P-Noy brings GMA bashing to international stage

VIENTIANE (via PLDT) – Not content with his tirades against his predecessor before Filipino communities, President Aquino brought to the international stage his disdain for now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Addressing the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) here, the President blamed the country’s problems including its economic woes on Arroyo. 

“We suffered during the Asian financial crisis, followed by the nine and a half years of misgovernance,” Aquino said during ASEM’s first session last Tuesday. 

It was an obvious swipe at Arroyo, who is now detained on plunder and electoral sabotage charges. 

The President cited the sorry state of government he inherited from Arroyo – his economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University – adding that his administration has turned the economy around.

“By staying true to the spirit of honesty, transparency, and inclusiveness, the Philippines has not merely weathered the economic storm, we have navigated into calm waters,” Aquino said. 

In a gathering of the Filipino community here last Sunday, the President resumed his attacks against Arroyo, who he said utilized calculators that seemed to be on automatic addition mode – the reason why her administration was full of anomalies. 

Aquino compared the nine years of Arroyo and the significant changes in government during the over two years of his administration so far. 

He said Arroyo got her figures all wrong, citing the P264 million his administration saved in the construction of the Araneta-Quezon Avenue underpass and rice importation, among others.  

Apart from the P264-million savings, Aquino also reported to the Filipino community here that Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson managed to save P11.3 billion.

“This is what we call straight path. The benefits go straight to the people and not in anybody else’s pockets,” he said.   

‘Hearsay’

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño admitted yesterday that the plunder complaint he filed against Arroyo before the Office of the Ombudsman concerning the national broadband network (NBN) deal was based on Senate investigation reports. 

Casiño admitted he had no personal knowledge about the alleged bribes received by Arroyo and the other respondents in the NBN deal, when confronted by the lawyers of Arroyo when he took the witness stand yesterday. 

“All hearsay,” defense lawyer Jose Flaminiano said, adding that complainants should have first-hand knowledge of the accusations they are making.

Flaminiano said Casiño obviously did not have personal knowledge of the information in the joint complaint-affidavit that he filed in court. 

“At first he was evasive but he later admitted that his complaint was taken from Senate investigation or inquiry records. So he was just there or watched television,” Flaminiano told reporters after the hearing.

“In the rules of evidence that has no weight or evidentiary value,” Flaminiano told The STAR.

However, Casiño said in his defense that he was being presented as one of the complainants in the case. 

Casiño, along with Liza Maza of the women’s group Gabriela and one Maria Carolina Pagaduan-Araullo, filed a plunder complaint against Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. and former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza in September 2011.

The respondents were accused of receiving $35 million or P1.4 billion in commissions from China’s ZTE Corp. for the broadband project.         

The Office of the Ombudsman, saying “there is no sufficient evidence to link Arroyo to the receipt of the alleged payment of commissions (and or) kickbacks,” downgraded the charges to graft.      

Arroyo’s lawyers had long questioned the indictment, saying the complaints filed before the anti-graft agency were all based on hearsay evidence. 

The prosecution is expected to present NBN deal whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. as its second witness in today’s hearing. 

Election sabotage    case pretrial 

As this developed, Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 112 Judge Jesus Mupas set the resumption of the pretrial of the electoral sabotage case filed against Arroyo on Nov. 15 and 22.

Felda Domingo, spokesperson of Pasay RTC Branch 112, noted that Mupas had set aside the motion of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to postpone the pretrial to Jan. 31 next year.

Benjamin Santos, a lawyer for Arroyo, had filed an opposition to the delay in the pretrial of the case.

He said the argument of the prosecution that they are busy with the election period is not a valid reason to delay proceedings.

The pretrial of the case was initially scheduled on Oct. 25 but the Comelec in an ex-parte motion told the court that they are busy preparing for next year’s elections and want the pretrial to resume on Jan. 31, Feb. 7 to 21 and 28 next year.

The prosecution has submitted a 28-page pretrial brief, including the list of 59 witnesses against Arroyo and her co-accused.

– With Michael Punongbayan, Perseus Echeminada