Interview: Arroyo promises parliamentary democracy for the Philippines

If I win the presidential election, I will change the constitution to make it a parliamentary democracy," said President Gloria Arroyo, yesterday in an exclusive interview with Gulf News at Sheikh Hamad palace in the Bahrain capital Manama yesterday, in a clear bid to win the support of over two million Filipinos in the Gulf who could hold the key to crucial presidential elections in May 2004.

Arroyo, impeccably turned out in a tailored blue and grey suit, spelt out the first definitive elements of what could be her re-election strategy yesterday by announcing plans for a constitutional makeover.

Although this will depend largely on the kind of mandate she receives in the presidential elections in May next year, with a number of questions still to be resolved on whether the prime minister will be limited to a three year or five year term, her message - a promise to transform the political and economic landscape of the Philippines - is a call to strengthen her hand; left unsaid - the people must give her a big enough mandate to introduce reforms as "Prime Minister Arroyo" that have so far remained beyond her grasp.

Her patchy record of economic reform, despite her credentials as an economist, has been critiqued by her opponents. Hamstrung by a presidency, and the recurring attempts to undermine and indeed, overthrow her government through intermittent coups, the diminutive president showed yesterday that she is no political pushover.

The plan for a parliamentary democracy was accompanied by two key statements - a "healing policy" that seeks to reunite the Philippines "divided polity," with a general amnesty to all those who are ranged against her government and two, her refusal to allow the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, MILF, to fail.

Announcing plans for an amnesty she said "I have prepared a draft bill for a general amnesty. I want to heal the divide in society, not just between the MILF and other such groups in Mindanao but between the forces that brought me to power and the ones against Edsa, the people power movement." Aides say the draft bill will be submitted in the next few weeks.

Cleared to travel

Arroyo was brought to power in a people's power "constitutional coup" that unseated then President Joesph Estrada who has after two years in jail for corruption charges been cleared to travel to the US for medical treatment.

Asked about Estrada's impending release and whether she played a role, she said "I have always maintained that it's a matter for the courts to decide. I will abide by whatever is the court's verdict."

Arroyo's famed grit was demonstrated when she faced down two coups, one of which was led by supporters of Estrada, the other by disaffected military officers. "Both coups were taken care of within the day and bloodlessly," she said, 'but yes, they were attempts to destabilise my government."

The first she described as "a civilian rebellion in May 2001" and the second" an attempt by young officers from the military in 2003."

Arroyo was clear that allegations of corruption in the military were investigated and the report by a commission of inquiry that she instituted would be examined, its recommendations adhered to, "that it had been taken care of"

More pressing clearly was Mindanao and the MILF. A enduring peace dividend from the southern archipelago could be the first of its kind for the Philippines government. The previous government of Joseph Estrada declared war on the Moros leading to a spate of kidnappings and a rising cycle of violence that ended former President Fidel Ramos uneasy truce with the rebels.

Arroyo has set out to make peace with the rebels on her terms. "There will be no compromise on the sovereignty and integrity of the Philippines, no secessionist movement that violates the sanctity of the Philippines," she said yesterday.

The peace track with the MILF is proceeding under these premises with the Organisation of Islamic Countries, OIC, playing guarantor, she said, with Malaysia, Libya and now Bahrain playing key roles.

Arroyo's announcement to Gulf News yesterday that she was taking over the crucial ministry of foreign affairs after the sudden death of her foreign secretary Blas Ople on Sunday, is being seen here as a move to forge unambigously stronger ties with the Islamic world and reinforce her twin track approach of developmental assistance coupled with the war on terror in Muslim Mindanao.

Unabated fight

"The lack of development in Mindanao may have contributed to the separatists movement in Mindanao," she admits, but she also emphasises that her moves to cut off "transnational terror networks" would continue unabated.

"We will hunt them down, we will smoke them out," she said while exulting in the recent capture of the Abu Sayyaf chief Ghlaib Andang who had both his legs amputated, and pointing to her nation's remarkable success in recent months.

"The countries in South East Asia are working together to counter and neutralise the Jemaa Islamiya intelligence organisation which uses the tools of terror as its programme. We have cut off that network. We have captured a number of their biggest leaders."

Asked whether they have been able to cut off its source of funding that had been tracked to the Middle East, she cited her agreemnts with Asean countries and the recently passed anti-money laundering law as an example of what had been achieved.

Bringing peace to Mindanao would, she said be backed by funding from a number of Gulf states she said.

"The war on terror must be followed by peace and development. Apart from the OIC, there is the Kuwait fund and the Saudi fund." Equally importantly, she sees a role for Overseas Filipino Workers, OFWs, in the redevelopment of Mindanao and other parts of the Philippines.

OFWs were already contributing to boosting the moribund economy, she said. And ensuring that the OFWs continued to have their rights and privileges is she said part of her move to empower them with overseas voting rights and anti-money laundering laws that would protect their investment. "We have ensured that the OFW's rights are protected," she said.

The OFW plays a key role, she acknowledged. "The five per cent difference between the nation's GDP and GNP was courtesy the contribution of the Overseas Filipino Worker," she said, paying glowing tribute to the diaspora in what she termed a Christmas message of peace and goodwill to all OFWs.

She said that statistics showed that OFWs remittances contributed not just to their families but to building schools and roads and other vital infrastructure projects.

Unifying character

She also stressed the unifying character of the Philippines nation. "This is a nation for all Filipinos of all faiths, whether Muslim or Christian, whether they speak Mandarin or Tagalog, whether they are of Chinese or Spanish descent," underlining that the different faiths followed by Filipinos did not divide but united the people.

This is particularly true for OFWs, whom she praised as brand ambassadors of the Philippines. "I know that the love and affection that the Bahraini peopl