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Friday, March 14, 2008
Palace brands ex-Cabinet officials as 'rumor mongers'
MANILA -- Malacañang, in reaction to the statement made by former senior government officials (FSGO) on Thursday, branded the group as "rumor mongers."
Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said the statement that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is at the center of anomalies in government is "irresponsible and sweeping."
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
After Malacañang ignored their recommendations to curb corruption in government, FSGOs urged their incumbent colleagues to re-think their service under the President saying she is at the center of corruption and cover-up of the botched national broadband network (NBN) contract with China's ZTE Corp.
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Ex-Cabinet officials say Arroyo is unfit to be President
Ex-Cabinet officials: Arroyo at center of corruption in NBN deal
During Thursday's press conference at the historic Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, the FSGOs, more popularly known as the La Salle 60, said they have already lost their trust and confidence in the President's capability to govern and to stamp out graft and corruption in the government.
In response, Fajardo said it is easy to make allegations but there should be proof.
"Having been once holders of significantly high positions in government, they should be the first to know that accusations are merely loose talks if not backed by sustained evidence. From respected government officials, now they have simply become 'rumor mongers.' What a sad turn of events," she said.
Reports said the FSGOs have lost their confidence on Arroyo and are joining the scheduled rally for truth and accountability in Manila on Friday.
"We express our loss of confidence in her (President Arroyo). As a consequence we question not only her moral authority to govern, but also her ability to govern given the mounting garbage of lies and obfuscation that she is constrained to build to cover up the increasing stench of corruption in her administration," said the group's statement read by former Civil Service Commission chairperson Karina Constantino-David.
The group's membership has risen to more than 90 since they first came out last month. Among the group's members are the "Hyatt 10," the Arroyo Cabinet members who resigned at the height of the "Hello Garci" scandal in 2005 and officials of past Presidents Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and Joseph Estrada.
They said President Arroyo's continued refusal to serve the people's demand for truth in the recent NBN controversy is emblematic of the government's reaction to past scandals, including the "Hello Garci" tape and fertilizer scam.
"She (President Arroyo) must act to help bring out the full truth about this deal if her hands are truly clean. The Arroyo presidency must shelter the truth or it will be judged as a fortress for lies," the FSGOs said, lamenting the way "the President's spokespersons were summarily dismissing these demands. Later her advisers even criticized and threatened us for making these demands."
"We conclude that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo refuses to serve the people's demand for truth about a matter of great public interest. We see in this refusal, despite ample chances and many sound reasons, a clear basis for our people to find her complicit with and, in fact, at the center of, the corruption and cover up of the NBN-ZTE deal," they said.
But Fajardo said they are barking up the wrong tree because the President has done her part by revoking Executive Order (EO) 464 and Memorandum Circular (MC) 108, which restricts the appearance of executive officials in congressional inquiries.
The FSGOs however said that although the President has scrapped EO 464, the revocation "does not serve the truth if acting Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri continues to invoke executive privilege and does not testify on the NBN deal controversy."
According to Fajardo, the Senate refused the compromise deal offered by Chief Justice Reynato Puno on how to deal with the Senate testimony of Neri and the sign of goodwill from the Palace following the revocation of EO 464 and MC 108.
"The ball is in the hands of the Senate, and the ex-men should ask the Senate to play ball. We only wonder why they insist on making it appear that the President has not done her share in the search for truth," she said. (JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (March 14, 2008 issue)
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