Luli: No kickbacks for members of First Family
Presidential daughter Luli Arroyo debunked yesterday allegations that her family made money from commissions on government projects, saying corrupt politicians made the accusations to discredit her mother who is engaged in a tough campaign against “institutionalized corruption.”
“My family has never made money illegally, much less made money from government contracts. My father (First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo) has always steered clear of any action that might even cast doubt on my mother’s integrity,” she said in an email to ABS-CBN correspondent RG Cruz.
Luli, in the ABS-CBN report, said corrupt people in government are fiercely resisting the President’s vigorous anti-corruption drive because they are used to the old system of shady government deals.
“Why do people want to destroy my mother? Because she has tried very hard to take out the institutionalized corruption, so the way they fight back is to try to destroy my family’s reputation,” Luli said.
“Unfortunately many people don’t understand this, that the corruption has been built up for at least two decades, and pervades not only government but society in general, and it will probably take at least that many years to wipe it out of our system, especially when those entrenched are fighting back and fighting dirty not to be unseated,” she added.
Luli also bewailed that her family’s enemies are focusing their attacks on her father “because he was fat and was rich to begin with, and made an easy target.”
“People say that there have been a lot of accusations thrown at my father, so these must be true since ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ My response is: Sure, if the fire was caused by arson,” she said.
She said that when her mother was trade undersecretary, her father declined many offers to lawyer for garment manufacturers, citing conflict of interest.
She also said that no corruption allegations were filed against her father when he gave donations to Filipino athletes ahead of the Southeast Asian Games and the Olympics.
“If at that time my father opted not to make money... because it might cast doubt on my mother’s integrity, he will not do anything more so now that she is the highest officer of the land,” Luli said.
“Obviously these accusations thrown at him by politicians are politically motivated,” she said.
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., a witness in Senate’s probe on the NBN alleged irregularities, earlier said he heard former elections chief Benjamin Abalos call the First Gentleman to seek the latter’s help in securing a loan facility from
Businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, son and namesake of the former House speaker, also accused Mr. Arroyo of ordering him to “back off” from the NBN project.
De Venecia heads Amsterdam Holdings Inc. whose own NBN proposal was rejected by the government in favor of ZTE.
De Venecia also accused Mrs. Arroyo of ordering former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri to divert funds to the NBN project from other government projects like housing for the military and the police.
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