MANILA – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has kept the Filipinos guessing, especially her supporters, regarding her political plans with the May 2010 elections just seven months away.
Speculations are rife that since the Constitution bans her from seeking reelection, the President will run for other elective positions when she steps down from Malacanang on June 30, 2010.
Recently, six mayors from her home province in Pampanga, Central Luzon, announced they would sponsor a resolution urging President Arroyo to run and represent the first legislative district in the House of Representatives.
The district is represented by her son, Congressman Juan Miguel “Mikey†Arroyo, who is now on his second term. Some supporters said Mikey has expressed willingness to give way to his mother and run for governor instead in the 2010 polls.
Speculations that the President would run for Congress have been fuelled by her frequent visits to the district, which at latest count, stood at 47 since the start of the year.
However, Malacanang said such visits are not politically-motivated, saying that the President was just repaying her province mates for their continued support since she entered politics first as an elected senator.
Thus, Malacanang has justified every visit, saying the President wanted to personally inaugurate infrastructure projects implemented in the towns and villages of the district, like school houses, irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads.
But on November 5, another known Arroyo ally and defender, Congressman Danilo Suarez of Quezon province in Southern Luzon, proposed that the ruling party, Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats, convince the President to run for vice president under the administration ticket of their standard bearer, Secretary Gilberto Teodoro of the Department of Defense.
Suarez, also known as one of the President’s favorite travelling companions in her foreign visits, pointed out that if elected as vice president, she could continue to push for the fiscal reforms and crucial legislation that still have to be implemented and approved.
Mrs. Arroyo was vice president and succeeded then president Joseph Estrada following his ouster by the Edsa 11 People Power Revolution in 2001.
Malacanang, however, immediately shot down the Suarez proposal as it pointed out the President herself was against it.
That leaves running for Congress as the only option left for the President if she wants to pursue her political careers once she steps down from Malacanang in 2010, her other supporters said.
For instance, Congressman Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin Island in Mindanao, said that President Arroyo is more than qualified to be the next speaker of the House of Representatives given her extensive political experience.
Romualdo argued that as a “technocrat†– aside from being a former senator and vice president, the the President is “very competent†to hold the position of House speaker as he continued:
“The country stands to benefit should President Arroyo decide to run and win. Her expertise and experience in running the government will further boost the chances of success of the next administration.â€
However, the opposition, through Mayor Jejomar Binay of suburban Makati City in Metro Manila, said the President wants to run for Congress to protect herself from the various criminal and civil cases that would be filed against her, including plunder, once her term ends in 2010.
Binay is the running mate of Estrada who said he wants to continue his term as president which was “stolen†by civil society and religious groups as well as militants by ousting him in 2001.
As the debate swirled, President Arroyo maintained a stony silence on whether or not she would seek an elective position in the 2010 polls.
But her lawyer, Romulo Makalintal, said the people should wait for the President’s answer to this question on December 1.
Makalintal explained that December 1 is the deadline set by the Commission on Elections for candidates who want to run for local positions in May 2010 to file their certificates of candidacy.
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