‘This is not vindictiveness; this is about accountability’

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER

What drives President Benigno Aquino III in his effort to prosecute his predecessor for alleged corruption and election fraud?

Malacañang on Saturday defended the President amid the impression that he was going after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now a representative of Pampanga, out of sheer “vindictiveness.”

“This is not about vindictiveness. This is not about political persecution. This is about accountability,” his deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said in her weekly media forum aired over Radyo ng Bayan.

Valte reminded Mr. Aquino’s critics that if his actions against Arroyo were borne out of spite, his administration should have filed a string of charges against her starting from “Day One.”

“The government is in a position to do so many things to abuse [its] power, but that is not the style of President Aquino,” she said. “We go through the right process.”

Valte said no less than Arroyo’s camp had promised to confront the charges against her in the proper forum. “This is that day. They will have their day in court,” she said.

Leave it to docs

On Friday, one of Arroyo’s attending physicians testified in court that she was now “medically fit” to leave St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

“As far as my subspecialty is concerned, she is fit to be treated as an outpatient,” Dr. Mario Ver, an orthopedic surgeon, told the court of Pasay Judge Jesus Mupas.

Valte said Arroyo’s lawyers and spokespersons should now stop talking about her medical condition in the media and instead leave the matter to her doctors.

“Have pity on the doctors. Don’t issue your own medical bulletin because you are not doctors,” Valte said in Filipino. “Even I, when asked if President Aquino has a cold, do not respond because I am not a doctor.”

She added: “When it comes to [Arroyo’s] medical condition, let’s just allow her doctors to speak about it.”

Senate inquiry

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, head of the Senate blue ribbon committee, earlier announced that it would summon Arroyo’s doctors to testify on her real medical condition.

His committee, along with the committee on electoral reforms, is to resume on Nov. 29 its inquiry into the alleged election fraud under the Arroyo administration.

Guingona on Saturday said the committee would no longer summon the doctors because their court testimony “clearly established the true and accurate medical condition of Mrs. Arroyo.”

“The committee has therefore decided that there is no more need to invite the said doctors,” he said in a statement.