Robredo accuses Horn of lying again

PRO-ARROYO RALLY. Their poster says it all, in the Kapampangan tongue (Get your strength back. We love you). Supporters of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gather in front of St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City. ARNOLD ALMACEN

The spokesperson of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was lying when she told reporters that the former President had not been made aware of the plan to airlift her to Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said on Friday.

“Horn lied again!” Robredo said in a text message to reporters. He was referring to Elena Bautista-Horn, who said earlier in the day that there was never any mention of air transport in three meetings between the Philippine National Police and Arroyo’s camp, and that it came as a surprise when the PNP insisted on moving the now Pampanga representative from St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City to the government hospital by helicopter.

Horn had also said that Arroyo was ready to leave as early as 6 a.m., and that she was being unduly stressed by the waiting.

But Robredo cited a text message sent to him by Chief Supt. Miguel Laurel, the deputy regional director for administration of the National Capital Region Police Office, which stated that Arroyo’s camp had agreed to her transport by helicopter.

Laurel’s text message read: “Earlier [Friday] morning, as soon as we arrived at St. Luke’s, [the Arroyo] camp agreed and were ready for air transport and were waiting for the chopper to arrive.

“However, when the rains and fog crept in after 30 minutes, they already manifested that they won’t go for air travel anymore and wanted land transfer.”

Safety first

In a radio interview at noon, Robredo said the PNP had abandoned the idea of air transport because of the bad weather.

“The PNP is studying the right time of transfer. We worry about two things: first, the safety of the former President, and second, the safety of motorists in the streets,” he said, adding that “no promise was made as to when Arroyo was to be transferred.”

Robredo also said everything was ready at the VMMC presidential suite, which he inspected early on Friday.

Asked if the Arroyo camp had made any last-minute requests, Robredo said: “None, but there’s a request for the police to allow her to go sunning every day.”

“In this situation, we’re between the devil and the deep blue sea: if we grant her too much privilege, or if we deny her too much. But the first consideration must be security,” he said.

In an ambush interview, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the Department of Interior and Local Government and the PNP had the discretion on the method of transferring Arroyo to the government hospital.

“She has no right to demand because she is a detainee. It’s not right for her camp to say that there should be an agreement first on the method of transfer and that she should not be forced,” De Lima said, adding that the court did not state the method or the exact time of day for the transfer.

Day in court

Also on Friday, Malacañang denied the Aquino administration was engaging in “demagoguery” to put down Arroyo, as she claimed in a TV interview on the eve of her transfer to VMMC.

“That’s her opinion. That’s not true as far as we are concerned,” Abigail Valte, President Aquino’s deputy spokesperson, said at a news briefing.

“There’s no vilification happening. She will have her day in court; she will have the opportunity to defend herself, [and] to clear her name, if that would be the result,” Valte said.

In the interview with GMA News, Arroyo said the Aquino administration had “prejudged” her but that she had “peace of mind” and a “clean” conscience.

“My only objective was to serve. Now I am already prejudged by the new administration. They are even using demagoguery to vilify me completely. Of course, if I am vilified, he would look competent,” Arroyo said, apparently referring to the President.

“It’s sad that our current leaders are using black propaganda and prejudgment against me. As a result, our economic growth rate has weakened, and hunger and poverty are spreading,” she said.

But Valte said there was no prejudice on the part of the Aquino administration as far as the electoral sabotage case against Arroyo was concerned.

“This government has no other intention but to determine what really happened in connection with the allegations being leveled at her,” Valte said.

‘Blooming’

Commenting on the same TV interview, two militant party-list lawmakers said it showed that Arroyo had been faking her ill health to evade detention in a regular cell.

“So that is how a person with colitis looks—blooming. That interview dispels any doubt that she and her lawyers are fooling the people as to her medical condition,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Casiño said Pasay Judge Jesus Mupas should now be prompted to get a second opinion from government doctors.

In another text message, Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said the TV interview showed that Arroyo had recovered from what her camp was claiming as “a life-threatening disease.”

Bello said he would have made “the same protestations of innocence” were he in Arroyo’s place.

He said that considering Arroyo’s “very dubious” medical condition, “the hospital arrest is, in fact, an act of leniency on the part of the administration.”

“The government gave her the benefit of the doubt,” he said. “It is high time she stopped complaining and squarely faced the charges against her.”

Casiño, Bello and other militant lawmakers have insisted that Arroyo should be treated like other arrested persons, with “minimal” consideration to her status as a lawmaker and former President.

Only herself to blame

Even Arroyo’s erstwhile ally, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, assailed her for alleging that the Aquino administration was demonizing her, partly to cover up for its own shortcomings.

Reacting to the GMA News interview, Pangilinan, now an ally of Mr. Aquino, said Arroyo had only herself to blame for her circumstances.

“She’s saying that this administration is resorting to black propaganda against her, but isn’t it that she herself destroyed her name and reputation?” the senator said in Filipino.

He said Arroyo sullied her name because of such scandals as the alleged fraud in the 2004 presidential election, the purported misuse of more than P700 million in fertilizer funds, the aborted National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., and the Maguindanao massacre of 2009.

Pangilinan pointed out that Mr. Aquino had sought the presidency “under a campaign of cleaning up corruption.”

“The Arroyo administration had a long history of corruption cases and scandals, and we cannot just turn a blind eye to all of this. This administration is just doing its job and fulfilling a campaign promise,” he said, adding:

“What would we have this administration do—simply let things go because she is a former President? No, true justice is about uncovering the truth and holding people accountable for their actions regardless of their positions in office or society.”

Not too long ago, Pangilinan was a staunch supporter of Arroyo.

He came under fire from the camp of the late Fernando Poe Jr., who ran against Arroyo in the 2004 presidential election.

As a member of the national board of canvassers, he simply “noted” the opposition’s requests to scrutinize election returns in order to back its contention that there had been massive election fraud. With reports from Norman Bordadora, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Christian V. Esguerra and Jerome Aning