The camp of Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga on Tuesday downplayed claims of President Benigno Aquino 3rd in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) that there were irregularities during her nearly ten-year presidency. Mrs. Arroyo’s spokesman Elena Bautista Horn, a former head of the Presidential Management Staff, said that the government still has funds, contradicting allegations of President Aquino that the Arroyo administration misused government money.
According to Horn the P105-million calamity fund is intact, also contrary to Mr. Aquino’s charges that it had been disbursed to favored groups.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo’s son, Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo of party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy, also on Tuesday asked the President to order the Truth Commission to investigate alleged wrongdoing by all past presidents, including Mr. Aquino’s mother, late former President Corazon Aquino.
Bishop Gaudencio Rosales had suggested that such investigation be made.
Also on Tuesday, House Minority Floor Leader Edcel Lagman of Albay called the President’s first SONA as a compendium of motherhood statements and a continuation of campaign rhetoric.
Lagman said that the speech fell short of their expectations.
“Instead of being a blueprint for development and policy direction, the SONA was generally a partisan press release, a complaint sheet, a compendium of
motherhood statements and a continuation of campaign rhetoric,” he added.
Lagman said that the SONA lacked particulars and “was virtually hanging in the air.”
He, however, clarified that he was not defending the Arroyo administration, only that he wanted Mr. Aquino to be accurate with his facts and figures.
Rep. Joseph Victor Estrada of San Juan (Metro Manila) urged the President to prosecute the Arroyos and their alleged cohorts.
“Nevertheless, President Aquino must not stop investigating executives of each department since it was impossible for them to commit these acts [of wrongdoing] without the knowledge of their boss,” he said, apparently referring to then President Arroyo.
He backed strengthening of the Witness Protection Program and passage of the Whistleblower’s Bill, saying that these could speed up resolving alleged anomalies in the Arroyo administration. –RUBEN D. MANAHAN 4TH, Manila Times
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
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