Mikey skipping town, too

Like his father First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo has decided to leave town and go abroad amid a raging jueteng controversy.

But before critics of the Arroyo family could place a negative spin on his trip, the young Arroyo issued a press statement yesterday explaining his reasons for leaving for the United States next week.

He said he is traveling to the US for a series of meetings with Filipino-Americans and to be a guest speaker at the Philippine Independence Day ball of the Filipino-American Council of Greater Chicago on June 4.

He said these groups invited him long ago and that he had accepted their invitations as early as November last year.

"I am sure that our detractors will again claim that I am skipping town to avoid the jueteng controversy... but I will not be deterred from performing my duties and meeting earlier commitments as the representative of the people of Pampanga," he said.

Rep. Arroyo is leaving for the US more than a week before the current session of Congress adjourns on June 10. He did not explain why he, as a representative of Pampanga’s third district, considers it part of his duties to meet with Filipino-Americans in the US.

He also criticized Minority Leader Francis Escudero for urging his father, who flew to Singapore last Friday, to immediately return home and answer accusations that he and Mikey were receiving jueteng money or protecting jueteng operators. The Arroyos have denied the accusation.

In particular, the presidential lawmaker-son protested Escudero’s statement that "there is a principle in law that flight is sometimes considered as an admission of guilt."

"That is a malicious insinuation that has no place in responsible political discourse. Just because he (First Gentleman Arroyo) is fulfilling his scheduled commitments abroad does not mean that he is admitting there is any sort of truth to these ridiculous charges. And it is not in our blood to evade responsibility or back down from any challenge," he said.

He reiterated his willingness to cooperate with the authorities who have been tasked to look into his and his father’s alleged involvement with jueteng.

In a related development, Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra urged his House colleagues yesterday "to cut and cut clean" from the "jueteng empire."

Mitra said if there are indeed some lawmakers who are profiting from jueteng or protecting gambling lords, they should heed President Arroyo’s call to dismantle the native illegal numbers game.

"I think the marching orders to all members of the (ruling) coalition supporting her is to cease running, coddling or profiting from jueteng. The age of fence-sitting is over. You are with her or against her," he said.

Mitra belongs to the pro-administration Liberal Party, which is led by Senate President Franklin Drilon.

Other administration congressmen warned critics of the President that the jueteng controversy could create a false impression of political instability and pull down the country’s credit rating.

"Talk about jueteng could undermine the country’s recent economic gains like the record revenue collection reported by the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the first quarter of this year and the enactment of the expanded value-added tax bill," said Representatives Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado of Bulacan and Ernesto Nieva of Manila.

In a joint statement, the two urged credit rating agencies to ignore the jueteng issue and just focus on the financial reforms that have been put in place since January, when the country’s credit standing was downgraded.