MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano on Monday urged the Aquino administration to stop labeling members of the opposition as “pro-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.”
Arroyo is former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is under hospital arrest in Quezon City for the non-bailable charge of electoral sabotage.
Cayetano pointed out that the pro-GMA (Arroyo’s initial) faction represents only one opposition group out of the many that form the opposition bloc.
“In a multi-party system, that’s not accurate. GMA is one opposition group. Many anti-GMA politicians also belong to the opposition,” the senator said in a statement.
Cayetano said the logic that “If you’re with Arroyo, you are with the opposition. And if you’re with Noynoy, you’re with the administration” only exacerbates existing political conflicts in the country.
“If you look at the news, first it was only the Liberal Party (LP) and the Partidong Demokratikong Pilipino (PDP) that spoke out against each other. Now, even some allegedly part of the GMA group is saying that many pro-GMA politicians are now serving under the Aquino administration,” he said.
Cayetano noted that indeed many incumbent government officials were former allies of Arroyo.
“This is how politics works in our country. But if the President wants this to change, we will engage him in that,” said the senator.