The Catholic Church and their annointed President, the 'Most Corrupt' and 'Evil' Gloria Arroyo

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo grabbed power from the democratically elected sitting President Joseph Estrada in a disguised conspiracy supported by the Philippine Catholic bishops in 2001. Arroyo was later sworn in by Congress into a six-year term amidst allegations of massive fraud during the 2004 Presidential elections.

Late last year, a nationwide survey research found that Filipinos regard Gloria Arroyo as the "Most Corrupt" President in Philippine history. During the ongoing Senate investigation on the alleged anomalous kickbacks in the canceled NBN-ZTE telecommunications contract, witnesses pin the culpability to the First Couple. What is the moral and political responsibility of the Catholic Church in the constitutionally suspect presidency of Arroyo. Rod Kapunan explores the issue of moral ascendancy in the scandal-plagued administration.

This is why we ask what right does the [Philippine Catholic] Church have to question the moral ascendancy of the Arroyo government to govern?....

In the case of Mrs. Arroyo, there was aberration in her coming to power that rendered moral ascendancy in default. Invariably, all the platitudes heaped on her as the epitome of a moral victory over that of evil are questionable. The Church has created a grave moral contradiction. In fact, some people suspect that by raising the issue of moral ascendancy the Church is attempting to cover its political shortcomings. For that matter this unwanted regime can vouch that it was during her period that the Church became politically influential and materially prosperous.

Thus, even if the Church would reassert itself as the self-anointed catalytic factor for change, this corrupt regime could bluntly ask: Look who's talking? This is why right after the Arroyo government got its first soaking of corruption, the Church failed to assert its moral clout such as saying she has lost her moral right and authority to govern the people because their being governed without their consent. To be precise, in this game where history is about to judge this regime, that accountability exclusively belongs to the Church on why this political disaster happened. It should not be a case of Mrs. Arroyo alone explaining things to the people because they know what happened to them. Their interest is in knowing who installed that juvenile political leader.