Word war between Arroyo, spokespersons continues

MANILA, Philippines - The word war between President Aquino’s spokespersons and former Sen. Joker Arroyo rages on.

After being described as “indolent” by Arroyo, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda retaliated by narrating how the former senator behaved during the height of the NBN-ZTE scandal. 

“I have great respect for Senator Joker Arroyo. One of the reasons why I studied law is because I saw him during the Martial Law years. But I was very disappointed,” Lacierda said. 

Lacierda said Arroyo got angry after NBN whistleblower Jun Lozada revealed that he had met with the former senator’s wife, Fely.

Lozada claimed that Mrs. Arroyo had told him that he was not required to attend the Senate hearing on the NBN project since there was no subpoena yet compelling him to do so.

“I remember it very well because I was counsel for Jun Lozada in NBN-ZTE,” Lacierda said. 

“Sen. Joker Arroyo became silent when Jun Lozada explained and described the house, the hallway, the driveway (of the meeting place).” 

Lacierda also recalled how Arroyo defended a Palace official who gave Lozada P500,000 allegedly to prevent him from testifying.

“The one who handed him (Lozada) the money was Deputy Executive Secretary Manny Gaite, who was promoted to SEC (Security and Exchange Commissions) Commissioner during 2009,” Lacierda said.  

“He immediately defended Manny Gaite by saying he was close to priests,” he added.

Lacierda reiterated that Arroyo was silent on the issues that hounded the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

He believes Arroyo, who used the logo of a dragon during the campaign period, did not spew fire on the previous administration’s irregularities.

“When he ran for Senate, I voted for him because he said ‘Pag bad ka, lagot ka (when you’re bad, you’re busted).’ I believed in him. His performance during the Senate impeachment (against former President Joseph Estrada) was very impressive,” Lacierda said.

“But why was corruption very rampant during the time of GMA? I did not hear a dragon talking.”

Earlier, Arroyo chided Lacierda and other Palace spokespersons for supposedly bringing President Aquino in trouble.

"Part of the problem in Malacañang is the indolence of spokespersons. They play things by the ear and pass it off as facts," Arroyo said.

The former senator said he co-chaired a Senate investigation on the alleged multi-million fertilized fund scam and scored the botched NBN-ZTE deal.

"Staff indolence, that's why the President gets into trouble for missteps that are not his," Arroyo said.

Lacierda chided Arroyo after the latter claimed that the release of the disbursement acceleration program funds was illegal.