Plot vs Arroyo work of fiction, says Aquino

President Benigno Aquino III

They must have seen too many spy thrillers or read too many conspiracy novels.

That was the reaction of President Benigno Aquino III and other administration officials and supporters to claims by the camp of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo about a supposed plot by the administration to kill her.

“You’re asking too long a question about a work of fiction. I’m starting to look like a fool answering it,” Mr. Aquino said Thursday in Filipino when asked about the allegation.

The unverified report was sprung on the media the other day by Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo’s spokesperson.

Horn claimed the plot was dubbed “Put the Little Girl to Sleep” and that the report came from a supposedly A-1 source in the government.

She did not identify any source.

Aquino denied his administration had cooked up any such plot. Persistent questioning by reporters, including a journalist from a government television station on whether Arroyo would be safe being detained in a government hospital, appeared to irk the President.

Arroyo’s camp had sought either house arrest or hospital detention for the former President, who has been charged with electoral sabotage, a nonbailable offense. On Thursday, Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Jesus Mupas ordered she be held at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

Work of fiction

Asked his thoughts on the purported plot, Mr. Aquino said: “You know, we don’t comment on works of fiction. Perhaps to those who are listening, the important thing here is motivation.” He added: “What could be our possible motive to do such a thing?”

Mr. Aquino also said: “What we promised is conviction, for those who commit a crime to be convicted.” He challenged Arroyo’s camp to present evidence of the alleged plot.

“If they have proof, let them present it. But if they don’t have any proof, that would be a throwback to past practices,” he said.

“That’s why I started my answer by saying it is a work of fiction. Let me repeat. If there’s a crime, investigators should look for a motive,” the President said.

Bulletproof windows

“So what do we stand to gain if there would be no more accused in this case? There’d be no closure, right? There’d be no trial if there’s no one accused. If there’s no closure, the problem would persist,” he said.

The “little girl” should be able to sleep safe and sound in a suite with bulletproof windows at the VMMC, other officials said.

She will be billeted in the 120-square-meter presidential suite, the same one occupied by her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, who found himself in a similar situation a decade ago.

“There is no way that harm would come her way while confined at Veterans hospital,” Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said in a statement. “If anything wrong happens to her while inside said government facility, then it will be the liability of this administration.”

In a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Robredo said: “No one believes it. That’s really the problem when you have no credibility.” He also said that “the windows of the presidential suite (at VMMC) are bulletproof.”

Robredo hinted that Horn’s accusation could just be part of Arroyo’s “strategy to court support from the public and the courts to let her be placed under ‘house arrest’ pending litigation of her electoral sabotage case.”

“With the Pasay City RTC’s latest decision [to transfer her to VMMC], I think they would soon change their tack,” Robredo said.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima laughed off Horn’s allegation.

“What are they insinuating? That the threat is coming from the government?” De Lima told reporters. “That’s the height of paranoia.”

Enrile: ‘Improbable’

Philippine National Police Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome said he had asked the Southern Police District to look into Horn’s  allegations. “Anything that comes along we will have to check it out and take seriously,” Bartolome said.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile called for an investigation. But he said he was not buying the story that the administration was behind such a plot.

“To me, it’s rather improbable unless the people in Malacañang are crazy and I don’t think they are,” he said. “It is not profitable for Malacañang to threaten anybody because they will become the victim of the threat … What would be gained by Malacañang in harming the former President?

Still, he said the authorities should investigate. “The information has to be analyzed if it’s true or not,”  he said.

Senator Franklin Drilon of the Liberal Party said Horn’s claim was a “lie” similar to the Arroyo camp’s previous claims that she was in a critical medical condition.

“That’s an act of desperation … I would advise them to stop engaging in this kind of propaganda because it will not bring them anywhere,” Drilon said. “I am not surprised at the lies that they spread. We now have a doctor and the name is Doctor Horn.”

Arroyo ally

Even an Arroyo ally, Quezon Representative Danilo Suarez, could not help but agree with administration officials.

“I’m going to side on this one with the government,” Suarez said. “Why would the government plan to kill her? Not only are these things supposed to be planned hush-hush, but what will the government gain from it?”

Horn gave multiple interviews on radio and TV to talk about the supposed plot, saying she received the information four days ago.

Akbayan Representative Walden Bello said Horn must have a “very fertile imagination fed by too much reading of Tom Clancy novels.”

Act Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio said: “We must remember that we’re dealing with someone who fabricated election results to maintain her grip on power, and therefore has no scruples when it comes to lying to the public to justify her actions. Put this story to bed and put Arroyo in jail.” With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Philip C. Tubeza and Marlon Ramos