The Intentions of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

From President to Representative of the Second District of Pampanga

Much of what is hot in today's news in the Philippines nowadays are election-related news. Among these are the Maguindanao Massacre and the famous personalities (government officials, actors and actresses, etc.) who filed their certificates of candidacy (COCs) these past few days for the upcoming National Elections in 2010.
Indeed, the filing of the COC of the current Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to vie for the post of the Representative of the Second District of Pampanga to the House of Representatives is one of the most talked upon news of the day. For one, it is unprecedented in Philippine History that someone who had been elected and who had served his/her full term as President of the Republic would go for a less dominant position in the national arena. Most of the past presidents of the Republic were content with being government watchers who mobilize people to condemn inconsistencies in the running of the government. Yet, here she is, the second female Philippine President, perhaps the most cunning of all the Philippine Presidents to date, filing her COC for a legislative post during her last seven months or so in her term as the country's head of state and head of government.
Such a move has caused a lot of people to be worried of what her real intentions are, and rightly so. There are a number of reasons why people do have a right to be worried. First, the current President is an advocate of charter change during her term as Philippine President which could possibly change the system of government into that of a Parliamentary System of Government in which being a member of the House of Representatives, the Lower House of Congress which might be eventually the only House of Congress in the future, could make one the head of the government. Moreover, being part of the Congress, she could push for Charter Change more than she had done before.
Moreover, it is weird to note that someone who had been Philippine President had not thought of running for other positions available in the country. Among these are those in the Executive Branch of the Philippine Government such as Governor, Mayor, etc. Give her the benefit of the doubt. One could say though that she had been with the Executive Branch for so long as Philippine President that she decided to run in a different branch of our Government. Still, this does not explain why she decided to run for a Lower House position when she could run for a Senate position too. People might also argue that she would like to work as a lawmaker, representing the people in her district, we could say that she could have run as a Board Member of the Province of Pampanga, instead.

Hence, it is not baseless to fear the real intentions of the incumbent Philippine President in running for an elective office in the 2010 Philippine Elections. This, apart from the fact that she needed to run for a post be it because she failed to mold the people she had been leading so that someone will be ready to take over or because of greed and lust for power, puts her worthiness to be a government official in question.