De Lima blames Duterte for GMA comeback

Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo takes over the rostrum minutes before President Rodrigo Duterte’s State of the Nation Address. JOAN BONDOC

With the cracks and shifting loyalties in his administration alliance surfacing as former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo replaced Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez as Speaker, President Rodrigo Duterte allowed alleged corrupt officials to return to power, according to Sen. Leila de Lima.

In a statement from her detention cell at Camp Crame, De Lima said on Wednesday that Arroyo was the “runaway winner” in the power struggle among the President’s allies in the administration-dominated House of Representatives.

De Lima, who is facing drug-related charges, blamed the President for allowing Arroyo to return to power despite her alleged involvement in plunder and corruption.

Prophecy

“The joke has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: the people voted  Duterte, but it was Arroyo who won. This is the bargain the Filipino got, a buy-one, take-one ‘ukay-ukay’ deal,” she said.

For De Lima, the President marked the beginning of his third year in office by enabling the return to power of one of her anticorruption targets as justice secretary under President Benigno Aquino III.

“Never mind a legislative agenda that would fight poverty, spur development, and save the people from runaway inflation and rising unemployment,” De Lima said.

“Letting Arroyo grab the speakership, with the resultant bandwagon which includes the Marcoses, was the first order of business of the people around the President as he starts his third year in office,” she added.

Stopped at airport

As the justice secretary in 2011, De Lima stopped Arroyo from traveling abroad for medical treatment with her husband. Arroyo was later charged with sabotaging the Senate elections in 2007.

The House leadership squabble on Monday, which delayed the State of the Nation Address for more than an hour, reflected badly on the President, De Lima said.

“Duterte was kept waiting in a holding room like a bystander while Arroyo jockeyed for position, and while ousted Speaker Alvarez tried to negotiate an undeserved graceful exit,” she added.

The quarrel between Arroyo and Alvarez could pave the way for the former President to become more powerful, De Lima said.

“And as every one among their followers unites behind Charter change and federalism, there is no doubt who, after Duterte, will be one of the primary beneficiaries of the new order,” she added. —Leila B. Salaverria