Ramos slams Arroyo's political manoeuvres

Former president Fidel Ramos yesterday criticised his former protege, incumbent President Gloria Arroyo, for her political manoeuvrings that led to the resignation of one of her most popular Cabinet members, Education Secretary Raul Roco, last Tuesday.

"She should concentrate on addressing the country's problems like poverty and criminality instead of overly concerning herself with intramurals within her government," noted Ramos in a radio interview with station dzBB yesterday.

Ramos said politics could be the cause of Roco's resignation from the post of Secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Such scathing remarks against Arroyo were least expected from Ramos.

Despite both being stalwarts of the ruling People Power Coalition (PPC), the former president has treated the incumbent as his protege even during her term as senator between 1995 and 1998 and as a candidate for the vice-presidency during the 1998 polls in which she eventually emerged the winner.

"I am telling this to her like an elder brother. As a president, she is the mother of the nation. She should treat her Cabinet properly, otherwise they will leave her government," he added.

Ramos issued the statement as the presidential palace tried to contain the growing rift between Roco and Arroyo after the former's resignation.

Roco had interpreted Arroyo's order on Monday to allow a corruption probe against him as a form of humiliation.

"There is no place in a democracy for humiliating people as a policy instrument," Roco said in his resignation letter that he gave to Arroyo yesterday.

So far, the President has not approved the DepEd secretary's resignation and a meeting supposedly to be held today between the two officials to thrash out their differences, failed to materialise.

Roco had said that allegations hurled against him by the DepEd Central Office Employees Union concerning the printing of posters with his portrait and supposed non-remittance of millions of pesos every month in DepEd service fee collections to the national treasury "were baseless".

"They could check with the national treasury, the P15 million ($300,000) DepEd collections between January and June this year have been deposited and they have records with them," he noted.

The DepEd secretary pointed out that if he is to be investigated, then Arroyo should also be included, as the President had more posters made than him.

Roco pointed out that the reason for making those posters was President Arroyo's order to have the posters in public schools as children may not know who their president and DepEd secretary are.

Arroyo's order to investigate Roco came after the DepEd secretary topped independent surveys on possible presidential candidates in 2004.

In the same survey, the incumbent president ranked third after her ousted predecessor, Joseph Estrada.

Ramos said that due to the growing rift between Arroyo and Roco, there is a strong possibility that the latter could form a "third force" in Philippine politics that could be a strong alternative in place of the ruling coalition and the Estrada-allied political opposition.

Roco, a former senator, ran for president in the 1998 polls in which he was placed third in the final count.