The truth is that it was taken with only her political survival in mind.

She will do anything to gain, even sell the country down the river, to get the support of George Bush to her shaky presidency.

We all know that the root of the instability Arroyo’s presidency is her cheating in the 2004 elections. It all goes back to the "Hello Garci" tapes.

It will be recalled that in the July 4, 2005 US Embassy national day reception, Arroyo surprised embassy officials when she informed them that she was attending the event which was to be held at the embassy.

That was some three weeks after her press secretary Ignacio Bunye held up the two discs, one of them exposing her masterminding the thwarting of the will of the people in the 2004 elections.

Presidents usually do not attend national day receptions. It’s the foreign secretary or any of the top officials of the department of foreign affairs who represent the country in those social events.

That particular reception was a little bit complicated because it was held at the US embassy building, which under the Vienna Convention of diplomatic relations, is American territory. A head of state going to another country’s premises is tantamount to a state visit.

Malacañang insiders said her political advisers told her to make her presence at the US embassy event as a message to the public that America is on her side in her moments of crisis.

They learned that Susan Roces, the widow of the man Arroyo cheated, would be in the reception and they dreaded to see a picture of Susan and Joseph Mussomeli, the charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in the front pages of newspapers the next day.

It was obvious that she was just there for the photo opportunity. She just stood beside Mussomeli as he and Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo did the traditional toasts. After that, she left. (Roces decided not to attend and sent her daughter Mary Grace instead.)

Arroyo that night was a picture of a groveling head of state. It was embarrassing.

To be back in the good graces of Bush has been Arroyo’s obsession after she proved herself an unreliable ally when she withdrew the Philippine contingent in Iraq when she was threatened with protests over the kidnapping of truck driver Angelo de la Cruz.

The US state department had shown her that she has not been forgiven by its continued refusal to grant her requests for an invitation for another White House visit.

Although the Daniel Smith rape case was seen as a problem that could strain RP-US relations, the Machiavellists in Malacañang saw it as an opportunity to make Arroyo valuable to Bush.

A source close to Arroyo said she was not exactly unhappy over the conviction of Smith by Makati Judge Benjamin Pozon not because she sympathized with the Filipina rape victim, but she knew the Americans would need her to help Smith.

She did not reckon, however, with the public outrage that followed the brazen railroading of the Con-Ass by Speaker Jose de Venecia and his gang. With all the religious groups ranged against her, her fragile hold on power was again being shaken she had to even postpone the 11th Asean summit in Cebu which "surely lowered the credibility of the Philippine government", in the words of Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari.

Arroyo couldn’t do much about Smith at that time as she was pre-occupied with surviving. Thus, the US had to use the stick which was the cancellation of the Balikatan exercises.

There was a meeting of the cabinet cluster on national security before Christmas. A source said there was concern that the US might be seeing Arroyo not only as an untrustworthy ally but worse, a spent and useless asset in Asia. They were worried of American non-support for Arroyo if they did something drastic to forestall her downfall.

Thus, the springing of Smith by the Philippine National Police from Makati City jail midnight of Dec. 29.

Now, Malacañang is calling for a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement. It’s like telling Uncle Sam, "If you don’t support me, the leftist opposition will junk the VFA. I’ve proven I can deliver the country to you. You need me more than ever."

All these because we have a bogus president.