Thursday, December 11, 2008

Reading her mind

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Reading her mind
Sunday, 03 19, 2006

When we were a country of 50 million cowards ruled by what an American impudently described then as one S.O.B., the moves to throw out the S.O.B. were well-defined and sustained. We have since grown into a country of 80 million cowards, and now find ourselves being ruled by one described as even worse than the dear, departed S.O.B.

In any hierarchy, everybody, rightly or wrongly, hates the top dog. But he stays there because the stakeholders say so, and only goes if and when the stakeholders decide that they must dispense of him. A sensible and civilized covenant, true?

False. The top dog himself, or in our current case, herself, glories in her self-image that she is God’s precious gift to the Filipino people, and does not give a damn about what they are saying. And why should she? The stakeholders could be conveniently lied to (“I will not run ...”), expediently cheated (“Hello Garci…”) sufficiently intimidated (I hereby declare a state of national emergency...”), and unbelievably disarmed by smooth talk (“My plan is working and the economy has been turned around...”)

Behind her back, the 80 million cowards agree that she is done and off she must go, yet she has managed to push back the tide of public opinion and cling on to her dubious position as the country’s top dog.

To the credit of President Arroyo, it is her unpredictability in neutralizing the otherwise paralyzing effects of one crisis after another that has kept her in power. By Proclamation 1017, she artfully disregarded the Constitution in the guise of following it by virtue of her being Commander-in-Chief. Like a chess grandmaster, she then maneuvers way ahead of her opponents and keeps on foisting entirely novel moves against her enemies to hold them at checkmate — in utter defeat or, for the time being, in deadlock. Time is what she needs, and she has been shrewdly using it to her advantage. Look how she sidled up to a former president to save her seat, only to turn around later and publicly berate the poor sap. She is now confident enough to fight her own battles, because she now has the soldiery and the police at her calling.

It must be the Aries streak in her. Like the ram in her horoscope, she has this tendency to be assertive and single-minded. So when the polls show a negative rating at an all-time low, she counters with stubborn aggression, manifested in alphabet-soup policies and predictably gets to rule one more day. Endurance and an unhealthy amount of egoism have made it possible for her to achieve things that might seem impossible to others. She knows what she wants, and has never been timid about making her needs known. She does not like to lose an argument, much less an election, and so has adroitly mastered the art of compromise — with the military, who will not desert her because they are such friends in need and will remain friends indeed as long as the stars keep coming and the well of her generosity does not run dry.

This reliance does not make her exactly bright, as Josie Lichauco would realize 40 years later out of school. But who needs her to be bright, when she could be crafty, with lots of luck beside her? The masterful moves she made to weather the “Garci” tapes controversy, all the way to thumbing down the impeachment against her, show how she could present herself as a frail little lady who only wanted “to protect my votes” while playing games with election rules. And how she bounced back like an infuriated ram to kick the hell out of all those who wanted to capitalize on her “lapse of judgment!”

Some say her staying power is mainly propped up by her prudent use of money, to zip up the mouths of those who would speak up against her or to manacle the hands that would — figuratively, I hope — pull the trigger on her. I say yes (partly) to that, for there is a limit to what money can suborn. More ostensibly, it is her cautious use of power at the right moment. She, come to think of it, has not gone to reckless extents to show that she is firmly in the saddle. After all, the Armed Forces and the Philippine National Police can do everything at her bidding — General Order 5 was a carte blanche for the Army and the police to implement every which way, and that is exactly the game plan: the implementors, not the issuer of the order, are now to blame for the warrantless arrests, the prior restraint on media, and whatever crimes they might care to slap on a citizen. The hapless Solicitor General could not defend the order; now he has resigned.

She is such rich source of studies in contradiction, that one could not help wonder how divergent psychological personas could co-exist in such small physical stature. A borderline personality disorder? That is something best left to the psychologists to pronounce. All I know is that she could be your best friend today and you could be her worst enemy tomorrow. Or you could be at the receiving end of her outraged tongue today, but tomorrow she could sidle up to you and ask you to be her friend. She could be at one time in bouts of extreme self-doubt, and then go through a period of grandiose self-importance the next.

Everyone is wary of Arroyo. The unfortunate thing here is that she could be in the Palace for the long haul. Unless, of course, the 80 million cowards refuse, to a man, to dance to her tune and make her realize the terrifying truth of the words she herself once spoke: “The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better.”

For comments about this website:Webmaster@tribune.net.ph

No comments: