MANILA, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is to arrive in Manila on Sunday from the US where she failed for the third time in her “pursuit” to meet with the new US President Barack Obama.
As a reliable Malacanang source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal noted, the President managed to see Obama in Washington but only from a distance.
The occasion was the annual National Prayer Breakfast held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. on Thursday in which Obama was the guest of honor and speaker with former British prime minister Tony Blair as the keynote speaker.
The source revealed that President Arroyo was present along with other world leaders invited to the occasion as well American lawmakers from the House of Representatives and the Senate during the meeting.
Also present was opposition Senator Francis Escudero who was invited by his counterparts from the US Senate, the source added.
“But as fate would have it, the President was not able to meet and chat with Obama who immediately left after delivering his address,” the source said, citing reports reaching Malacanang from the Arroyo party that accompanied her to the US.
The President, the source said, decided to make an unscheduled visit to Washington from Bahrain because, as Malacanang put it, this would enable her to meet with Obama.
Malacanang explained she received the invitation to attend the breakfast meeting while on her way to Davos, Switzerland where she attended the annual world economic forum of government leaders and prominent businessmen to discuss the worsening global economic crisis.
But when President Arroyo failed to meet Obama, Malacanang was singing a different tune, the source pointed out.
A spokesman, who was with the President in the US, reported to Malacanang that Obama arrived late for the event and left immediately after his speech.
The spokesman added the meeting with Obama was not expected anyway because it was not part of President Arroyo’s agenda, saying:
“There was no meeting. It was not part of the agenda since it was a religious event.”
For his part, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who stayed behind in Malacanang, shrugged off criticisms this was embarrassing for President Arroyo who is perceived to have been desperately seeking Obama.
The sources revealed this was the third time that the President failed in her pursuit for a meeting with Obama.
The first, the source said, was in June 2008 when President Arroyo made a state visit to the US. Instead, Obama sent her a letter, the source said.
The second was the President’s whirlwind visit to the US in November 2008 before the American elections, the source disclosed.
During that visit, President Arroyo even made a brief stopover in Chicago, the hometown of Obama, but still no meeting, the source said.
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