Arroyo ‘running scared’ over Ombudsman replacement—Palace

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must be “running scared at the thought of an independent Ombudsman” and shows that that the magistrates that voted in her favor must have done so “with partisan considerations,” Malacañang said on Thursday.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the incumbent Pampanga representative’s fear of being investigated by an impartial anti-graft watchman has led her to “muddy the waters to evade accountability.”

Lacierda was reacting to Arroyo’s opposition to Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales’ nomination which she lodged Wednesday with the Judicial and Bar Council and the plan by the minority at the House of Representatives to file a resolution seeking the investigation of President Benigno Aquino III’s Cabinet members and sub-Cabinet officials, who figured in allegations of anomalies.

Lacierda said Arroyo imputed lack of judicial integrity on Carpio-Morales on the basis of the magistrate’s voting record.
“[Arroyo] says that the voting record of Justice Morales – dissenting in many cases where the majority had voted to uphold Mrs. Arroyo when she was President – is proof positive that as Ombudsman, Justice Morales would not give the Arroyos due process and a fair handling of cases,” Lacierda said.

“At the very least, the aggressive assertion of independence on the part of the high court’s majority Mrs. Arroyo insisted upon should be given Justice Morales. Otherwise, it would serve to admit what Mrs. Arroyo had long denied: that the justices voted not on the basis of impartial law but instead with impartial considerations,” he added.

Lacierda also said that “what [House Minority Leader Edcel] Lagman is doing is testing the waters … to provide a pretext for the dwindling loyalists of Mrs. Arroyo to do something to deflect attention from their sorry record in the past administration.”

Lacierda called the move of Arroyo’s allies in the House as “less of a political move and more a psychological demonstration.”

“[That] Mrs. Arroyo is running scared at the thought of an independent Ombudsman; and in response, she prefers to muddy the waters to evade accountability,” Lacierda said.

Originally posted at 4:30 p.m.