Gloria in excelsis
“Her fortunes changed dramatically when Rodrigo Roa Duterte ascended into power in 2016.
“Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she has transformed from a forlorn, pathetic figure to one who can bring leaders to power.
Bound on a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cut a pathetic figure as she attempted to leave the country on 15 November 2011, three days before a local court issued her an arrest warrant for electoral fraud, a non-bailable offense.
Claiming she needed to seek medical treatment from hospitals in Singapore, the former president pleaded her case, but was prevented from leaving by a Hold Departure Order from the Department of Justice then headed by now-detained Senator Leila de Lima.
The scene at the airport could very well have been from a telenovela. Diagnosed with a cervical spine condition, the former president looked helpless and fragile in a wheelchair. She had to wear a neck brace to protect her spine. Immigration officials, however, had other things in mind.
The sight of authorities preventing a frail president from seeking medical help abroad must have been the height of a comedown for one who has been in power for nine years. For much of the time under hostile successor President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who wanted to convict her for corruption, she was placed under hospital arrest. In desperation, she ran for and won a congressional seat in her hometown district of Pampanga, hoping to use her new office as immunity against prosecution.
As we all know by now, her fortunes changed dramatically when Rodrigo Roa Duterte ascended into power in 2016. Drawing on her wide network of support, Arroyo proved to be a critical ally for the former provincial mayor. She helped Duterte build a supermajority in Congress when his political party, PDP Laban, won only a handful of seats in the legislature. The feisty daughter of former president Diosdado Macapagal then reactivated her international linkages, including her relations with Beijing, which had enjoyed a golden age of bilateral ties with Manila during her presidency, resulting in the inflow of billions of dollars in Chinese investments.
She has used these connections to be an asset to Duterte’s administration, particularly in its pivot to China. Her role has resembled that of former Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew who, in retirement, played the role of a minister mentor to his successor. As such, she was instrumental in ousting and replacing Pantaleon Alvarez as House speaker in 2018.
Her influence, according to analysts, extended to the economy, including fiscal tightening and a conservative money policy, which helped make the country among the most dynamic in recent years. She, in effect, brought to the table technocratic competence and experience as an American-trained economist and former university professor.
Not only that. Like a minister-mentor, she was able to carve personal influence over the president and his economic officials. Her anti-inflationary policies, like a second package of tax reforms, proved effective in improving the country’s fiscal position until, of course, the pandemic came along.
Now in the twilight of her checkered career, the former president nearly slammed into oblivion by her hostile successor has blossomed into a ruthless power broker who could decide the fate of those seeking elective posts.
After being instrumental in the ouster of Alvarez from the House Speakership, the former president proved to be the hand behind the emergence of the UniTeam tandem of Bongbong Marcos Jr. and President Duterte’s daughter in the last electoral contest. She convinced Sara, who had already filed her certificate of candidacy as reelectionist mayor of Davao City, to withdraw from the local race, join Lakas-CMD and file as a vice-presidential candidate.
A month before the last elections, Arroyo officially endorsed the respective bids of Bongbong and Sara, predicting a landslide victory from them in her home province.
The endorsement was made through an official statement, released on her 75th birthday and a day after her 4 April rally in Lubao, Pampanga, which was attended by Duterte and several senatorial candidates.
With the elections over and Bongbong and Sara now the presumptive president and vice president, respectively, Arroyo has certainly turned things around.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, she has transformed from a forlorn, pathetic figure to one who can bring leaders to power. Gloria indeed.