They had long feared that this would happen after closely watching her despicable record of shamelessly mangling the Constitution, violating with impunity the rule of law, and making a mockery of our democratic institutions and principles, in the last seven years of her illegitimate presidency.

That’s why they were not shocked too much when the Freedom House, a US-based democracy watchdog, yanked the Philippines from the global roster of working democracies.

Actually, this is not the first of such reports that have put our country to shame in the eyes of the world. That downgrading closely followed a report of the human rights expert of the United Nations who, after investigating the so-called extra-judicial killings of judges, priests, journalists, activists and others and attributed these to Gloria’s police and military minions.

Indeed, there has been a notable increase in such unexplained murders and disappearances ever since she seized the seat of power seven years ago.

We too have consistently observed that Arroyo’s is not a rule of the Filipino people but by her together with rabid political partisans and charlatans in both the halls of Congress and in the executive department. And this is not to mention the nationwide surveys that showed the people perceive her as the "most corrupt" of all Philippine presidents ever.

Yes, our democratic institutions are already creaking because of the rampant corruption in her administration. Truth to tell she has been "ruling" the country with a kind of phony-democratic cocksureness.

That’s why millions of disgruntled citizens from the poor masses to church leaders, businessmen, lawyers, journalists and political activists have vocally clamored for her to step down from power, denouncing what they call the "moral bankruptcy of her tainted administration.

All these acts of a government whose moral fiber has been worn thin have been reported, many, many times in newspapers, radio and television. Thus, perceptive observers, both domestic and foreign, have noted that a government like Gloria’s that has mastered the art of cover-up and manipulation finds its constitutional right to lead the nation diminished, that it betrayed the people’s trust when it thrives not on good governance but on corrupt practices.

This is why a prestigious democracy watchdog like the Freedom House has downgraded the Philippines as a working democracy.

"Nakakahiya"!

***

Will Americans elect the first woman or the first African-American president of the world’s Number One superpower?

Those who have been watching the current presidential contest in the United States may have been wondering about the methods by which elections are conducted there by Americans.

Unlike here in the Philippines and other countries, the US electoral system is different. They continue to use the electoral college, while elsewhere the trend has been unmistakably toward methods that are not only popular (voters allowed to vote for presidential candidates) , but direct (popular voting is decisive and final). That’s why in the US indirect methods raise the possibility that one candidate could win the popular vote and yet not get selected, and the one who gets the highest number of the electoral college is elected president.

This brings us now to the electoral contests between the leading aspirants of both the Democratic and Republican parties as shown in the ongoing primaries in all the states. At the moment Senator Hillary Clinton is leading her fellow Senator Barack Obama for nomination as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party. So far, Hillary and Republican candidate John McCain have emerged as nationwide leaders.

In popular surveys, Hillary is the "most likely" to win the US presidency. Political observers say Hillary will win the nomination on the strength of her "experience" in contrast with Obama’s "inexperience." But it is too early in the day to say who’ll finally be chosen as the Democratic bet against the Republican candidate.