Drilon set up GMA — Bunye

He just cannot take it anymore. And it is time to draw the line.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye broke his silence yesterday and denounced Senate President Franklin Drilon for allegedly having "set up" President Arroyo into making her infamous "I’m sorry" televised confession last June 27.

"Drilon set PGMA up," Bunye charged.

The concurrent press secretary also said that after Drilon and other political figures failed to force Mrs. Arroyo out of office in July and the impeachment case against her was dismissed by the House of Representatives, the Senate president is now leading a series of investigations in his chamber that are "disguised impeachment proceedings."

Reached by The STAR last night, Drilon dismissed Bunye’s assertions as nothing but "political intrigue."

"I deny all that. That’s political intrigue. There is no such thing," Drilon said of the alleged plot to grab power. He, however, confirmed that he "gave his input" on the "I’m sorry" statement of Mrs. Arroyo.

"But that’s beside the point. What’s the point when the decision was made that she would deliver it?" he said.

Bunye disclosed it was Drilon, president of the Liberal Party (LP), who even participated in drafting the statement read by the President, in which she apologized on national television for her "lapse in judgment" in phoning an unidentified election official at the height of the canvassing of results of the May 10 presidential election last year.

The President’s statement was aired on the evening of June 27 live from Malacañang over the government-owned NBN-4 television station.

In a signed statement he exclusively furnished to The STAR, Bunye accused Drilon of being "an active part" of continuing attempts to grab power from Mrs. Arroyo even after the largely administration-controlled House of Representatives effectively "killed" the impeachment proceedings against her.

When pressed on whether he would be willing to turn his signed statement into a sworn affidavit, Bunye retorted: "My words are carved in stone."

Bunye expressed his "disgust" over the manner by which Drilon has been covertly involved in a "premeditated attempt to grab power by systematically trying to weaken the President" through the conduct of Senate inquiries that are supposedly "in aid of legislation," but which cover the same issues detailed in the amended impeachment complaint filed by House opposition lawmakers against Mrs. Arroyo.

He particularly cited the ongoing Senate investigation into the government’s North Rail project as well as the inquiry into the "Hello, Garci" wiretapping scandal.

"Now, more than ever, I am convinced that the ongoing Senate investigation on North Rail and other investigations being lined up are merely disguised impeachment proceedings," Bunye said.

"North Rail is part of the amended impeachment complaint which was junked by the House of Representatives," he pointed out.

But Drilon took strong exception to Bunye’s accusation, saying the North Rail inquiry was based on an earlier privilege speech given by opposition Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile on Feb. 14 this year.

"So these inquiries took place before all of these controversies happened. All of these investigations were being done as legitimate functions of the Senate and it should be viewed that way," Drilon maintained.

An irate Bunye took up the cudgels yesterday for the President almost three months after her confession, in which she admitted to speaking to an election official, but never confirmed she was indeed one of the voices heard on the allegedly wiretapped recordings.

"I have held back in making this revelation, because after the ‘Hyatt 10’ incident, despite all the attacks made against her, PGMA asked her Cabinet members not to respond in kind," Bunye explained.

"But now, it is time to draw the line," Bunye told The STAR.

The Hyatt 10 refers to the ten Cabinet and sub-Cabinet officials led by former finance secretary Cesar Purisima who announced their irrevocable resignation during a press conference last July 8 at the Hyatt Hotel on Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.

A few hours later that same day, Drilon also called for a press conference at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan where he announced the supposed majority decision by his LP partymates led by Tarlac Rep. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, son of former President Corazon Aquino, asking Mrs. Arroyo to voluntarily resign from office or be impeached.

However, LP stalwarts led by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and Environment Secretary Michael Defensor denied there had been a consensus and accused Drilon of railroading the supposed LP statement calling for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation from office.

Also on the same day, former president Aquino appeared in a hastily organized press conference to ask the President "to make the supreme sacrifice" by stepping down from office after she admitted to a "lapse of judgment."

"I would say that this is part of a premeditated attempt to grab power by systematically trying to weaken the President and no less than Frank Drilon is an active part of it," Bunye charged.

He recalled that on June 25 (Saturday), two days before the "I’m sorry" TV appearance of the President, former trade secretary Juan Santos (who later joined the Hyatt 10), Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Merceditas Gutierrez, retired justice Jose Vitug, Drilon and himself met at the Greenhills residence of the Senate president.

In that meeting, he recalled, Vitug advised the President "to keep silent on the tape controversy" following the uproar created by the wiretapped telephone conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

"In the course of the meeting, Drilon told Vitug that based on his study and analysis of the PCIJ (Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism) transcript of the conversation, he had absolutely no reason to believe that PGMA had committed anything illegal or unconstitutional," Bunye recalled.

"The objective of Drilon, obviously, was to convince Justice Vitug to give PGMA the go-signal to break her silence on the tape. To cut a long story short, Justice Vitug agreed," he said.

The following day, Bunye said, they met again in a Forbes Park residence with other Cabinet officials without Vitug in attendance.

"Drilon even brought broiled tilapia for lunch," Bunye said.

"I am so disgusted, therefore, when Drilon, who much earlier vowed that PGMA would always be welcome in Iloilo and who earlier brought the Liberal Party to Malacañang to swear their steadfast support for the President, somersaulted and led in asking that PGMA resign," Bunye said.

Bunye referred to the President’s trip to Iloilo last June 30 when Drilon told his province mates that they would be willing to "adopt" her in Iloilo if Metro Manila wanted her out of office.

Bunye was investigated by the House after he jumped the gun on the opposition in presenting to the Malacañang Press Corps last June 6 two CDs of recordings based on the supposed wiretapped conversations of the President.