NEWSWEEK: You’ve been under pressure to separate yourself from the president for nearly a year. Before, you said you wouldn’t leave because Filipinos want their vice president to be a team player. What changed? ARROYO: The people did. I’ve learned from my consultations with people [that] they believe my proper role is to be in the opposition. I can no longer help inside the government.
One of the reasons you didn’t leave before was that you were concerned about the nation’s stability. Do you feel that, in leaving, you are contributing to stability? You saw the anger of the people, the plunging of the stock market and the peso, so staying was not contributing to stability anymore. What can begin the process of restoring stability, in fact, would be if the world sees a united opposition with an alternative national agenda.
The economy was starting to deteriorate even before the latest scandal erupted. What do you, as an economist, think is the biggest challenge now? Fundamentals are only one part of economic well-being. The other part is psychology. Now the psychological factors, which really revolve around confidence, seem to have overrun the importance of the fundamentals. To restore stability and progress after the [stock and currency sell-offs] is going to be a very difficult task.
As leader of the anti-Estrada opposition, why haven’t you commented on his situation? And why won’t you participate in the opposition’s protest rallies? We call it delicadeza. It’s not proper for me to comment on the options of resignation, impeachment or even a leave of absence, because I would be the beneficiary. The role that I see for myself is getting the opposition together, and working on the alternative national agenda that will serve as our road map for where we want to go.
I don’t choose my hometown. The important thing is that I don’t receive jueteng money. Unless they manufacture evidence, I don’t think they can ever back up their innuendoes. I’m not a close friend [of Pineda’s]. They have to show that we party together, we drink together, we play mah-jongg together. I don’t have any such associations as that. Their lifestyle is just not my lifestyle.
Do you have mixed feelings about leaving a president who was generous with you? I’m not a happy warrior, so it’s never pleasant to be opposing anyone as far as I’m concerned. But I have to do what is right.
