First graft accusation against GMA regime

The most ironic part about the graft accusation against First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo is that it came not from the opposition but from sources within the palace itself. As it is right now, it is obvious that the graft accusation against Mike Arroyo has upstaged the developments of the Estrada trial. The public’s attention is now more focused on the graft accusation against a top personality linked to the President than the trial of a past president charged with plunder.

There are two things that will have to be established before the accusation that a bribe was paid to persuade the President to reverse her veto of the bill seeking a Congressional franchise of telephone communications firms: Philippine Communications Clearing House (PCCI) and APC Wireless Interface Network (APC). First, did both or either firms really bribe someone in Malacañang to make the President rescind her veto? If so, who in the palace circle actually got the bribe?

No administration can succeed if it does not have credibility and the key to credibility is transparency. We commend President Macapagal Arroyo for her reaction to the accusations against her husband. She has asked different sectors of government to conduct an investigation of the case and she has pledged her full cooperation to help in the investigation. She has also asked the First Gentleman to cut his stay in the United States and so the investigation can now begin four days ahead of the original schedule.

They say that it is characteristic of truth to need no proof but truth. But as G. W. Leibniz pointed out, "There are two kinds of truths; those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasonings are necessary and their opposite is impossible; the truth of facts are contingent and their opposite is possible."

The accusation against the First Gentleman could not have come at a worse time – the day after President Macapagal Arroyo’s first State of the Nation Address. In that address, she asked the nation to unite and support her program for the nation. And now comes a very serious accusation against her husband and it came not from the opposition but from within the palace itself.

Obviously it is an accusation that cannot be ignored. Her whole future will depend on the results of the coming investigation. The people should await the results of said investigation. Let us not prejudge the case. Let us await for the results of the investigation before taking any action. The only sensible demand at this point is for a fair trial. As we stated earlier, there are only two things to determine: first, was there a bribe? Second, who received it? There can be no justice without truth. Countless probabilities do not constitute the truth. We don’t know what the outcome of the investigations will be. Our only hope is that truth prevails.

By the way, the bribe – if there was one – was an exercise in futility. The President herself cannot rescind her veto. It is Congress itself that can override a presidential veto.