That President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in the hotly contested 2004 Presidential Elections is indeed a very ‘iffy’ possibility better left for the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to decide. Debating such a possibility, especially in the presence of some allegedly incriminating TAPES, would indeed seem futile, if not altogether dumb! But then we tend to forget the legal maxim: a person is always considered INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY beyond reasonable doubt. A mother caught ‘in the act’ with their handsome neighbor by her young son would indeed seem guilty as hell, but she can always say, with tongue in cheek: I must’ve been dreaming; besides in the dark I really thought he was your father!

Of course cheating is far removed from polygamy but the fact that there can be a lot of reasons given to JUSTIFY even the most brazen transgressions must give us pause, and allow Pres. GMA the benefit of the doubt! Her top-notch lawyers must now be burning their midnight candles on both ends just to find that JUSTIFIABLE JUSTIFICATION which could open a legal trapdoor that would allow Her Serene Highness to escape with just some minor scratches and contusions! Besides, let him or she who is BEYOND SIN cast the first stone! In my opinion, the only people who can really do this are those who LOST in the elections!

Even if the ‘hello Garci’ tapes are highly VOLATILE, PGMA’s guilt must still be established with finality in an accepted court of Law, her nebulous silence notwithstanding. An Impeachment trial would be the best course to take BUT how in Heaven’s name can an Impeachment trial even take-off given the relatively big majority of PRO GMA congressmen and senators? The planned and expected alternative would, of course, be to take to the streets and let People Power 3 decide. But the only problem with this is that the People seem to have gotten sick and tired of having to take to the streets almost EVERY THREE YEARS! For crying out loud! When will it all end and where will all these take us?

Cheating has become a way of life to most people who seem to have grown addicted to POWER. Most of them often say: the MEANS justify the end, even if these are destructive and downright DISHONEST! Still some will insist that only they are qualified to wield power and right the wrongs, even if their own BEGININGS kicked-off on the WRONG FOOT! Hypocrites, unfortunately, abound in this country like cockroaches who love to frolic in the dark, murky, and stinking sewers of other people! In the ebony background of O.P.S. (other people’s sins) these Pharisees have the ability to make their souls look white!

It is indeed unfortunate that Pres. GMA is now being perceived to have resorted to some DUBIOUS means just to, perhaps, see to it that her END of giving the Filipino People, not only the better, but the best alternative to a popular but dangerously dense political rookie! But then who says having the brains and academic excellence guarantees a good leadership? We were all snatched out of the PIGSTY of Dictatorship by a mere HOUSEWIFE who, supposedly, only knew how to make coffee and belonged only in the bedroom! Cory Aquino was cheated by a mile but she instead became the rallying point that toppled the Dictator!

The political opposition has its own blighted dreams of regaining lost glory by kicking Madame Arroyo out of The Palace, but they fail to realize that aside from their rickety blighted selves, there really is NO ONE in the near horizon that can galvanize the People into rising up and take PGMA out of Malacanang! Indeed the Opposition now looks like a headless galloping wild stallion lost in the wilderness!

The Final Alternative, a Coup d ‘etat, has been tried for several times but the POLARIZED Armed Forces has been unable to sustain an armed uprising and bring it to its desired end! That they will not stop trying to use their GUNS instead of their BRAINS to run this country is a dire possibility which will only tend to amplify our economic woes! Of course this is not in anyway being written to justify PGMA in any manner but an OBJECTIVE effort to bring us back to good old ‘terra firma’ and get the ECONOMIC BALL ROLLING! It still is and will always be THE ECONOMY, stupid!