No Aquino comment but others dismayed

Former President Benigno Simeon Aquino lll. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

FORMER President Benigno Aquino III declined immediate comment on the Supreme Court decision acquitting former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of plunder charges.

In a text message, former deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said: “We’ll defer issuing [comment] until we are able to go through the decision.”

But former Aquino officials roundly denounced the court ruling.

Sen. Leila de Lima is hopeful that the Office of the Ombudsman, which had pursued the case against Arroyo, would seek the high court’s reconsideration of its ruling.

“I am confident that the Ombudsman will study closely this decision, with the end in view of seeking a reconsideration,” said Aquino’s justice secretary.

De Lima called the ruling “unfortunate,” saying it might set back the country’s anticorruption efforts.

“The case dismissal is unfortunate; it was handed down as it is at a time when anticorruption efforts in the Philippines have been receiving accolades from all over the world,” the neophyte senator said.

“While we have yet to ascertain and assess the full effect of this decision, I am 100 percent sure that this is demoralizing or disheartening to most of us, to say the least, as it delivers a huge blow to all our initiatives,” she added.

Sad day for justice

“It’s a sad day for justice,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in a statement.

The neophyte senator and Aquino ally is among complainants in the case filed against Arroyo in the Office of the Ombudsman. “I am shocked with the high court’s ruling. But we will not lose hope,” Hontiveros said.

She maintained that the Ombudsman’s investigation found out that there was indeed an illegal diversion of funds from the PCSO’s operating budget into its confidential funds, “which can be withdrawn or accessed anytime and with few restrictions.

“The case we filed is strong. In fact, it was one of the two PCSO plunder cases admitted by the Office of the Ombudsman under Conchita Carpio Morales, and subsequently filed before the Sandiganbayan,” she said.

“The Ombudsman also confirmed that the said funds were converted, misused and illegally transferred for their own use in the guise of fictitious expenditures,” she added.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said: “The release of [Arroyo] is one of the campaign promises of President Duterte. At least, he didn’t need to do much to fulfill this one.”

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said, “I’m happy for President Gloria Arroyo that she is finally out of this particular problem. Anyway, the whole thing went through due process.”

Belmonte used to be a member of Lakas, the political party of Arroyo. Belmonte also led a petition for the Sandiganbayan to place Arroyo under house arrest.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said the Aquino administration wasted the last six years in building a solid case against Arroyo.

“As a result, she will not be held accountable for plunder even as she continues to enjoy impunity for her role in the extrajudicial killings of hundreds of activists during her term as President. Justice remains elusive for the Filipino people,” Tinio said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said his group was gravely disappointed. “More could have been done to strengthen the case and make the former President accountable. Unfortunately, it seems that the previous Aquino administration was merely contented in keeping her politically paralyzed in the past six years rather than obtaining a conviction,” Zarate said.

While he considered this a setback, Zarate said the campaign for accountability and against impunity should be carried not out only against the Pampanga representative but also former President Aquino and his group.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said that the acquittal of Arroyo showed the two kinds of justice in the country—one for the rich and one for the poor.

“The powerful can get away with a lot of things under our justice system. Meanwhile, political prisoners languish in crowded jails,” Reyes said.

He said the failure of former President Aquino to make the plunder charges stick against Arroyo was an indictment of his “daang matuwid” anticorruption drive.

“It is also important to determine the culpability of the past Aquino regime in terms of building a strong case against Arroyo. Did Aquino file a weak case destined to be dismissed?” Reyes said. With reports from Marlon Ramos, Tarra Quismundo and Gil C. Cabacungan