UNRAVELING By Getsy Tiglao After being incarcerated for five years on flimsy, politically motivated charges, former president and now Pampanga Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is firmly back in power as the new speaker of the House of Representatives. We expect greater things from Congress under Arroyo, known for her studious diligence, extensive network, and her impeccable social graces. In dramatic fashion last week, just half an hour before President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), the majority of legislators gathered enough signatures to nominate Mrs. Arroyo as House speaker to replace Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez. The manifesto of support was affirmed later in the evening when 184 House members voted Arroyo to the position, with 12 abstentions. This completes the vindication of Mrs. Arroyo who suffered through five years of cruel and unjust treatment by the previous administration. She effectively lost five years of her life during her hospital arrest in which she wasn’t even allowed a cellular phone or television set and even her visitors were restricted. Justice prevailed eventually. Both the Supreme Court and the Sandiganbayan cleared her of all charges of corruption in 2016. Earlier allegations were also junked due to the lack of evidence and the High Court even declared as unconstitutional former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s order stopping Arroyo from seeking medical treatment abroad. (This is the same De Lima who is currently detained on serious drug charges, who was recently given an “award” by some flimflam foreign group.) With the free flow of information in this age of the Internet, more people are realizing they have been misled into thinking the worst of the former president. Social media blogs feature regular comments from people apologizing to Mrs. Arroyo for believing the black propaganda thrown at her by the yellow oppposition. Arroyo is often underestimated by her opponents given her quiet and dignified persona. But she is in reality a masterful politician. Just two days after she became House speaker, she met with former speaker Alvarez in what was described as a “good, cordial meeting” with the two agreeing to exchange rooms in the House. We are not surprised by this as both Alvarez and Arroyo (just like President Duterte) put the nation first before their egos. Arroyo is a cerebral leader without a vindictive nature, unlike the previous occupant in the Palace. Alvarez, who after all successfully shepherded through the House Duterte’s priority bills, must be commended for his statesmanship in accepting the decision of the House majority. As he said in a statement: “We cannot undo the past, but we can certainly shape the future… For the good of the country let us get back to work and move on.” The same cannot be said of certain surly senators who were quick to criticize the House vote for Arroyo, forgetting inter-parliamentary courtesy, the tradition of non-interference in the affairs of their respective chambers. When the Senate unceremoniously dumped former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, the Lower House did not intrude or give any foul comments. (This is just another reason the country should junk the Senate with its egotist members and instead have a single legislative chamber.) Another noisy group that is never satisfied is the Yellow Cult. Backed by Filipino-Spanish oligarchs and rich Fil-Americans from New York, this group is only happy when the president is a hacendero surnamed Cojuangco-Aquino. Otherwise, they will use everything from their 1980s playbook in order to bring down any administration that aims to lift Filipinos out of poverty and especially one that seeks to be independent from the former colonial master, the US. This group that is currently attacking President Duterte is also the same one that tried to oust former President Arroyo. Probably upon orders of their American handlers, these yellow cultists started hitting Arroyo after she steered the Philippines towards a more productive relationship with China. The national broadband network deal being worked out with a large Chinese firm was one of the strategic projects initiated by Arroyo that would have resulted in the Philippines having faster Internet service all over the country. Unfortunately, this deal was vilified from the start by racist pro-US critics who trust the “Whites” more than they do Asians. Rumors abounded then that it was the US that wanted the telecom deal with China killed. President Duterte’s pivot towards China is very similar to what Arroyo did during her time as president (from January, 2001 to June, 2010). Early in her term in 2001, Arroyo had already made an official visit to the People’s Republic of China and developed a warm relationship with then Chinese President Jiang Zemin (the two even sang karaoke together). Arroyo said in a recent television interview that her own administration’s policy towards China is almost identical to that of Duterte’s, which is that it is in the country’s best interests to develop closer business and economic ties with its nearest neighbor, which also happens to be the world’s new economic superpower. “When China was beginning to awaken in the 1980s, many Filipinos were wary of China, they thought that China was potentially a rival… At the time, the world still did not realize that among Asian countries it was in a class of its own,” Arroyo said. “Today 40 years later, we see that China is not a rival. It is a market, an investor, a donor,” Arroyo also said. Indeed, with a 1.4-billion population, China is the world’s biggest market. It has long overtaken Japan to be the second largest economy in the world and analysts predict that in 10 years time, it will overtake the US to become the world’s biggest economy. Arroyo has made history by becoming the Philippines’ first female speaker of the House, as well as the first who was a former president. Since this is her last term as a congresswoman, her reign at the House is expected to last only a year. But it is still too early for her to retire politically. She can still serve the country, maybe as a prime minister, if ever the Constitution is changed to adopt a parliamentary form of government. Arroyo would be a brilliant PM, and she can take inspiration from Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad who was elected recently as PM for the second time at age 93. We hope that Congress can undertake the necessary changes in the Charter before the Senate spends P5 to P10 billion of the taxpayers’ money on their planned new building in Bonifacio Global City. The Philippines really needs both unicameralism and federalism to ensure political stability and sustained economic growth.