Considering the condition and assessment of the people, Gloria failed. Threatening her year in office are calls for her to step down, and another People Power. She has not brought any change in our economic condition better than what her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, left. Poverty persists, and continues to outrage the masses. The rumored coup attempts are said to be proofs of the people's discontentment, or disappointment. And just weeks ago, U.S. troops began landing on the troubled southern province of Mindanao, and this further disappoints the Filipino people.

Arroyo is accused of violating the Constitution when she offered to send and allow U.S. troops to join the Abu Sayyaf chase. Foreigners are not supposed to fight on the nation's soil, if that clause in the Philippine Constitution would be followed. But the visiting forces agreement signed in 1999 allows U.S. troops to join in our nation's military exercises provided the government with a justification for the recent landings.

Highlighting these flaws of her presidency, however, did not overwhelm this "diminutive" but tough lady. She expertly and elegantly proves that she deserves to be called the Iron Lady, as what the recent issue of Time Magazine tagged her as. She continues to get the trust and cooperation of her people, especially the masses who still want their President Joseph Estrada. Gloria busies herself, aside from improving the nation's economy and foreign relations, visiting provinces and slum areas where she is not really popular. Erap's, as what Estrada is commonly known, term as an actor-turned president and adored by the masses is over. Now it is her time to perform.

Fighting against poverty and terrorism is her first concern. But it seems that work would not be easy at all even with the military on her side. Destabilization plots against her government are widely established. Activist groups like SANLAKAS continues to demand for her resignation. She had her one year chance to prove that she can run the government better, and she failed. Now she has to let go of the office. But being the Iron Lady as she is described, Gloria still holds on. She has early been exposed to politics, she knows just too well how to handle situations like this one she's facing.

She wouldn't be blamed for the slow recovery of the nation even after her first year of service. The first year of any president, or any Philippine politician really, is consumed by paying back supporters. So the year that passed is not yet the test of Gloria's effectiveness, it would just be starting now.

So again, did the Iron Lady pass the test? The answer is yet to be known. But so far, Gloria has proven her prowess. For a lady often mocked for her size, Gloria exhibits a tough "economist with a politician's heart", or the other way around. For a president who aims to be good and not great, she tries to be the solution to the nation's problems as she was perceived a year ago. Now, Gloria stretches herself further to rise above the indictments of the discontented and desperate people. These times should be her finest hours, not her downfall.