Barack Obama had to travel a few weeks ago to Afghanistan just to rebuke Afghan President Hamid Karzai for “his failure to reform election rules and crack down on corruption.”

Why give President Obama an opportunity to rebuke President Arroyo when the window of opportunity to cheat can be reported?

Or why give President Arroyo a chance to cheat and get away with it?

Let see, maybe we should ask the help of a Republican, Rep. Ed Royce (Cal.), who gave Mrs. Arroyo a Teddy Roosevelt International Conservation Caucus Foundation award last week and yet told the Philippine president that the Filipino Americans in his district are concerned with “electoral fraud and the new electronic voting machines” that could led to failure of election in the Philippines.

If there was somebody walking a tight rope, it would be Representative Royce, who was a daredevil when he told Mrs. Arroyo on her face about the election concerns. Mr. Royce even took pride of his accomplishment by posting his press release on his website.

Incidentally, it was Teddy Roosevelt, also who said, “When your house is on fire, you need the help of everybody.”

I’m afraid if nobody will be watching the Philippines elections, if it ignites into a conflagration, the U.S. might miss the chance to douse water on a big fire that could be used by some parties to declare a failure of elections.

I’m sure the Filipino people will not be calling the U.S. observers team as an “intervention in internal affairs of the Filipino people” if it will only validate the transparency of the elections or lack of it. (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)

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