No posters, no campaign for GMA in Pampanga race

LUBAO, Pampanga—Unopposed in her bid for a third and last term as representative of Pampanga province’s second district, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not campaigned, put up posters or organized rallies for the May 9 elections.

Her eldest son, former Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, and her daughter, Evangeline Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo-Bernas, have not gone out to campaign either, as they did in 2013, because the former President could not court voters as she was under detention for plunder.

Arroyo’s house beside the San Agustin Church here does not display any campaign poster.

Neighbor Victoria Datur is not surprised. “[Arroyo] is under hospital arrest and she has no opponent so she does not have to campaign,” Datur said.

The former President has been detained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City. In July 2010, she was charged with electoral sabotage and then in October 2012, she was charged for the alleged misuse of P325 million in the intelligence fund of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

With 21 days left before the May 9 elections, local bets in Lubao have not included Arroyo’s photograph in their posters or campaign tarpaulins. Lubao is the hometown of her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal.

But Arroyo’s allies among candidates in the nearby town of Guagua have included her in their posters.

The former President also has not put up campaign materials or organized political activities in the towns of Sasmuan, Floridablanca, Santa Rita and Porac.

Arroyo supporter Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda, who is also running unopposed for her third and final term, has no campaign materials either.

Reelectionist Vice Gov. Dennis Pineda, in whose wedding Arroyo was a principal sponsor, has a showboat that moves around, playing the former President’s campaign jingle and displaying her tarpaulin. The vice governor is also unopposed in his bid for a second term.

Before the local campaign season began on March 26, the Pineda mother and son conducted medical missions and barangay services together with Arroyo’s staff.

Although the unopposed reelectionist candidates are sure winners, they have to wait for the board of canvassers to issue certificates proclaiming the winning candidates, said lawyer Emmanuel Ignacio, assistant director of the Commission on Elections in Central Luzon.

President Aquino said that while the Arroyo administration spent P9.41 billion for projects in Pampanga from 2005 to 2010, his administration funded P16.94 billion worth of infrastructure in the province from 2011 to March this year. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon