Angara not sure if GMA cheated

Sen. Edgardo Angara is not sure now if President Arroyo cheated his candidate – the late Fernando Poe Jr. – in the May 2004 presidential election.

In an interview with dzMM’s Anthony Taberna, Angara, who, together with former Sen. Vicente Sotto III, convinced Poe to run against Mrs. Arroyo, deflected questions on accusations of cheating that he, Sotto and other Poe supporters had leveled against the President, who denies she robbed Poe of victory.

"Don’t ask me that question. The (cheating) issue has not been resolved," he said.

Angara and Sotto and former Sen. Teresa Aquino-Oreta, who also supported Poe’s candidacy, have switched to the administration’s side and are now senatorial candidates of Mrs. Arroyo’s Team Unity.

Unlike Angara, Sotto refused to take back his accusation that the President cheated Poe.

"What I have said, I have already said. Let us not dwell on it. Let us not dwell on the past. If we do that, we cannot move forward," Sotto told a news forum last Thursday.

Commenting on Angara’s statement, House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, who was Poe’s spokesman during the election campaign in 2004, said Angara has not only switched sides but has changed tunes as well.

"He’s not sure now who cheated our candidate. He has conveniently forgotten about our accusations that Mrs. Arroyo robbed FPJ of victory. He has conveniently forgotten that FPJ had filed an election protest against Mrs. Arroyo," Escudero said.

Sotto was Poe’s campaign manager, while Angara played the role of kingmaker and political strategist.

It was Angara who formed the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino to serve as the vehicle for the actor’s presidential candidacy.

Drug test for Noynoy

In a related development, Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, another Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate, submitted himself to a drug test yesterday.

Aquino said he was complying with a law that requires aspirants for elective posts to submit a certification to the Commission on Elections that they do not use illegal drugs.

"We do this not only for the sake of complying with the law. We do this to assure the public that their future would not fall in the hands of drug addicts," he said.