Joker Arroyo blames Lacierda, et al.’s ‘indolence’ for Aquino’s missteps

Former Senator Joker Arroyo
INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III gets into trouble because of the “indolence” of his spokespersons, former Senator Joker Arroyo said on Tuesday.

“Part of the problem in Malacañang is the indolence of their spokespersons,” Arroyo said in a statement. “They play things by ear and pass [them] off as facts.”

“Staff indolence, that’s why the President gets into trouble for missteps that are not his,” he added.

Arroyo specifically pointed to presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda’s statements that he did not react to irregularities that allegedly took place during  the administration of then President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo like the  fertilizer scam and the ZTE scandal.

In the case of  the  fertilizer scam,  Arroyo pointed out that he was  the chairman of the Senate blue ribbon when it investigated the  scam along with the committee on agriculture,  which led the inquiry.

In fact, he said, he co-authored the 41-page committee report, “strongly condemning the project and recommending  prosecution of the offenders from top to bottom.”

On the ZTE investigation,  Arroyo said he filed a separate  opinion with the opening declaration that the “broadband project, subject of the investigation, was doomed to fall at its  inception.”

“As I postulated after the elections and with the election of President Aquino, the ZTE case found its way to the Ombudsman and the prosecution of the offenders,” he said.

Arroyo said Senate records would show that he “found fault in many issues with GMA (Arroyo’s initials.)

He then cited how he appeared and argued before the Supreme Court against Arroyo and  won them, how he fought Executive Order 464 or executive privilege as well as Proclamation 101,  which curtails  freedom of assembly and of the press.

As then chairman of the blue ribbon committee, Arroyo said he reported and condemned the anomalous deals and contracts involving  PIATCO (Philippine International Air Terminals Corp), the tax credit scandal, Napocor and Masinloc biddings,  among others.

All these records are accessible in the Senate records. You do not need an FOI (freedom of Information) for that,’ Arroyo added.