GMA postpones return to Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has deferred twice her scheduled return to Manila amid recent developments linking her to irregularities in the 2004 and 2007 elections and the misuse of funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). 

Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel flew to Europe via Amsterdam last June 29 with nine other companions, including Pangasinan Rep. Rachel Arenas and former Malacañang undersecretary in the Presidential Legislative Liason Office Remedios Poblador, on KLM Airlines flight KL804 that left Manila at 10:55 a.m.

The Arroyos were first scheduled to return to Manila on July 14 and then on July 15 but they canceled both trips.

Arroyo’s camp revealed that the first couple decided to make a side trip to Lourdes in France before returning to Manila on Saturday for “some prayers.”

Lawyer Frank Chavez had filed plunder charges against Mrs. Arroyo at the Department of Justice for allegedly using nearly P1.6 billion in fertilizer funds to bolster her presidential bid in 2004.

Arroyo was recently charged anew with plunder for approving the disbursement of millions of pesos from the PCSO intelligence fund.

Former PCSO chair Rosario Uriarte earlier revealed that she personally requested intelligence funds from then president Arroyo who approved the request.

Mrs. Arroyo is unfazed by the revelations of former Maguindanao election official Lintang Bedol on the alleged cheating she orchestrated in the 2004 and 2007 elections, her legal spokesman said yesterday.

Lawyer Raul Lambino said Bedol has accused Arroyo of ordering electoral fraud in Maguindanao in the 2004 and 2007 elections yet he has no evidence to show.

“What is clear is that the former president did not talk to him and what he’s saying are all hearsay. This is basic in the rules of evidence, so these statements would not be accepted in court,” Lambino said.

He also expressed suspicions on the move to leak unsigned affidavits of Bedol and suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao governor Zaldy Ampatuan of alleged electoral fraud to the media.

“Why would you come out with these statements that are unsigned?” he said.

Meanwhile, Candaba Mayor Gerry Pelayo, an ally of Arroyo, urged the senators to be cautious in conducting investigations that might be used by the Aquino administration for its political agenda.

He said the direction of the Senate inquiries were all geared towards pinning down Arroyo, adding most of the coming probes were a revival of old issues like the “Hello, Garci” scandal and the canceled national broadband network (NBN) contract of the government with ZTE Corp. of China.

Pelayo recalled that it was presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda who was coaching witness National Economic and Development Authority consultant Rodolfo Lozada turned whistleblower at the height of the Senate inquiry into the NBN deal.

“Now he (Lacierda) is in Malacañang. So it’s the same thing. They’re pushing their agenda to prosecute Mrs. Arroyo. But look at the Senate investigation, did laws come out of them? None. Only death, in the case of (defense) secretary Angelo Reyes, and tarnished reputations, and destroyed families,” he said. With Paolo Romero