Philippines Gets the Anti-Estrada in New President

For the generals, business leaders and church officials who put her in power, new Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has one overriding virtue: She is not Joseph Estrada.

Unlike the disgraced former movie star she replaced as president Saturday, she is devout and circumspect. She is not a drunk or a gambler. She doesn’t carry on a scandalous personal life for all to see.

But now that the former vice president has won the post she coveted, will she be able to establish herself as a leader who can solve the nation’s thorny economic and political problems? Or will she always be seen as a pawn of the powerful men who handed her the keys to the presidential palace? The daughter of a popular former president, Diosdado Macapagal, Arroyo has been guided in public life by her driving ambition to follow in her father’s footsteps.

Last October, as evidence emerged of suspect behavior by Estrada, Arroyo broke with the president, quit her post in his Cabinet and offered herself as the leader of the opposition.

On Friday, as Estrada’s top generals and other officials defected to the opposition and it appeared that his ouster was near, the vice president declared herself the country’s “new commander in chief.”

She finally got her wish a little after noon Saturday when she took the oath of office at the site of the “people power” protests that helped force Estrada from office. Tens of thousands of people looked on and cheered as she was installed as the Philippines’ 14th president.

On stage with her were former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel V. Ramos and Cardinal Jaime Sin--three of the key figures who helped topple dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos in the original “people power” protests of 1986.

Arroyo was sworn in by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, who had presided over Estrada’s impeachment trial on corruption charges until the proceedings were abruptly suspended Tuesday.

The presence of the respected national leaders gave an aura of legitimacy to a succession that was of questionable constitutionality.

Minutes before administering the oath of office, Davide issued a court resolution stripping Estrada of his post.

It is unclear what the legal basis was for the ruling--or whether the court even held a hearing on the issue. When reporters asked to see the opinion, Chief Supreme Court Clerk Luz Puno said she did not have a copy and instead read aloud from a draft.

Puno said the ruling had been issued in response to a request from Vice President Arroyo asking whether she could legally take the oath of office.

Estrada’s attorneys apparently were not consulted before the court acted.

The ruling played a crucial role in persuading Estrada to step down after he had insisted for months that he would not resign.

Soon after Arroyo was sworn in, Estrada issued a statement saying that, although he had “strong and serious doubts” about the constitutionality of Arroyo’s accession, he would give up his post for the good of the country.

“I do not wish to be a factor that will prevent the restoration of unity and order in our civil society,” Estrada said, as tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside the presidential palace urging him to resign.

Within an hour, trucks packed with the former president’s belongings began leaving the palace. Estrada and his family boarded a boat and departed the presidential home for the last time. He waved and smiled bravely for the cameras, an actor to the end.

Estrada May Move to Escape Charges

It was unclear where Estrada will go. He has said he will move back to his home in San Juan, but there were persistent reports that he might try to avoid future legal problems by moving to Australia or the United States.

As president, he was accused of receiving at least $74 million in illegal payoffs. A spokesman for Arroyo said Saturday that if Estrada remains in the country, he will face charges of economic plunder, a crime that could be punishable by death.

For the new president, the challenge will be to hold together the broad-based coalition of military, business and church leaders that brought her to power.

A product of the country’s elite, she is not known as a deep thinker. Until now, her political program has been simplistic. In a brief inaugural address, she said she would tackle the country’s overwhelming poverty but offered no specifics.

“I accept the privilege and responsibility to act as president of the republic,” she told the cheering crowd. “I do so with a sense of trepidation and a sense of awe.”

Arroyo sought to emphasize her contrasts with her predecessor, who became well known for buying mansions for his mistresses and making government decisions at all-night drinking and gambling parties with his cronies.

“The presidency is not a position to be enjoyed; it is a position where one must work very hard,” she said.

Arroyo, Clinton Are Former Classmates

The youthful-looking 53-year-old attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where she was a classmate and friend of Bill Clinton. She says the two remain friends and meet whenever they travel to each other’s countries.

“We were in the same class and were as close as classmates can be,” she once told the Reuters news agency. “I was 17, and he was 18 . . . both coming from hometowns very far away from the big city.”

Arroyo has a doctorate in economics from the University of the Philippines, but as the economy has foundered in recent months, she has delivered platitudes, not a detailed economic program.

“The deeper the economy goes into crisis, the more difficult the recovery will be,” the vice president told reporters last fall.

She prides herself on her ability to win more votes than any other Philippine politician, noting on her Web site that she received a record 16 million votes in 1995 when she won a seat in the Senate.

In 1998, running on a separate ticket from Estrada, she beat her nearest rival for the vice presidency by a whopping 7 million votes in a country of 70 million people.

After her victory, she attempted to work with Estrada, and he appointed her to the Cabinet post of secretary of social welfare.

Although presidents in the Philippines are restricted to a single six-year term, she could run for the post in 2004 after serving the three years remaining in Estrada’s term.

The U.S. Embassy in Manila issued a statement saying it was pleased that the presidential crisis had been resolved without violence and welcoming Arroyo’s appointment.

“We have had an exceptionally strong working relationship with new President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the past and are looking forward to working with her to strengthen U.S.-Philippine relations even further,” the embassy said.

In a country where corruption is widespread, the new president and her politically active lawyer husband, Miguel Arroyo, may find themselves drawn into scandals of their own.

Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad, an Estrada supporter, recently questioned Arroyo’s fitness to serve as president because of her alleged links to Central Luzon gambling lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda.

She acknowledged that she is the godmother of one of Pineda’s children but said that does not mean she and Pineda are especially close. As vice president, she said, she was godmother to hundreds of children.

Questions About U.S. Real Estate

Tatad also questioned the Arroyos’ purchase in the mid-1990s of two pieces of real estate in San Francisco, including a five-story, 35-unit apartment building not far from the financial district.

But such matters are small potatoes compared with the graft and questionable moral character of Estrada’s presidency.

Arroyo and her supporters have noted more than once that she reads the Bible every day--a helpful trait for a politician in this heavily Roman Catholic country.

“I am not a drunkard,” she once said. “I don’t stay up late, I don’t gamble and have no other vices.”

In her inaugural address, Arroyo sought to broaden her coalition of supporters and embrace the nation’s poor, who had strongly backed the embattled Estrada.

“It is now, as the good book says, a time to heal and a time to build,” the president said.