SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga – President Arroyo is now the administration’s official candidate for congresswoman in the second district of Pampanga, and she appeared confident of victory when she filed her candidacy at the provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) here Tuesday.

Mrs. Arroyo said she intends focus on her current job as the country’s leader as she took comfort in the promise of loyal local executives and supporters to campaign for her.

Accompanied by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, son Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo and some cabinet members, the President was swarmed by hundreds of supporters as she formalized her congressional bid.

The Chief Executive, showing the skills of a veteran politician, readily shook hands with the people, at times allowed to be kissed by her supporters, and granted quick photo opportunities.

Prior to her filing, the President heard an 8 a.m. mass at the San Agustin Church in her hometown of Lubao where local priests reminded her to remain a humble leader.

The President, who is barred by the Constitution from seeking reelection, said she is not yet ready to bow out of public service and decided to run for Congress to satisfy the clamor of the people of Pampanga and her desire to serve.

“I will be firmly in control of our national government until the last day in office as president. As president, my first commitment is to the nation we all love,” she said.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde noted that her son, Rep. Mikey Arroyo, got 90 percent of the votes in Lubao when he previously ran for congressman.

“What more if the President runs?” he added.

Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda thanked the President for yielding to the clamor to run and assured her victory is in the bag.

Pineda told the President that “100 percent” of the residents in the towns of Lubao, Guagua, Floridablanca, Porac, Sta. Rita, and Sasmuan that comprise the district are supportive of her.

Mrs. Arroyo will be running against Filipinas Rosario Dayrit Cea-Sampang, who filed her certificate of candidacy Tuesday at the Comelec main office in Manila, and a certain Feliciano Serrano, an electrical engineer from Porac town.

Cea-Sampang is the niece of former Senator Edmundo Cea who was also a delegate to the 1970 Constitutional Convention and a member of the defunct Batasang Pambansa. She vowed to end the “dynastic rule” of the Arroyos in Pampanga.

“Ako ay tumutugon sa tawag ng konsensya, at gumising sa damdamin ng ating nanunungkulan na sundin ang nakatataas na batas ng konsensya. I wish to invoke the spirit of the law as embodied in our Constitution that prohibits dynastic rule, monopoly of power and arrogance of power that leads to violence and anarchy,” Cea-Sampang told the Manila Bulletin.

Cea-Sampang, 45 years old, was born in Tigaoan, Camarines Sur but her mother Zenaida Dayrit hails from San Fernando, Pampanga.

She obtained a masters degree in government management and public administration at the Technological Institute of the Philippines. She worked at the Batasang Pambansa as special assistant to Assemblyman Cea and later as technical assistant and a civilian employee of the Presidential Security Group during the Aquino administration.

“Hindi negosyo ang politika. Political power must not stay too long in the hands of a single family. It is not a franchise to be enjoyed. Public service is a public trust and we are accountable for our action before the people,” Cea-Sampang declared.

Supporters of the President said there are no strong candidates against Mrs. Arroyo since the opposition in the province led by Governor Eddie Panlilio failed to field a viable candidate.

Earlier, the opposition was grooming at least three possible candidates, including President Arroyo’s elder half-sister, Cielo Macapagal Salgado, but the latter said she had lost her appetite for political power and instead would like to serve the people in other ways.

University of the Philippines professor Randy David also said that he would field himself against the President but withdrew his bid because of the “clamor of his family to stay away from politics.”

“I do not want my family to suffer the consequences of me vying for an elective position. I just want President Arroyo to stick with her vow of ‘delicadeza and honor’,” the sociology professor said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson meanwhile said even the word “shameless” is an understatement to describe Mrs. Arroyo’s bid to be Pampanga representative, adding that she is clearly taking advantage of the absence of a constitutional prohibition to run to be able to cling to power.

“Shameless must be too good a word to describe her. Even Mr. Webster would fail to think of an appropriate word for a public official like her,” he said.

Lacson said that in choosing to run again after nine years as President, Mrs. Arroyo had defied the foresight and anticipation of the framers of the 1987 Constitution which limits a president to a single six-year term to keep him or her from staying in power.

"She defied all foresight and anticipation of the framers of our Constitution who never imagined a President would someday think of such a political impropriety. They never thought there would be a political creature like Mrs. Arroyo,” he added.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, who spouses the rights of youth and women leaders, said Mrs. Arroyo’s bid for a seat in the House of Representatives is “violence against the Filipino people.”

“While it is true that there are no Constitutional obstacles to her congressional run, the implications of her actions have serious moral and ethical dimensions,” Cayetano said.

“She apparently plans to build a political fortress in the Lower House as a layer of protection from investigations and suits once her presidential immunity is lifted,” she said, adding that Mrs. Arroyo must have been frightened by recent statements of presidential candidates including the administration’s standard-bearer.

“If there is anything consistent under Mrs. Arroyo’s nine-year reign, it’s the bastardization of our democratic institutions. This is reflected in the many unresolved cases of corruption scandals amid worsening poverty, extrajudicial killings and recently the breakdown of peace and order as shown in last week’s massacre of civilians, women leaders and journalists in Maguindanao,” Cayetano said.

Supporters for their part described Mrs. Arroyo’s candidacy as a “a sign of humility”.

The Pampanga Mayors’ League (PML), which earlier signed a resolution urging the President to run, said few leaders have the humility to step down to a lower position once their terms ended.

“In the case of President Arroyo, she even holds the highest position in the land, but she still decided to get closer to the people of her home province,” said Mayor Pineda of Lubao, the president of PML.

“She does not need to do that, but her desire to serve her Kabalens led her to consider heeding the call of the people from her district,” Lakas-Kampi-CMD gubernatorial bet Lilia Pineda, a close ally of President Arroyo, said in the vernacular.

Candaba Mayor Jerry Pelayo said they would be the ones to run the President’s campaign.

“We are willing not only to back her campaign, but also to facilitate the campaigns to make sure that she would win,” Pelayo said. (With reports from Roy Mabasa, Hannah Torregoza and Mark Anthony Manuel)