Palace dares Arroyo to respond to graft, poll cheating claims by ex-ally

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang dared former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on Thursday, to answer the allegations being leveled against her.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the incumbent Pampanga congresswoman should meet the charges if ever raps were filed against her.

Lacierda made the remarks in the wake of allegations by Arroyo’s former ally Zaldy Ampatuan that she ordered the cheating in the senatorial elections in Maguindanao in 2007 and that she pocketed hundreds of millions of pesos from projects in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The spokesperson also reacted to the statement by a lawyer of Arroyo’s Lakas-Kampi party that the Aquino administration was behind Ampatuan’s tirades against the former president.

“That’s a ridiculous charge. Remember during the 2007 elections, we were not in power. We were not in a position to do anything. Now the revelations of Zaldy Ampatuan are based on his own efforts to approach this administration. We did not seek him out,” Lacierda said in a noontime news conference in Malacañang.

“And again GMA is also politicizing the whole situation. The best way for (her) to respond to this is to answer the charges directly, if ever,” he added.