President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s visit to Pangasinan last Wednesday was rather unusual. This is because for the first time, she came on a weekday, not on a Saturday or Sunday like in her previous visits. She also came five days after former President Fidel Ramos came to Dagupan City and left Pangasinenses still confused about his support to Mrs. Arroyo.
She had come to San Fabian on a weekday maybe because it was an official visit. We heard that she supposed to drop by the Region 1 Medical Center in Dagupan City and then meet with local officials in San Carlos City but that she cancelled it last minute because she had to go back to Malacanang to attend to more pressing concerns.
We wondered why she did not cancel the whole visit to Pangasinan. Anyway, she came here just to distribute one kilo of rice for each “poor” pupils at the San Fabian East Elementary School; land titles to the “landless” and medical cards to the marginalized sector of the province (http://pangasinanpix.prepys.com) – activities that could have easily been done by the DSWD secretary or by her daughter Luli.
With the presence of Pangasinan’s leading political leaders, who are also known GMA die-hard supporters, such as Speaker Jose de Venecia, Gov. Victor Agbayani, Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr. and Rep. Generoso Tulagan, we would like to view GMA’s visit as political. She had come here to literally gather Pangasinan politicians behind her to show Pangasinenses in a photo-op that she enjoys their support – and win Pangasinenses support in the process.
During the interaction with the local media, Mrs. Arroyo even refused to answer political questions. And it was a brilliant move because less talk means less mistakes. Rather than answering Mr. Ramos’ pronouncements in Dagupan City and possibly incurring his ire in the process, she’s rather talk about her so-called poverty alleviation programs.
While she was on her way to Manila, the Armed Forces of the Philippines was announcing that four junior officers involved in the failed Oakwood mutiny have escaped from the maximum security prison in Fort Bonifacio.
