Word: arroyos
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...stubborness is also legendary: jealous at the birth of a younger brother, Gloria, at age four, refused to stay with her parents and went off to live with her maternal grandmother. She remained there for three years until she was finally coaxed home. Arroyo also refuses to speak to her half sister, Cielo Salgado, after she wrote in a book how her step mother (and Arroyo's biological mother) treated Cielo like "an errand girl...
...That stubborness doesn't stop Arroyo from making new allies. Since taking office in January, Arroyo has taken time to get to know her generals and regional brigade commanders. She is mindful of the seven failed coup attempts against her idol, Cory Aquino. Her schmoozing paid off, she claims, after pro-Estrada supporters tried to turn a May 2 protest against the arrest of the ex-President into an uprising against Arroyo. "Everything was in place for this coup," she says about the spring plot, "except the military component." These threats have subsided, Arroyo claims, "but we have to remain...
...While her Cabinet advisers tried to reassure Arroyo that the mass protests against her were nothing more than rent-a-crowds, she knew better. She understood that social discontent was bubbling away over the country's high unemployment rate, corruption and nonexistent social services, and Arroyo was an obvious target for their rage. Not only had she arrested the poor's favorite politician, former film actor Estrada, but many dispossessed Filipinos considered Arroyo a typical member of the Philippines' heedless aristocracy. That's not a view Arroyo accepts: she considers herself a far more humble person than is popularly imagined...
...After the May riots, Arroyo blamed her fashion advisers for dressing her up "too rich." These days, she makes a visible effort to visit more slums, wearing jeans and traveling by cycle-rickshaw. As part of her makeover, her image doctors tried to promote Arroyo as Ate Glo, or "older sister" in Tagalog. But her polished hauteur has made it difficult for the sisterly tag to stick. Nobody doubts her guts or commitment, though: after being booed out of Tondo shantytown, she bravely went back and listened to the residents' many gripes...
...surrender won't necessarily help the current hostages, who are being held by a different faction, but it means the Basilan-based rebels can no longer count on reinforcements?or on an easy escape route to other islands. If Commander Robot does give himself up, say palace sources, Arroyo will be there to meet him when he steps out of the jungle. Arroyo may not dwell on her feelings, but at that moment, she might emit a small sigh of relief...