Akbayan disowns Bello statements vs Aquino Cabinet

MANILA, Philippines—Akbayan party-list disowned the statements of their representative Walden Bello who criticized President Benigno Aquino III’s choice of his Cabinet members.

In a statement, the party-list, whose members are part of the administration, said Bello spoke at his own capacity and the statements do not reflect the party’s stand.

“Yesterday, one of our representatives in Congress, Walden Bello, was quoted in a major daily calling for the resignation of several high-ranking officials in the Aquino government. For the record, Akbayan has a different position from that of Rep. Bello, which, as he took pains to emphasize in the same article, is solely reflective of his personal opinion and not that of the party,'” the statement, published in the party-list’s website, said.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello. Photo from congress.gov.ph

“While we maintain full confidence that Rep. Bello’s statements spring from an honest desire to promote the highest standards of accountability in government, as we have made clear before, his proposals differ from the existing consensus within Akbayan,” it added.

In a Philippine Daily Inquirer report, Bello complained of Aquino’s choices of Cabinet members, including Vice President Jejomar Binay, Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, Philippine National Police Director General Alan Purisima and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

Bello scored Binay for being involved in the allegedly overpriced Makati building from which he was accused of earning kickbacks when he was mayor.

Meanwhile, the solon criticized Abad over the Disbursement Acceleration Program, a savings-impounding mechanism parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bello also hit Alcala for being allegedly involved in the pork barrel scam, the purported scheme of using ghost agriculture and livelihood projects to earn kickbacks.

Meanwhile, Delos Reyes and Purisima were criticized over their failure to keep up with the administration’s agrarian reform and law and order agenda.

Purisima also faces false declarations of wealth charges.

“The Aquino administration is losing moral high ground on the anticorruption issue. We cannot have double standard by condemning Vice President Jejomar Binay while tolerating administration allies involved in the (Janet Lim-)Napoles (pork barrel) scam and the (Disbursement Acceleration Program, or DAP). Double standard has a tremendously corrosive effect on civic morality,” Bello said.

Bello’s statements had apparently irked President Aquino, who sarcastically said that Bello should run for president in 2016 instead of complaining.

“He has so many complaints. I suggest that if he thinks only his views are correct, he should run for president in 2016 and if he’s now the President, he could run the country according to his vision,” Aquino said.

Akbayan maintained that the party remained supportive of the President’s administration. The party-list had allied with Aquino’s Liberal Party during the 2013 elections.

“It is, however, unfortunate that the passion in Rep. Bello’s remarks has apparently prompted equally strong statements from the administration. We hope that this clarification on Akbayan’s official position puts an end to this exchange, and allows us all to focus on the work that remains to be done together,” Akbayan said.

RELATED STORIES

Aquino hits back at Bello: ‘He has so many complaints’

Aquino weighs Cabinet members